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The Vendetta Vixens and Nakita’s Kittens have joined forces for a St. Cloud Pride burlesque show benefiting TakeAction Minnesota. We believe sexual freedom, LGBTQ rights, and reproductive justice are interconnected. We asked a few of Nakita’s Kittens why, as burlesque performers, reproductive justice is important to them. Read their responses.

“As the producer of the Vendetta Vixens and Nakita’s Kittens, I encourage all my performers to express their own individuality not only on stage, but also in everyday life. Women should be able to live their lives freely and do what they want with their body, however they please. Reproductive justice to me means taking my body back, embracing my perfections and imperfections, and being able to strongly make my own decisions.”

Nakita Kat

Photo Credit: Annie Meyer

“In the burlesque community, we accept all forms of the human body, and we express ourselves physically through dance and artistic expression. We don’t want limitations placed on our bodies, and this includes reproductive rights. The LGBTQ community still has to fight for the right to bodily autonomy. Reproductive justice means safe and accessible clinics for anybody who needs them, and we must ease the legal and financial barriers to medical care.… Continue reading »

By: Performer Justin Uranus

My name is Andy, but my stage name is Justin Uranus. I have been a performer for my whole life, but my burlesque journey started out as a drag king in the St. Cloud community. Eventually I found my way to burlesque as I worked to find my comfort zone when it comes to gender.

DEFINING GENDER ON MY TERMS

As a king I saw others do gender-bending performances and it gave me permission to feel more comfortable messing with the binary.

Photo credit: Nakita’s Kittens/ B. Sens Photography

When I first started burlesque, I was trying to balance femininity as a nonbinary trans man. When I started living as a man, there were a lot of expectations for me to be hyper masculine—and I knew that wasn’t who I was.

As a king I saw others do gender-bending performances and it gave me permission to feel more comfortable messing with the binary. Seeing other people being their beautiful nonbinary selves, especially in St. Cloud, helped me recognize, “Oh, there is nothing stopping me from also doing that.”

That is why reproductive justice is so powerful to me, because it helps me navigate the boxes society has put me in and decide what is best for me.… Continue reading »

Nelsie Yang (center) stands at a Planned Parenthood Day of Solidarity Rally.

At a young age, I recognized how the systems we live in limit the choices we have about our bodies. I grew up believing the implicit (and sometimes explicit) messages telling me that I had no decision over my body and sexuality. In general, society made those decisions for me. I was told what I could and could not do, what I could and could not believe. Like many others, I learned from an early age that sex and pregnancy were not okay—especially before marriage.

I was told what happened to women and women’s bodies was our fault, and that we had to deal with the consequences on our own. The result was young women in my community — specifically my Hmong community — grow up with a lot of shame.

I found myself stuck between the abstinence-only and anti-choice messages I was surrounded by and my own values of care, community, and agency. Then, when I was 14, my friend got pregnant.

In that moment, I had to decide who and what I believed in.

My friend was scared and nervous. She confided in me, and, as her friend, I responded by supporting her the way she needed to be supported.… Continue reading »