Ky Platt, 42, Lower East Side, New York

Occupation: Stage Craft and Stand Up Comedian

How do you ID on the gender spectrum? I don’t really do male or female pronouns. I don’t care.

How can masculinity be toxic?Masculinity is as complex as any other type of identity — race or whatever. Especially in this day and age — and not just in American society, but globally — masculinity is really sort of limited, and that’s sad and problematic. I see that in my own life: I have a hyper masculine African-American father who was a Golden Gloves boxer. One of my brothers is incredibly athletic; he has three sons, two of whom are gifted athletically. The other son is intellectual, but my brother favors the jocks — and I think that’s sad. Especially, because the intellectual son will probably be the agent for his jock brothers! I don’t think that the modern masculine identity is very nuanced. It’s based around a lot of insecurities that I don’t fully understand. Why is it that my brothers can’t show a complex masculine identity? Our society values the “Soldier”, the “Athlete.” We don’t even really value the “Father,” which is weird. If you’re going to be basic about masculinity, you’d think the archetype of the “Father” would be the #1 image you’d want to uphold or idealize.

How do you create your own masculinity? I was 10-years-old the first time I shaved my head. I had this long Diana-Ross-type-hair, typical mixed-race afro hair, curly and crazy. One day, I shaved it because I fucking hated it. I also accidentally shaved one of my eyebrows! Around the same time, I got tickets to “The Fresh Fest” in Cincinnati to see The Fat Boys and Curtis Blow. I went with my friend Eric, the white Jewish kid in my town. My mom dropped us off at the venue, but before the show, she was like Do you wanna get an outfit? We went shopping and I picked out the butch-est shirt I’d ever seen. I remember to this day what that shirt looked like. Before The Fat Boys and Curtis took to the stage, there was a DJ spinning, and all these black girls came up to me and wanted to slow dance with me — none of them knew I was a “girl” and it was amazing! And my mom was 100% supportive of that!