From a young age society teaches us to identify and remedy the imperfections in our bodies. But, fitting in can mean conforming to something you are not. Jerri Measley, creator of Glass City Glitterbomb Burlesque, wants to change how we see ourselves. Measley is producing her second annual performance of Love the Skin You’re In, a show to benefit the LGBTQ+ community about body positivity. Measley provided us with insight on the show.
What can we expect at the show?
The performance is actually a variety show, with girls and gentlemen from the burlesque troupe, drag performers, spoken word presentations and, as well, vocal and acoustic performances.
Everything is aimed toward body positivity and loving yourself for who you are and where you are right now.
How will this performance help
benefit our LGBTQ+ community?
We started talking about what meant a lot to us and where issues about your body start and I feel like we don’t give enough voice and enough credit to our young people for what they’re going through. Being in 7th grade 20 years ago for me was hard, and that was before social media or cell phones. You’re enough and you need to love yourself. And if you compound that with the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community, it’s kind of a double whammy.
If we don’t have people telling our young people that it’s okay to be who you are— as long as you’re a good person you’re good enough right now— then they’re going to grow up to be some cynical, awfully hurt people.
How is Harvey House involved?
Harvey House is run by two wonderful women and they just opened a drop in center for LGBTQ+ and allied youth. They have all kinds of resources for young people in a safe space. Some
performances in the show are actually going to be done by some of the kids from the Harvey House. These kids are creative beyond imagination so I’m really excited to see what they come up with. All of the proceeds from the tickets and the show are going directly to the Harvey House.
Why is this important for our
community?
The political climate today is one that demonstrates exclusivity. If you have to grow up in a society where people exclude you because you’re heavy, or you’re too skinny, or you’re transgender, you need to have a space with like-minded people who are all at the same time raising their voices to drown out those other messages.
It’s important to gather in a space where everyone thinks every single body is beautiful, has something to offer and has a creative soul inside of it. The more spaces we create like that, and the more noise we make about that, the more that pushes the ball forward. If, in my little corner of the world, I can make someone feel comfortable, thinking, ‘You know, I’m pretty damn awesome,’ then I’ve done enough.
What should people learn from this?
One of the things that happened when I started burlesque was I would get up there and do my thing and people would come up to me after the show and go, “My body looks like yours, and I think that you’re absolutely beautiful. So that must make me pretty beautiful, too.” That’s really all I want, I just want people to understand that if you’re heavy, you’re beautiful. If you’re thin, you’re beautiful; whatever you are there is value in that.”
$12 online. $15 at the door.
7:30pm. Saturday, February 24.
ICE Restaurant and Bar
405 Madison Ave. | 419-246-3339
icerestaurantandbar.com
