Work This Pussy

The musical form is called House Ballroom and it is intended to accompany Vogue dancing, runway challenges, and to bolster the spirit of those who do not compete but are there to watch. Mike Q’s opening salvo allows the listeners who are a part of the House Ballroom community to embody the spirit of “Cuntiness” (Mike Q). Cuntiness is the distinguishing characteristic that alerts the listener that they are indeed listening to House Ballroom music. In listening to the track, "Come on get you some pussy" we here the phrase "Work this pussy" repeated over and over. While this track does not encompass the full range of Q's sonic output it is important in that it gives the new listener access to that "cunty vibe" that is the signature of the sound. The commands to "work this pussy" and " To come on give me some more" operate on multiple layers. It is important to remember that the track is meant for voguers to battle to. Thus the command is on one level one to bring your a game. In the video clip we can see the battlers mouthing out and acting out the commands against one another. In this sense the music alludes to a narrative between the performers. However, we must not lose sight of the scene. The House Ballroom scene being comprised of young black and Latino queer men and women, is also a pedagological site. In addition to being trained on how to vogue many of these folks are also learning the inter-workings of how to approach queer romance. with gender roles so rigidly and heterosexistly defined, the command to work this pussy can also be interpreted as a sexual common meant to heterosexualize queer desire. In this way, the chant provides on a second level access to a form of sexual agency that opens up the possibility of passive sexual roles and allows those men or women who fulfill them to claim active agency. Work this pussy!!!