Interview with Drew

Drew is a gay-identified junior at Brown who is in a fraternity that takes twice-monthly trips to Club Hell's Wednesday fetish nights.  Here's a transcript of my Interview with Drew.

Ben: "Why do you go to these clubs and who do you go with?"

Drew: "I go to dance with friends, because there isn't much of a dancing culture on campus, so dancing defnitely takes place more often in clubs than parties on campus.  I go with friends, mostly"

Ben: "Do you ever meet boys in these spaces?"

Drew: "No."

Ben: "Often these clubs are very whitewashed.  As an Asian male, do you feel judged or racialized in these spaces?"

Drew: "I think you began your question assuming...that I share that same perception, but I don't necessarily agree...From what I remember, i don't think they're that whitewashed.  ... I definitely have noticed guys of different races at the clubs that I've been to.  Another thing is that I don't pay attention to the racial breakdown within the clubs, so I don't feel that I'm being judged for my race within the space....THat said, I know that regardless of your race you are going to be judged."

Ben: "Are there other sites of judgment...within these spaces?"

Drew: "What you're drinking, how old you are, what you're wearing, where [in the club] you're dancing, whether you look flirty or if you're having a good time.."

Ben: "Do you notice distinctions within the queer community within clubs that cater to the queer community?...Does everybody have a spot there?"

Drew: "I think I don't see different axes of identity are...a factor of discrimination in terms of my tastes.  Secondly, I think a lot of these spaces are self-discriminatory, like people assume that, say, because one club caters to a particular type of person, and they exlude themselves from spaces because of this, then it perpetuates the type of people that go to those clubs."