biological sex

Artwork by Felix D’eon

A joyous night, the dancers held each other tight,

The musicians played, and, the onlookers swayed

So the story is told, an atmosphere to behold

Amongst the group, a minestrone soup of pleasure and dance

The onlookers too, in a trance

Men and women, Men and men, and lesbians too,

They jointly moved, as if on cue

No one bothered, no one cared

Sexuality unimpaired

From the gloom, came a bang

In burst the police with a clang

They were rude, the Sargent shrewd

There should only be mixed gender couples the Court proclaimed

The deviants should be ashamed

You don’t need specs, it is not complex

There is only biological sex.

Back story.

El baile de los cuarenta y uno (The dance of the forty one) refers to a scandal at a private party in Mexico in 1901. Police raided the party and a number of arrests were made. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Forty-One).

I was struck by how similar the issues around gender and sexuality are to modern discourse.

“Biological Sex” was written in a 30 minute exercise in the Queer Write group. The image by Felix D’eon was the only guide.