AnonymousThis is an interview from After Ellen where Teri answers your question!
AE: As a part of the queer community, I need to know where your name, Teri Gender Bender, came from.
TGB: That’s a good question — it’s actually more literal than it sounds. I want to take your gender and I want to bend it and throw it out the window. And just see you for who you are. I don’t care if you’re a boy or a girl; I’m just going to love you for who you are.
Actually, Malcolm X has been a bit of an influence on me as well. The way his name got to be Malcolm X is that he said his ancestor’s last names were stolen from them. Then they were given a white name —and he rejected it, he said “I don’t know what my last name is — I’m Malcolm X.” Then when I was reading a lot of feminist books, like Simone de Beauvoir, or Christina Sommers, bell hooks and especially Betty Friedan I started thinking about it — my mother’s last name was given to her by a man and so on — even if I were to marry and keep my last name, it would still be my father’s last name and therefore be given to me by a man. I love my father with all my heart, it’s still a masculine last name. So, I wanted to start off fresh.
