Juno Roche is a trans activist and is liberated by her ‘QueerAF’ vagina | Photo: Gay Star News
I wish I’d used a more elaborate counting system for the number of different words for vagina Juno Roche uses in her new book – because I quickly lost count.
‘Queer Sex’ is a refreshing and frank reclaiming of the narrative about queer, trans and non-binary people’s sex lives.
Undoing her armor from years of trans activism, Roche bares all in this book.
It’s a series of interviews with trans and non-binary people, prefaced by Roche bravely sharing her own journey to getting her ‘Queer as fuck vagina.’
That’s how she describes it on the National Student Pride podcast of the same name, #QueerAF.
‘I literally thought I’d have the surgery, wait six weeks, find someone with a big dick – and let them fuck away,’ Roche tells the show.
She wrote the book because she was sick of the ‘heteronormative and classist narrative’ that is about trans people chasing a perfect ‘cis’ or ‘passing’ body.
But the motive was more intimate than that too. For years Roche was chasing a vagina, in a metric not dissimilar to those who want to lose weight to feel more confident in the body they live in. But on the way to surgery, with a throwaway comment about making her a ‘real woman’ from a doctor – she began a new journey.
‘After surgery, I realized I didn’t actually have a vagina. I had this thing between my legs, that I imagined would be a vagina but it wasn’t, it was this cave. It had a back wall, and it didn’t go anywhere.
‘As trans people, we are taught that we should move through trans as quickly as possible, so we pass and blend. And after my surgery, politically something kicked in. I didn’t want to pass. My vagina is queer as fuck – it is about change and fluidity.’
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or search ‘#QueerAF by National Student Pride’ in your podcast app.
Still alive 20 years after being told she had six months to live
When Roche was diagnosed with HIV 20 years ago, she was told she six months to live. She was even offered ‘death benefits’ – but turned them down. In the years since her levels of activism and advocacy work have rocketed.
Roche is a patron of CliniQ, a sexual health service for trans people based in London. By her own estimates, she understands that a huge majority of people will never be able to achieve their ‘ideal body.’
But the message of ‘Queer Sex’ is all about giving up that chase of the ideal cis body – and learning to accept your trans body, as Roche has done:
‘Around the world, there will be trans women that will always have a dick, and there will be a lot of trans men who always have a vagina. I won’t demonize them.
‘But in recent years, I have come to understand and know, that I’m trans. That’s my identity.
‘Being trans is about having the courage to change, and ignore the gender binaries.’
And it’s a lesson Roches wants trans allies to learn too:
‘If you can’t accept a trans woman with a dick, then you don’t accept us. Don’t tell me you are a trans ally, and then ask me if I’ve had surgery.’
Gay Star News is a media supporter of National Student Pride. Gay Star Students sponsors Clifford Chance and Deloitte support coverage of the #QueerAF podcast.
