UMKC students take ‘Performative Lesbian Contest’ to bigger stage

 Lipstick-stained cigarettes, Mary Oliver, bedazzled tops and carabiners by the hip – all elements call back to the “performative lesbian.” But the event wasn’t just some satirized take on the sapphic community. 

  With a full house at Howdy and roughly 130 attendees, UMKC students brought the Performative Lesbian Contest back into the limelight on Mar. 14, returning with a larger venue and bigger stakes.

  “The idea is kind of like how almost comically, visibly gay can we do for the sake of our own community?” said 27-year-old Bug Bimbo, a KC drag performer and contest host. “It is our own little inside joke kind of situation, and also it’s cute as hell.”

  Contestants were divided into three self-identified categories: “femme,” “masc” and “enby.” After participants walk the runway, bystanders select each winner and an overall favorite. Each category offered various prizes, including a $100 Gael’s gift card, a skincare set from Divine Aesthetics, and the crowd-favorite: a strap-on.

  Lana Pergerina, a sophomore studying sociology, hosted the first Performative Lesbian Contest at UMKC to explore campus life and have fun. In tandem with the event bringing the sapphic community together, they added that it helps subvert the gender constructs we’re often taught. 

  “I think gender for lesbians is specifically really interesting because the lesbian identity completely decenters cis-men,” Peregrina said. “I think our culture prisons women around men, rather than women as independent individuals. Even non-binary to an extent.”

Attendees at the Performative Lesbian Contest cheered as the winning contestants made their way to the stage.

  The event was a seven-month process, with Peregrina working alongside a UMKC student in KC Sapphic Socials to execute the vision.

  “KC Sapphic Socials carried all the logistic parts,” Peregrina said. “Spaces like this are really important because it gives everyone just to have fun… And you’re only performing with other people that are also weird with their gender.”

  While competitors brought theatrics onto the runway, bystanders brought their lungs, cheering for each participant louder than the last. Most attendees came in groups, and some left meeting new friends.

  Jade Frazier, a 21-year-old “enby” participant, attended as an opportunity to meet more queer people in the city while adorning “every single gay item [they’ve] ever found in [their] closet.”

“Recently, Kansas City has been described as one of the gay capitals in the Midwest,” Frazier said. “We grew up with a lot of the people around us, so we never felt too shunned to not be ourselves.”

  Sage Pundmann, a criminal justice and political science senior, also competed in the “enby” category. They, alongside their friend, handed out resumes to campaign as the most performative lesbian.

  “If I’m committing to the bit of being performative, I’m going to be performative, and I can do it off a resume,” Pundmann said. “There’s kind of a social acceptance of doing things that would not be etiquette in other places, but they are kind of accepted because there’s not a lot of us out here.”

  While Peregrina said they would want KC to throw a similar event, they want to take a back burner in planning.

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