Having a Voice

  Miss Simone from +Q Perfume Blog taught me that blog writing is serious business and readers will only be intrigued if they can feel your passion.  But Adrian/Amnesia from GenderFun taught me the importance of having a voice in your blogs.  As I got more into Adrian/Amnesia ‘s blogs I learned that a voice is when the author uses a combination of word choice, phrasing etc. to create a distinct personality for the blog. And that having a unique strong voice makes a blog distinct from all other blogs floating out there and makes them more fun and engaging for readers as it develops a sense of personal connection between the readers and the authors.

  GenderFun is a gender blog that deals with gender issues especially regarding transgender individuals. What is especially unique about this blog is that the author is transgender and he doesn’t only have one voice in the blogs but three:  one for himself Adrian, and one for his alter ego female-self Amnesia and one more called “We” that speaks on behalf of Adrian and Amnesia as a whole.

    “Together we created this blog in hopes it would bridge the gap between gays and straights, boys and girls, butch and fems, young and old, fat and skinny, the smart and Amnesia, etc. Here at GenderFun.com it doesn't matter what your sexual orientation is, or what gender you identify with, the important thing is that you can find humor in the idiosyncrasies of all genders whether you were born a boy, a girl, or somewhere in-between. It's not about what's between your legs...although you are welcome to email us a photo of what's between your legs, we don't mind, heck, we encourage it ;)”

  That was a little excerpt from their About GenderFun section. This part is written from the “We” voice. “We” has mostly a gender-neutral voice and takes on a passionate and serious, yet humorous tone. They said this blog aims to “bridge the gap” between gays and straights etc. For me the word bridge here acts as a metaphor for creating a passage for ideas to flow, which shows their passion for creating acceptance between the two polar. Also it creates an image that, as of now, the gay and straight, boys and girls are on separate islands and are completely isolated from and unaccepting of each other and show their frustration at people’s close-mindedness. However, the humorous side shows through at the end with the very suggestive joke. By saying “we don't mind, heck, we encourage it”, it communicates to readers that Adrian and Amnesia, while wanting to isolate their feminine and masculine sides to two different characters, are still very bold and open about their sexuality.  

  Amnesia, takes on a life of her own and is a celebrity in her own rights.  She has appeared on the first season of American Idol, won many drag queen beauty pageants, and she has received more than 2 million videos views on YouTube as well. There is less of Amnesia’s voice in the blogs than on GenderFun’s YouTube videos where her presence is very strong.  On videos, Amnesia’s personality comes across as very much your stereotypical drag queen with many hints of ditziness.  In writing the ditziness is less apparent but she definitely is very flamboyant and over-the-top. In the About Amnesia part of the blog she introduces herself by saying "My Name's Amnesia...Don't Forget it! *wink*" This immediately establishes a very different voice from the “We” as it sounds more playful and much more feminine.  The author communicated the femininity of Amnesia with just the use of punctuations.  The use of the exclamation mark emphasized that she wants to be remembered and expresses her strong urge to be noticed and visible to the world. While both the “About Me” for We and for Amnesia featured a wink, the two of them communicated completely different emotions. The ;) “We” used was very visual and came across as playful and mischievous. But the *wink* Amnesia used, written out in words, left the facial expression up to the reader’s imagination and asked us to picture her winking and was definitely more flirty and suggestive in my mind.

  And finally, there’s Adrian: The mastermind behind GenderFun, and the creator of all these different voices.  Adrian is completely different from We and from Amnesia as his voice is the most real, natural and from the heart.  We is a combination of Adrian’s deep thoughts and Amnesia’s fun, Amnesia is a blown up portrayal of the stereotypical cross dresser but Adrian is the true transgender person caught in a ignorant society and struggling with his own identity.  His voice is the most genuine out of the three and he deals with most of the sensitive and serious issues in the blogs.  In Masculine and Feminine Scale, Adrian says

      "I've been crossdressing for over 15 years.  I get comments from people saying how they like my femme self, Amnesia Sparkles. 
I enjoy exploring masculinity as well as femininity.
I'm never really certain how people in real life outside the internet perceive me to be.  Where do they rank me in the Masc-Femme Scale (when I'm not dressed as Amnesia Sparkles). To be honest I'm not sure that I care how Masc-Femme I'm ranked by others. That's why I have no shame in going out of the house dressed as a woman or in this case snapping a pic in my new jockstrap. "

This simple short passage establishes his voice, his views and even shows his emotions. He uses the word “I” very often and to me it communicates a strong sense of confidence and makes everything he says sound like facts that do not need room for argument.  “I enjoy exploring masculinity as well as femininity”, that is a fact and he is sure of it despite what anyone might say.  He uses the word “perceive” to state that after all, what other people says about him is just their perception and does not interfere with what his reality is. He then says “To be honest I’m not sure that I care”, this part sounds almost apologetic but in a sarcastic way that mocks society for expecting him to care. his voice comes across as more masculine and strong than the other two. He sounds confident about himself and is very comfortable being who he is no matter what society may think.

  GenderFun is a very interesting blog that features three distinct voices that alternates doing the talk depending on the topic. It is structured in a way that make readers feel like they know all three of them as separate individuals. We, Amnesia and Adrian carry very different voices and play very different roles but all three of them convey a sense of confidence in being a transgender person and a passion for correcting people’s ignorant view that there are only two genders.

  The three voice structur makes the blog very entertaining for readers as they never know which one of the three they’ll be talking to next but at the same time it also communicates a deeper frustration with the stereotypical world.  The fact that there needed to be three voices portraying separate identities shows how, in our society, one voice still cannot encompass all gender and that there is still as stereotypical way a certain gender should sound even in writing.