Park Lounge, Femme Fun

The Sydney Femme Guild is holding their annual Mardi Gras picnic at Enmore Park – and everyone is invited.

It’s a social event for femmes and femme-loving people to lounge with friends, meet new people, laze around or get active with games. The Sydney Femme Guild will be holding their Park Lounge picnic at shady Enmore Park this weekend, and are calling on all femmes and their allies to join them for a day of socialising and fun.

Femme Guild formed about five years ago after a number of existing femme groups took the initiative to consolidate as a queer feminist collective promoting solidarity, visibility and femme-pride within and beyond LGBTIQ communities.

Today, they count about 600 people as members on Facebook, while Femme Guild president Asha Zappa tells SX that they are also expecting about 50 of them to take part in this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras parade.

In previous years, the Guild has organised the Femme in the Frame conference, the Checkerball party, the Hanky Panky party, the Love Boat Cabaret Night, the Pop-Up Powder room at Inquisition, and Femme-Cha.  

“Last  year Femme Guild held a couple of ‘Femme-Cha’ events and these were really popular as a way to meet, eat and socialise, in an easy, daytime way.

“We hope that people new to Femme Guild, or those curious might find a picnic a good way to find out more about Femme Guild and meet others,” Zappa says.

“We decided on holding it on the weekend between Fair Day and the Parade as lots of new people usually come to the stall at Fair Day, and it’s a great follow up, and also we can talk about the parade – some people might bring their parade outfits or props along to work on these at the picnic.”

The Guild sees ‘femme’ as a “gender-free term, and self-identified”, and as such they do not have ‘typical members’ other than common ground many share around queer, feminist, femme-positive activism and expression.

Stella Delight, vice-president of the Guild, tells SX that days such as Park Lounge offer a great opportunity for femmes to come together but to also discuss some of the common misconceptions that continue to abound.

“There are lots of misconceptions and limitations around ‘femme’, and we seek to provide a forum and a range of activities to promote solidarity and visibility of the vast range of femme expression and femme identity,” Delight says.  

“Many femmes have experienced similar oppressions around expressions of femininity, things like ‘but you look straight’ or ‘wearing make-up is misogynist’.

“The Guild is a space where femmes can explore their femme-ness without judgement, as well as a statement to the broader community that femme is a legitimate identity, and one that we are proud of.”

Although some picnic rugs, cushions and afternoon treats will be provided, femmes and their friends going to Sunday’s picnic are encouraged to bring some drinks, food, lounging supplies as well as board games and the like.

Photo: Kellie Lafranchi

Park Lounge: Sydney Femme Guild Picnic takes place 3pm-6pm on Sunday, February 26 at Enmore Park, Enmore. Free, all welcome. For more information about Sydney Femme Guild, visit www.femmeguild.com