Growing up, my father's nickname for me was "James," and it still is. I don't believe he wished I was a boy, because I have five brothers. To him it was just a shortened version of Jaimee. My experiences growing up with so many boys led me to believe that my gender identity had not been strongly polarized. I choose to draw the image of myself, feeling that the feminine part of me was created secondarily. Using photographs for the male counterpart of my personality is a way of saying "this is real."
All photographic images are from the Sibley Watson Collection at the Visual Studies Workshop Research Center, Rochester, NY.