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Explanation

My pieces of art are the albums Shape Shift With Me and Transgender Dysphoria Blues by the band Against Me!. These were the first two full length albums released after the band’s frontwoman, Laura Jane Grace, publicly came out as transgender. The connection to gender is pretty obvious from the title of the latter album alone, as many of the songs are related to her experiences before and after coming out. It also includes songs about her relationship with her ex-wife and presumably with her family, as well as the societal power structures that she has been navigating through. The former focuses on relationships and how she navigates them, both in general and specifically as a transgender woman.

This album (and pretty much their whole discography) has a bit of a special place in my heart because I started listening to them when I was going through my own gender problems and figuring all of that out. Since it is a punk band, and since I was filled with the same amount of rage as every other high schooler who started their edgy phase late, it really fit what I was going through. I figured it would be an appropriate piece of media to do for this assignment as I’ve listened to it so many times that the lyrics will probably be burned into my brain for the rest of my life. The albums had a bit of a mixed reception, mostly positive. Punk subculture seems to often praise being different, but only in a certain way, and often that way does not seem to include queer people. The variety of reactions to and criticisms of the album are no doubt interesting.

This album has been hugely influential to trans women, especially since Against Me!’s popularity had been established beforehand. Laura Jane Grace was already a popular music figure in the punk genre, and her public coming out, as well as many of the band’s songs incorporating her experiences, made many trans people feel heard.