- May 2015
- Campaign, Book
Masc Means
In response to the exclusionary language used in the dating profiles of queer men — language like "masc only" and "no fems" — the Masc Means project advocates for open understandings of identity, roles, and self.
Over 150 people in Pittsburgh and Lisbon answered the campaign's prompt via interactive posters in LGBTQ spaces: "What does masculine mean?". These responses are proposed to be recorded in a handbook for young adults interested in identity-discovery, alongside short essays by scholars, journalists and activists in gender, feminism, and LGBTQ issues.
Formally, the YA book manipulates the visual cues of standardized test scantrons, word puzzles, and mass-xeroxed pamphlets to hide a more vulnerable account of identity formation and to document how others have learned to move through a world that traditionally favors the masculine.
