The Yard
a short film
Why Make This Film?
I am going to use two quotes here that sum up the reasoning behind this film.
"And then I turned up for my first day of sixth grade. It was as if everyone got a memo over the summer and I missed it. It was quick, and it was jarring, and I had no idea what was going on. All of a sudden, the girls didn't run around with boys anymore. Gender roles became sharply defined. Sitting around and chatting was a girl thing; charging after a ball was for boys. Wearing shorts and sneakers became, if not a cause for social rejection exactly, still definitely not something other girls were doing. And while being good at sports had always guaranteed me a certain confidence and popularity that carried over into the classroom, that dynamic was no longer assured. I wasn't picked on or bullied, but I didn't know where I fit in or how to behave. I felt suddenly, deeply uncomfortable." - Megan Rapinoe One Life
"Queer people don't grow up as ourselves, we grow up paying a version of ourselves that sacrifices authenticity to minimize humiliation and prejudice. The massive task of our adult lives is to unpick which parts of ourselves are truly us and which parts we've created to protect us." -Alexander Leon
Growing up queer and presenting myself in a more masculine way has shaped my entire life. I have been judged, misgendered, and treated cruelly because of it. I remember this moment of my life as being a serious pivot point in my thinking about gender, as Megan Rapinoe so aptly describes above. I realized that I was different, and I didn't understand why, or why it mattered, because I was still just a child. It was after this that I began to dress more feminine, ditch my guy friends and completely rebuild my image to fit into what I thought a girl was. This speaks directly to what Alexander Leon is speaking about above, I am still learning who I am and unpacking every facet of my gender and the presentation of it. Hopefully this film can help people my age feel as seen and heard as the quotes above make me feel. I am also hopeful that it will help younger generations to realize that judgement and cruelty often go hand in hand, and that loving, listening and learning are key.
Jen Klockner