Cover and back cover art for Queen drummer Roger Taylor’s solo album, FUN IN SPACE (1981). CREEPY art by Jim Laurier, sculpt by Tim Staffell.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing Roger Taylor doing an interview in which he said that when he was young, he was always mistaken for a girl. I jumped up. Ally detected. Because that was me, right? Blue eyes, blonde hair, feminine features. Everybody always mistook me for a girl, it was one of the great frustrations of my childhood, I hated it.
At the beach once, I got hit by a ball. I turned around and this old man said to this young girl, “Go ask that pretty girl if you can have your ball back.” I was devastated, depressed. I still remember it, so go figure.
A sports event at the local football club. “Girls on one side, boys on the other,” says one of the volunteers, someone who obviously doesn’t like children yet for some reason signed up to organize games for them. The volunteer sees me on the boys’ side and says, “What are you doing over there? Are you deaf?” Devastated.
First day of high school, this troll abortion walked up to me and asked, smirking, “Are you a boy or a girl?” Christ, he’s in his teens and still can’t tell the difference, well good luck with that. But instead I said nothing of course—devastated.
It still happens sometimes, though there’s a difference now, a big difference. I’m not devastated anymore. I now consider it a compliment. *bats eyelashes*
