gerard in a dress: i have a thing

[schmerica]

So I spent a large portion of this evening talking to various people about cross-dressing in fic and came to two conclusions:

1. Dudes in drag has never been one of my kinks in any other fandom, but bandom is an exception, and I think the main reason is that here it's definitely interconnected to larger gender and identity issues in a way it isn't in a lot of the other things I've read. The canon dressing-in-drag events only add to that, really. It kind of rises organically from the canon. Particularly with Gerard, which leads to my second realization

2. Gerard Way has known how to be a hot chick for way longer than he's known how to be a hot guy. He knows he makes a hot chick, he's known that at least since art school, so that's something he's been able to have confidence in for a while. A lot longer than he could have been confident as a hot guy, because dude -- how long do you think it's been for him, for that? Well into the history of the band, I'd say. Not more than a few years. He was pale soft awkward geek boy for a long time, you know?

Ugh, Gerard. WHY SO FASCINATING.

Comments

[etben.livejournal.com]

WHO ELSE WERE YOU DISCUSSING THIS WITH? I AM LE JELLUS.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE STILL MY FAVORITE DO NOT WORRY

[lila-bet.livejournal.com]

Hmmm so true!
What i find amusing is the fact that Frank knows what he looks like dressed as a girl, which means he's done it since!
Ahhh the fics this would make

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it definitely seems to be a more than once thing.

[jezrana.livejournal.com]

I've definitely read more guys-in-drag fic in bandom than any other fandom, and at least part of it is that in a lot of my other fandoms, I have to stop and ask myself if I can really see [Male Character] in drag, and a lot of the time, the answer's been no. Whereas bandom is just like "HI GERARD WORE DRAG AT LEAST ONCE IN HIS LIFE. YOU'RE WELCOME."

I've also read more genderswap, either turning-into-girls or always-been-girls--and I'm sort of just now realizing that that might have to do with gender identity issues. Like, none of my crazy scifi or fantasy fandoms in which genderswap could actually happen have ever compelled me to read genderswap fic, but either a) imagining how these guys would react and explore it if they were turned into girls, or b) picturing these guys trying to do what they do and be who they are, if they were female, is fascinating.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

See, I've been into turning-into-girls and always-been-a-girl in a lot of fandoms, so that's not new to me. The digging the crossdressing is, somehow.

[lovesongwriter.livejournal.com]

I AGREE.

Let's write them getting in drag and singing karaoke so Mikeyway can sing freebird dressed like a lady.

:D

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

A+++++++

[fallingfortruth.livejournal.com]

I have this thing where I want Gerard in this set (in pink, of course) (http://www.agentprovocateur.com/sandy.html) and I want someone to do something really really dastardly and naughty to him while telling him what a pretty girl he is. But that, uh. Might be what they call a personal problem? \o?

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

But I like your personal problems!

[fallingfortruth.livejournal.com]

We should probably not talk about the time that Mikey took his hotass sister out on a date then, huh. (My kinks, they are so morally reprehensible! /o\ But also, hot! \o/)

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

*takes her braces off so she can type*

Gee had just been kinda down lately and refusing to come up out of the basement, so he drags her to see Cloverfield because he knows she will hate herself if her funk keeps her from seeing it on the big screen.

(Also, I wrote Brendon/coffee table last night, so I got no room to talk)

[fallingfortruth.livejournal.com]

Also Mikey has to share the basement with Gee (hi, my favourite bit of canon IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE UNIVERSE) so it gets to be a total pain when he stays down there all the time sulking. There are only so many ways to masturbate in their bathroom, it's really tiny, and inevitably Mikey's just gotten into it really well when Gerard has to pee, and there's no way he'll go upstairs without a really good explanation. So Mikey takes out the super cute dress that they keep in the back of the closet and the platform Mary Janes and makes puppy eyes until Gee agrees to go out with him.

[mercurybard.livejournal.com]

But there are lots of large, dramatic sighs in the car because Gerard does not feel cute today, okay? And Mikey rolls his eyes until he's afraid they're going to fall out of his skull. Then Gerard realizes his tights have a snag in them and for half a second he thinks about bitching because his hose have a run. He couldn't even make it out of the house without destroying them...how much does he fail at being the hot chick? But he can't help playing with the loose threads that go diagonally across his knee.

It's a Saturday, and at first they think the line at the box office is just ridiculous, but then they realize that most of the kids standing around are just...standing around, trying to look cool while they wait for their parents to come pick them up. Gee and Mikey can't help sharing a look over the tops of the kiddies' heads as they weave their way to the ticket counter.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, yes. Have you read this (http://sinsense.livejournal.com/344073.html#cutid1)? Because ... yes.

[fallingfortruth.livejournal.com]

I have! I squee'd. CD, genderqueer Gerard is my favourite, I think.

OK, I lie, but he's totally A favourite.

[bexless.livejournal.com]

I really like the Nightline interview where they're talking to a girl whose boyfriend likes to dress up in women's clothing, and the psychologist is all previous trauma blah, working out his issues blee, and Gerard's like, "Maybe he was just horny! Maybe it just gets him hot! Maybe you just need to accept this about him!"

GERARD.

When else, when else. The VMA interview where he talks about putting his mom's lipstick on when he was sixteen, obviously. I wish we got to hear Frank's story too. On Projekt Revolution where he thanked the girls at a clothes store, "For helping me buy women's clothing and not calling the cops on me." Obviously the art school incident. SO MUCH DELICIOUS CROSS-DRESSING CANON, UGH GERARD HOW DID SURVIVE IN FANDOM WITHOUT YOU FOR SO LONG.

[sofiaviolet]

!!!!!!!!!!

I haven't heard any of that!!!!! Please tell me there is youtubery or something.

[bexless.livejournal.com]

Well, for a start, I'm a liar, it was Loveline, not Nightline. You can listen to it on YouTube in various parts starting here (http://youtube.com/watch?v=sB7qkLPF6Ao).

The VMA interview I cannot fiiiiiiiiiiiiind! WHERE IS IT? D: I've got it on my ipod but I can't find it online! Maybe someone else can.

The women's clothing quote is from a random concert report I read during PR :)

[angelchildr.livejournal.com]

At 2:41. :-D

[bexless.livejournal.com]

Yes! That's it! Oh my God, I ADORE IT. It is probably my second favourite clip ever. GERAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD. FRANK'S STUPID LITTLE FACE.

[angelchildr.livejournal.com]

Dare I ask what your first-favorite is? :-D

[bexless.livejournal.com]

http://pearl-o.livejournal.com/967532.html?thread=10778476#t10778476 :D:D:D

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

GERARD. YOU MAKE DREAMS COME TRUE THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW I HAD. WHAT.

[go-gentle.livejournal.com]

2. Whoa. I'd never thought about it like that, but it makes so much sense. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Gerard still thinks of himself as a pale soft awkward geek boy.

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

*cuddles him* He's doing pretty good at being a hot dude now, though. Even if he's faking it, it's pretty convincing.