Queer Moms Love Movies
You’ll Never Watch The Rocky Horror Picture Show The Same Way Again
The film’s secret connection to another cult classic reveals the truth behind one of Rocky’s most iconic characters
Romeo. Juliet. Hamlet. Macbeth. Riff Raff.
I’d tell you to find which one isn’t like the rest, but they’re all just as famous.
Few people since Shakespeare have characters that live on in as much infamy and pure adoration as those Richard O’Brien created in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But if not for a tiny viewing that held less than a hundred people, the world may never have discovered this cult classic.
Booked into the cramped 63-seat Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, the show sold out, transferred multiple times, ran for seven consecutive years, and has been playing somewhere in the world ever since. A 1975 screen version became the ultimate cult movie, dominating the late-night circuit and inspiring devotees to pitch up weekend after weekend in wigs, corsets, fishnets, and slap. — Rocky Horror’s Richard O’Brien: ‘I should be dead. I’ve had an excessive lifestyle’
The hit musical introduced audiences to the eponymous character Doctor Frank-N-Furter (made timeless by Tim Curry). The film adaptation included Richard, too. He played Riff Raff.
But wait!
Richard is also a non-binary transgender activist. But if you think that’s where his secrets end…
It was only meant to run three weeks
The Rocky Horror Show follows two wholesome American sweethearts, Brad and Janet, who stumble upon a spooky tumbledown mansion where they are relieved of their inhibitions by Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.
During the show’s first transfer, “the penny dropped that there was a life to this piece that we hadn’t anticipated. I was dispassionate about it. I was one of those people who held off getting too excited about things in case they got taken away.” That said, he will admit to some astonishment at its longevity. “It’ll be 50 years old in three years’ time. It was only meant to run three weeks!” — Rocky Horror’s Richard O’Brien: ‘I should be dead. I’ve had an excessive lifestyle’ (The Guardian)
Dark City Connection
Alex Proyas based the Strangers on Richard O’Brien’s character Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show.
Covered in the article “Dark World (Volume 29, issue 23 of Cinefantastique), Proyas said, “I had Richard in mind physically when I wrote the character, because I had these strange, bald-looking men with an ethereal, androgynous quality.”
But while Mr. Hand may have been based on Riff Raff, you may be surprised to learn just who Dr. Frank N Furter was based on (I’ll tell you at the end of the article).
Does Richard think Rocky Horror contributed to the discussion of gender and sexuality?
“Most definitely so. That wasn’t intended but I’m grateful it’s helped other people feel less isolated or lonely.” It helped him, too. “Being transgender is a nightmare for many people. I’m very lucky that I’m in showbiz where I can be this eccentric person and therefore it’s allowed. If I were a primary school teacher maybe that wouldn’t be the case.” — Rocky Horror’s Richard O’Brien: ‘I should be dead. I’ve had an excessive lifestyle’ (The Guardian)
Feminizing His Body
He started shaving his scalp in the mid-1970s in response to the wear-and-tear from a series of dye jobs. Does he shave his body hair, too? “Ooh, we’re getting a bit personal here, aren’t we? As it happens, yes. It feminises the body. All shaving is feminising. I wonder when men first started shaving their faces. That must have been an interesting point in time.” — Rocky Horror’s Richard O’Brien: ‘I should be dead. I’ve had an excessive lifestyle’ (The Guardian)
Coming out to his kids
Speaking to PinkNews (offsite), Richard expressed a struggle that so many of us shared.
“I’d been fighting, going to therapy, treating what I was as though it were some kind of illness to be cured. But actually, no, I was basically transgender, and just unhappy.” — Richard O’Brien: ‘Society should not dictate gender’
It’s humbling — and encouraging — to see a pioneer with such a lasting legacy struggle with such common obstacles to self-discovery.
And the way his kids rose to support him coming out made me love them just as much as a fresh hot dog. When it came time to tell them their dad was trans, their response was: “Dad, and your point is?”
Richard has now taken estrogen for quite a few years, long enough to know they are happy with the results.
“It takes the edge off the masculine, testosterone-driven side of me and I like that very much. I think I’ve become a nicer person in some ways, slightly softer. For the first time in my life, I’ve started to put on a little bit of weight, which I like.” — Richard O’Brien: ‘Society should not dictate gender’
But while Richard has experienced plenty of physical changes due to the estrogen alone, they have no plans to reshape their body through surgery.
And here, unfortunately, is where a lot of trans people will recoil faster than Brad discovering that’s not Janet…that’s Frank!
Y’all remember that Brad realized he preferred Frank anyway, right?
So did Janet.
Just remember Frank is based on someone from Richard O’Brien’s life in particular. I’ll tell you who at the end.
A Hero From Transexual, Transylvania
Is it fair to call Richard O’Brien a hero?
You bet your trans buns.
Unfortunately, he’s an imperfect hero.
Richard O’Brien proudly identifies as a transgender parent of three.
But…Richard also said trans women aren’t real women.
Then he said trans women will never be real women.
“I think anybody who decides to take the huge step with a sex change deserves encouragement and a thumbs-up. As long as they’re happy and fulfilled, I applaud them to my very last day. But you can’t ever become a natural woman.” — Richard O’Brien speaking to The Guardian
The Rocky Horror Rowling Show
Does Richard O’Brien still hold that view on trans identity?
“You and I have to be very careful here,” he says, sounding wary for the first time. “We’ve seen what’s been happening with JK Rowling. I think anybody who decides to take the huge step with a sex change deserves encouragement and a thumbs-up. As long as they’re happy and fulfilled, I applaud them to my very last day. But you can’t ever become a natural woman. I think that’s probably where Rowling is coming from.” — Richard O’Brien speaking to The Guardian
What is Richard trying to say about gender?
As much as I wanted to grab my trans-colored pitchfork when I read Richard’s comments, I read a little further and can see where they’re coming from.
“If society allowed you to grow up feeling it was normal to be what you are, there wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think the term ‘transvestite’ or ‘transsexual’ would exist: you’d just be another human being.” — Richard O’Brien: ‘Society should not dictate gender’
Speaking to Jo Fidgen for the BBC (offsite) back in 2013, Richard spoke at length on their transgender experiences and how that has informed their perspective.
“It’s my belief that we are on a continuum between male and female. There are people who are hardwired male and there are people who are hardwired female, but most of us are on that continuum and I believe myself probably to be about 70% male, 30% female.” — Richard O’Brien: ‘I’m 70% man’
So while Richard missed just how varied people with trans experiences can be…he’s still here! Transgender Soapbox may in fact occasionally orbit Transylvania.
As our planets pass by each other, let me send you this brief musical passage.
Having trans experiences VS being trans
Some of us are trans. Some of us just have trans experiences.
Some of us were once one gender and became another. Men become women. Women become men. I understand how confusing that can be.
Others of us have always been one gender but wore drag until it was safe to remove the disguise.
A lot of us faced obstacles to gender-affirming therapy and medical treatment that would have made our gender obvious a long time ago.
This doctor better be a hot dog specialist
Quoted in an article for the BBC , Dr. Barrett asserts that the problem comes from gender-non-conforming people feeling pressured “to fit in to a society that that thinks in terms of just two sexes.”
“It may well be that biological findings report that, in fact, everybody’s on a spectrum. It’s just that the way society works, most people don’t think of themselves as on any kind of a spectrum at all.
“The same is probably true of sexual orientation. Most people don’t describe their own sexual orientation as being on a spectrum although actually, practically speaking, it very much is.” — BBC: ‘I’m 70% man’
Just so, Richard thinks the UK and presumably the world will do away with gender-based boxes altogether.
In the meantime, which box does Richard O’Brien tick when he must give a box a tick?
“I tick the M,” he says. “But I would quite like to have Other to tick.”
Let’s do the time warp…one more time
I don’t like what Richard said about trans folks.
Trans men are men.
In my view, it’s not so much that anything could prevent a trans woman from becoming a woman. It’s that a trans woman is already a woman. It’s that a trans man is already a man.
Richard is also eighty years old. They came a long way to get this far.
You’re an imperfect ally, Dick.
But you are an ally.
If you find yourself saying something dumb again, I’ve even got the perfect way for you to beg forgiveness from the LGBTQ+ community.
The steps are as follows:
It’s just a jump through medical hoops And then a drive one hundred miles out of the way Put your hands on your estrogen-widened hips Bring your codpiece in tight But it’s the pelvic thrust That really drives you insane Let’s do the Trans Warp Again
PS. I told you I’d tell you who Frank N Furter was based on!!!
“He’s a hedonistic, self-indulgent voluptuary, and that’s his downfall. He’s an ego-driven…um…I was going to say, a bit like my mother.” — Richard O’Brien: ‘Society should not dictate gender’ (PinkNews)
