The Vagine Regime

What exactly is the Vagine Regime and what is your involvement?

 
The Vagine Regime is a collective of queer derby folks from around the world.  We’ve got mad reppin’ from skaters in Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, San Francisco, Toronto...it’s crazy!  It all started as a harebrained idea over beers, and a MySpace page was started.  Within a week we had almost 300 friends and have grown to over 500 today.  All of them are derby skaters, refs, scorekeepers, super fans, etc. (we don’t add random bands, people, businesses, etc.)

 
Since our inception we’ve made our presence known all over the place, including throwing (in my humble opinion) the best parties at RollerCon and Nationals, annihilating The Caulk Suckers at RollerCon, and representing queer derby and our support of gay marriage at the Prop 8 protests.

 
Team Vagine, our scrimmage/bouting team, has plans in the works to take over some Pride events next summer, so stay tuned, we may be coming to your city!  We are made up of some amazingly talented skaters from around the country, including the likes of Ivanna S. Pankin and Trish the Dish of the San Diego Derby Dolls, Demanda Riot of the B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls, Jackie Daniels and Quarterboy of Grand Raggidy and Miss Fortune of Rat City.

 
Oh, and my involvement is that I started it.  With the encouragement of Gaygan (The Chicago Outfit), and the help of Chaos Fury (Bellingham Roller Betties), Bliss Bomb’her (B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls), Fighty Almighty (currently unincorporated), Tine Bomb (The Chicago Outfit), and the infinite wisdom of Ivanna S. Pankin’ (San Diego Derby Dolls) we’ve been able to get some pretty good momentum going and have done some totes awesome stuff.

 

What do you hope to gain with this organization?

Well, lemmie tell ya.  To be honest, it started as a joke about a way to get some bootay at derby events.  And well, it has actually worked that way for lots of folks (we’re makin’ the airlines hella money by way of newly twitterpeeted derby beaus flying back & forth to see each other).  But really, it’s a way for queer derby folks to stay connected, to support each other, and to feel like a community.  Many of us, especially in small towns, don’t have a lot of queer presence around us – when you connect the queer community with derby, for us, it’s pretty much heaven on earth.

Who can be a part of the Vagine Regime?

Anyone who’s queer identified and is involved with derby, basically.  We invite any queer, gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, genderqueer, transsexual, swinger, kink, etc. identified person who is involved with derby to call themselves a member!  In the great words of Fighty Almighty, “Honey, if you ain’t strictly dickly, you’re one of us.”  We also have a ridiculously large group of straight VR supporters, who we friggin’ love to death (shouts out to our favorite honorary members Sweet Mary Pain, Scarlene, and Boss Hogg).

What is your favorite thing about roller derby?

Oh, definitely the camaraderie and the community, which was the obvious impetus behind starting The Vagine Regime, but also the athleticism.  Roller derby, for a lot of people, is the sport that non-sports-type people are drawn to play.  I think it has so much more to offer than your typical recreational league or Saturday morning sports game, and it just seems to suit a lot of our personalities better.  It really showed me that I had the potential to be good at a sport.  That I could actually do that twenty minute endurance drill without giving up on myself, that I could do that extra lap around the track for those four extra points, and that I could get all these weird muscles in strange places!

 
Where do you see roller derby in five years?

 
As the sport that all queer women around the world go to see on a regular basis.  The Vagine Regime shall be a household name, and its games will be broadcast during happy hour at every lesbian bar in every town and city.  And in five years, I shall kick ass at derby, and won’t feel like I have to vomit every time I finish jamming.

What advice would you give to newbies?

Go with the flow.  Have an opinion, but don’t be a douche bag, it’s a democracy after all.  Don’t make excuses for yourself or you’ll just disappoint yourself.  Show up to practice, it’s the single easiest way to get better, and join The Vagine Regime.  Holler!

Are there any derby girls that you idolize?

 
Kitt Turbo—hands down.  The B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls vs. Philly game at Nationals was her last bout.  She’s retiring, and I’m so sad.  I had the ridiculous good fortune to have her as a coach and will use what I learned by listening to and watching her for the rest of my derby career.  She’s kind of a twinkle toes too.  Love it.

 
Oh yeah and Derringer.  Man, just watch her.  She skates in the middle of the pack, looking over everyone’s heads, and then just moves her team members around like chess pieces!  It’s amazing to watch.

 
Anything else you want the world to know about you or the Vagine Regime?

The Vagine Regime hella hearts Team Dance Party.