Conformity, Power relationships, and the scene

Warning. This may make heavy reading. If you have not done so already, please engage the contents of your cranial cavity now.

Since my 'storming out' of the City (of London - where I worked as a stockmarket broker) in a bitchfit worthy of the queen herself, I've been left thinking about the impact of conformity, the desire to conform; and the urge to disobey, that appears inherant in todays western capitalist society.
I write this having had no sleep, following a night out of epic proportions, followed by a 13 hour day at work.
In about an hour, i'll be slamming back redbull as if it were tequila, on another bender.

What is it that drives so many of us to hit the scene in such a big way?

There are accounts, studies, and plenty of good old fashioned 'common sense' which suggest that LGBT(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people party harder, take more drugs, drink more and generally abuse themselves more than straight identifying people.
However, my thoughts here apply to all of 'youth' culture, including those who consider themselves 'young at heart' (ie 30-40 year olds still out on the scene regularly, pulling and drinking like they did 20 years ago).
I think:
We conform at work, day in, day out.
We hit the bars and clubs to try to escape that conformity
Through doing this, we merely exchange one type of conformity for another
We conform to the ideals of what (in my case) a gay man 'should' be, wear, look like etc.
I think there is only one way to escape, and that is to be non-conformist by conforming. (Confused? I sure as hell am!)

A french philospoher, a man by the name of Michel Foucault, suggested that the very act of opposing something reinforces that which you oppose. For instance, lets take the Mayday riots.

People get together to smash stuff up in the name of anti-capitalism
Joe Public sees this through the filter of perceptions fed to him by a capitalist society.
Joe public sees a load of yobs smashing stuff up, and is quiet glad when the police come along and arrest everyone.
Capitalism has been re-inforced in the mind of the very person who was supposed to be set free.

Anti war protests of epic proportions get ignored. Why? Because, hey, they're protesting loudly, thats just what protesters do.
Surely it would be more effective for 1000 people to stand in parliment square in white shirts and suits, absolutely silent, in neat lines. Why would this be more effective? Because it fails to conform to what a protest 'should' be, which makes people uncomfortable.

To get back on track, lets take an example closer to home.
Me..
I try and set an example on the London gay scene, so i'll extend that to here. And, I'm a gay man, i'm 'supposed' to love to talk about me...
I can comfortably say that i'm as camp as a line of pink tents. I have a stylist, whom I address as 'dahling'. I answer the phone 'yahhh' or 'hey girlfriend!'. You get the general idea.
Now, I'd like you to take a look at my profile picture, if you dont already know what I look like. Not exactly what you'd expect, is it? It certainly wasnt what half the bouncers in Soho expected when I got it done. Luckily, Im VIP in a lot of places, so they didnt decline me entry (except when I had a line of fish behind me. kidding!).

I'd like to point out that i'm a punk gone camp, not a queen gone 'punk chic'.

Who why would a punk go camp? Why not?
I take on aspects of as many cultures as I can, blending and fusing them in a truly unique way. It's what punk is about. Blurring boundaries and DIY'ing your culture. Everyone is unique.
I use aspects of the 'screaming queen' subculture in satire, in a parody to comment on the state of society. It's also quite fun - give it a try for a night! My detachment from it all, means I can pick up and drop mannerisms as if i'm deciding what shoes to wear (which take 2 seconds for me - I only have 3 pairs!).

By sounding, acting, dressing similar, conforming to the sterotype in everyway but my attitude and my hair, I conform to neither the 'gay' culture, nor the punk subculture. I dont conform to 'working' culture, or any culture to speak of. I'm conforming the best I can, and that in itself is an act of non-conformity, for a punk.
I'm starting to cut myself away from this discourse which binds us all.
Next on the adgenda is to de-humanise my pronoun.
Following the great work of Pig and Tomboi (two very influential gender-queer activists here in the UK), i'm thinking about adopting 'it' as my pronoun. Possibly even 'she', to make people as uncomfortable as I can. But to step outside of gender, one must dehumanise oneself, refer to oneself as an object, be an 'it'.
Its a very interesting concept to me. It says a lot about the bipolar nature of society.

Watch this space, folks. I ain't an artist, i'm a feckin work of art!