When a Woman is “Queer”

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 10, 1916

When a Woman is “Queer”

“SHE is queer, you know.” Every now and again you hear this said of a woman. And when one runs this accusation to the ground, the “queerness” comes from the fact that the woman is unusual; unusual in that she does not dress as “they” (whoever “they” are!) do; or she may not do what every one else is doing (and that, in the eyes of some, is such a crime!). But, generally speaking, the “queer” woman is interesting; not because she is “queer,” because her “queerness” is simply that she is different. She refuses to be any one else than herself. She chooses to dress either as is most becoming to her or as is most comfortable to her. She doesn’t find out what “they” are doing before she does anything. She has a healthy indifference to what “they” are wearing when she buys a hat or a dress. She is just herself. Curious, isn’t it, that one can be “queer” when one is merely one’s self? But it is so. The fact remains, however, that the women generally adjudged to be “queer” add the real true color to the feminine horizon, and it is not going too far to say that they are among the women who are worth while.—Selected.