The book is littered with ‘Courtney Facts’ to help bring you up to speed on the potentially bewildering spray of queer terminology I learned a few new ones myself. Beneath Courtney’s wig, Jenek’s brain is working, taking an almost scholarly approach to issues of gender, sexuality, and society that would make him the talk of Britain and eventually the winner of Celebrity Big Brother UK. The great thing about Courtney Act is that she’s not a “dumb blonde”, even if she choses to act like it sometimes. The glorious, vibrant years before apps and smartphones would change the queerscape. As someone who grew up in the same queer scene, his stories of Sydney’s gay mile, Oxford Street, as it was in the 90s brought a warm smile to my face. There are plenty of familiar touchstones, discovering the gay scene and generally “growing up gay”. Jenek is a storyteller and has obviously spent a lot of time looking at his own life and experiences, learning lessons from the events that shaped both him and Courtney. A stage school child (growing up with pop-duo The Veronicas) Jenek is more than happy to play mother and serve the tea, but neither Shane nor Courtney are mean souls and the temperature is kept hot enough to titillate, but not to offend.
Jenek tells it all here from a childhood questioning gender with loving parents, to experimenting with drag and slowly crafting the persona that would burst onto Australian television screens in Australian Idol, then later RuPaul’s Drag Race, Dancing with the Stars and Celebrity Big Brother UK.
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