name: Fox Pflueger
age: 26
star sign: Virgo sun, Aries rising, Scorpio moon.
ig alias: @health.witch
Fox, thanks so much for today! I had the best time bouncing around Redfern taking photos & talking about feminism, sex, masculinity…everything!
Me too! I love Laurel & Hector so much. It was a true pleasure to shoot with you again! Yeeha!
2. Talk to me about feminism, why do you need it? What does it do for you? How can we pass on the feminist torch?
We all need feminism. Feminism is the balance of the masculine gone wrong. Feminism points a finger at the patriarchy and says “We are sick and tired of murder and rape and war”. It gives womxn a voice after being silenced for centuries. Feminism is also about recognising where our identities have been conditioned by gender binaries and busting on through those imposed expectations.
3. You don’t identify as either gender, talk us through that.
Either, both, everything beyond and etc. I am not the organs between my legs, I am a myriad of unique and interesting things which have nothing to do with the fact that I was born a “female” or alternatively not born a “male”. I’d prefer to choose my own adventure thnx.
4. Can you explain what gender queer is?
It’s a new way for people to identify outside (or between) the paradigm of “male” and “female”. Being gender queer for me is finding my innate and intuitive identity outside of a lifetime of programming by media propaganda about whom I should and should not be. It is about total expression and also activism, people taking control of their bodies again.
5. How do you express that raw side?
With my words, my posture, my confidence and overcoming shame to accept my body to be beautiful. Through performance art and by understanding the holistic healing that occurs in finding balance between the feminine and the masculine inside of myself.
6. Talk to me about body hair, you’re super chilled about it. Have you coped any slack from the general public?
Oh it has taken me a very long time to seem super chilled about it trust me. I’ve always had the hairy pits, but going hard out on furry legs, nipples, monobrow, misstache and mole hair has been a powerful challenge in self acceptance. The truth of the matter is that I think that beauty is a perspective and that it really shouldn’t affect whether or not I am perceived as attractive or interesting. Typically no one gives a fuck and if they have a problem with my body choices then they are obviously a loser. Saying that though I still sometimes wish to have soft smooth legs, but I have not got time or cash for that! And I always get all sentimental and sad when my legs aren’t hairy anymore, but the great thing is that they ALWAYS grows back.
7. How did Max Freak come about? What’s the night about?
MAX FREAK was started by Celeste Electric and I who had a burning desire to create a party for everyone that’s main focus was self expression. The party is a eight hour inner city doof with dance music, installations and performance art. MAX FREAK is about acceptance and celebration, we leave the lights up a bit so everyone can see each other’s outfits. It is a safe space, a queer space. We are working towards making the space for absolutely everyone, because community is important, partying as a community is important too.
7. You are also a performer, what subjects do you like to explore and push on stage?
Oh you know the normal stuff like feminism, sexuality, gender, Catholicism, alcoholism, pigs, lobsters, serpents etc. What ever inspires me, or makes me angry.
8. What was it like performing at the two oldest gay bars in The Bay Area (USA)?
Such a privilege! It was a honour and a surprise when I realised that I was performing at these two institutions of queer identity in California! There is so much history in these places. I was having flash backs to a past life of being a transexual drag performer in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s (for real). Everything felt so familiar and right. I’m looking forward to going back there to perform and hopefully get some gigs in NYC and New Orleans too later in 2k17!
9. You’ve got such an incredible look, how is that perceived by the general public?
Thank you Kee Kee! People stare at me like they got a pair of eyes for Christmas. It’s hard because I really struggle with the public attention but I just can’t dress any other way. My clothes are how I express myself. I don’t own “normal” clothes, I don’t wear beige or brown, my hair is a rainbow right now! I don’t have a car so I’m on the street a lot. Often the compliments I get are so lovely, but other times I get paranoid that every honk or phone camera pointed in my direction is a threatening act where ppl want something from me. Really I just dress for myself.
10. How do you deal with cat calling?
Sometimes I don’t deal, I get upset and feel very threatened. Other times I make eye contact and raise my middle finger until I can’t see their car anymore. I listened to a podcast about catcalling and all the guys said they were just trying to compliment the persxn that they are hollering at, which is stupid, but I’ve been trying to remember that maybe they mean well, because the alternative is that their intentions are violent and it’s not healthy to think like that.
11. Every time I see you, you’re always repping some independent label or brand. What makes you seek out the local talent?
Clothes made independently are always the best! The Hyperbolic Fashion trend happening in Melbourne and Sydney is so colourful and unique! These clothes are handmade artworks, and the money you pay goes straight to that artist who literally designs, prints and sews these pieces themselves. It’s all I spend my money on.
12. What impact do you think fast fashion has on our society?
Waste! Trash! Landfills full of last season’s Big W trends made by the hands of slaves in poverty with fibres that strain natural resources and pollute our water and our air. Capitalism tells you to buy buy buy to be happy, but this opinion is poison and keeps us under the thumb. Don’t get me wrong, I love clothes but buying second hand or hand made is the only way to avoid this toxic situation we have gotten ourselves into.
13. We spoke a bit about Witch culture, its representation & cultural appropriation, can you expand on that?
Witch craft (and paganism) was the way white people used to connect with spirit, and by spirit I mean the land, the animals, the seasons and the elements. Sadly we burnt all the witches 300 years ago so those lines of ancestral knowledge and culture was burnt with it. White people get really lost in trying to find where they come from and cultural spiritualism that isn’t Christianity.
I go to festivals and see people trying to connect to something sacred and powerful by appropriating spiritual practices from other cultures like India, South America and Africa. We have a lineage of our own magic though! Follow your roots, find your herstory! Maybe your great great aunt was a healer, or a weaver, or a visionary who was taken before she could pass on her knowledge. Wear a witches hat at the doof instead of a Native American War Bonnet, better sun protection and it gives respect to the womxn who died trying to protect our cultural magic.
14. What’s your stance on how the government has control over womens bodies; i.e making us pay for pap smears, abortions & that whole bullshit, tax on tampons etc…
Ahhh obviously it is absurd and just another way in which the patriarchy is trying to keep womxn down. Don’t worry though, it won’t take them long to change this particular form of control, it is too stupid to continue for much longer.
15. What do you think we could do as an open minded community to turn this shit around?
Speak up! Protest! Shout out! Boycott! Tell your mum, tell your uncle. Make a facebook group, organise a sit in. Community is key because we have power in numbers. Follow your bliss and put your heart into what is important to you because that activism will always be more rewarding. Be yourself and be unapologetic. You are an individual with autonomy and voice! I believe in you!
16. I always have the best time with you Fox, thanks for being so open & contributing to Love Sick. Much love x
Oh me too! This is such a fabulous project. Good luck with the other babes and with your move to the US. Love! x
