writer & thinker
‘There’s something special about how queer culture understands exes. Maybe it’s because we know we can’t afford to lose anyone.’
For The Guardian, I wrote in favour of talking about exes on a first date – and how hetero etiquette isn’t good enough for queers (and honestly, isn’t good enough for anyone).
‘Genderless’ has become a buzzword in fashion, but what does it actually mean, besides brands being able to double their market for every item?
For The Guardian, I talked to trans and nonbinary designers and retailers about genderless branding, pinkwashing and what labels could do instead of whacking a rainbow on it.
‘I don’t think we should take the gender out of fashion’, says Rae Hill, designer at Origami Customs. ‘Instead of “genderless”, there needs to be more of a fluidity of gender. The gender of a piece of clothing is whatever gender you feel when you wear it, and not that you have to fit into the gender of that piece.’
A little while ago I spoke to New York Times contributor Brian Ng about airlines failing nonbinary passengers in their booking systems while pursuing the pink dollar. Read or listen to the story below.
Big thanks to Brian for pursuing this story, and shoutout also to photographer Asanka Brendon Ratnayake – I am so awkward in front of a camera but he really put me at ease and we had a nice chat about NYT Australia and journalism in Asia, Australia and the US.
Jinghua Qian 