From GayCityNews.com:

“The Aggressives” documents the lives of six very different women, each of whom identifies herself with the concept of aggressives. The street word is AG, a term popular among women of color to describe females very much in touch with their masculinity. Historically, the words used to describe such women have been butch, passing woman, bull dagger, bull dyke, and stud. AG has joined this corner of the language of gender expression, as a positive word that these women use to communicate both empowerment and community…

The representation in Peddle’s film is principally black, though he sensitively includes Asian and Latina aggressives and their femme girlfriends. Audiences everywhere can see a world of gender expression that is almost Genet-like, with heightened femme and butch identities. Significantly, the AGs identify as female despite their amazing expression of masculine gender in hair, clothes, names, and role-playing.

Peddle takes his camera inside of a Newark contest hall where the best aggressive is to be chosen. The gender presentation would confuse even those most sensitive to varieties of masculine and feminine expression. These “men” are stunning in their strutting of female masculinity, with the swagger and self-confidence of seductive Olympians. The film offers a clear perspective on butch women who express their female masculinity gender while remaining identified as lesbians, rather than living a male identity in presentation or through medical intervention.

Men, in particular, will also learn much from how these aggressives treat the women they love. Peddle realistically shows expression of male braggadocio, but there is none of the dismissive and sometimes violent behavior some men express toward women they desire. It is important for these images to be seen on the screen, and not only by those who identify with femme/butch gender expression. It would be a loss if this film were simply nitched as such.

click over

Catch The Aggressives at BAM in Brooklyn, NY on Friday, August 26th.