Drag queen

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closeup of Dame Edna wearing sparkly blue dress, over-the-top eyeglass frames, and multiple finger rings
Drag queen Dame Edna performing at Civic Hotel, Sydney
The Feather Pride Flag is a symbol for the drag community, and those who are attracted to people in drag. The phoenix symbolizes the fires of passion which the drag community had in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, raising funds for research within the gay community, the flag was created by artist Sean Campbell in 1999 and had its first national use as an graphic element for a pride edition in GLT magazine in 2000.[1]
Cross-dressing
History of cross-dressing
Key elements
Modern drag culture
Sexual aspects
Sexual attraction
to cross-dressers
Other aspects
Passing as male
Passing as female
Organizations
Books

A drag queen is a person who usually dresses in hyper-feminized or gender non-conforming clothing, and often acts with exaggerated femininity and in feminine gender roles for the purpose of entertainment. Often, they will exaggerate certain characteristics such as make-up and eyelashes for comic, dramatic, or satirical effect. While drag is very much associated with gay men and gay culture, there are drag artists of all sexualities. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly in dedication, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once, or those who simply prefer clothing and makeup that is usually worn by the opposite sex in their culture. Drag queens can vary widely by class and culture. Other drag performers include drag kings, women who perform in male roles and attire; faux queens, who are women who dress in an exaggerated style to emulate drag queens; and faux kings, who are men who dress to impersonate drag kings.

There are many reasons people do drag including self-expression, comfort, transvestic fetishism, and spiritual reasons, as well as the higher-profile performing and entertaining. Drag can be a creative outlet, a means of self-exploration, and a way to make cultural statements. While the general public may be most familiar with the "high drag" of professional performance artists, drag is also part of regular life and street culture for many gender-nonconforming or gender-variant people, who may or may not consider what they do as "drag."

Drag queen activities among stage and street performers may include lip-syncing performances, live singing, dancing, participating in events such as gay pride parades, drag pageants, or at venues such as cabarets and discotheques. Some drag artists also engage in mix-and-mingle or hosting work in night clubs, such as drag bingo, and at private parties and events.

Terminology[edit]

Etymology[edit]

The origin of the term drag queen is uncertain.[2] The first recorded use of drag in reference to actors dressed in women's clothing is from 1870.[3]

Female impersonator[edit]

Rory O'Neill as Panti Bliss.

Another term for a drag queen is female impersonator.[4] Although this is still used, it is sometimes regarded as inaccurate, because not all contemporary drag performers are attempting to pass as women. Female impersonation has been and continues to be illegal in some places, which inspired the drag queen José Sarria to hand out labels to his friends reading, "I am a boy", so he could not be accused of female impersonation.[5] American drag queen RuPaul once said, "I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?" He also said, "I don't dress like a woman; I dress like a drag queen!".[6]

Alternative terms[edit]

4 individuals portraying women
Drag queens walking in a parade in São Paulo, Brazil.

Some drag queens may prefer to be referred to as "she" while in drag and desire to stay completely in character.[7] Other drag performers, like RuPaul, seem to be completely indifferent to which pronoun is used to refer to them; in his words, "You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee; I don't care! Just so long as you call me."[8]

Drag queens are sometimes called transvestites, although that term also has many other connotations than the term drag queen and is not much favored by many drag queens themselves,[9] the term tranny has been adopted by some drag performers, notably RuPaul,[10] and the gay male community[11] in the United States, but it is considered offensive to most transgender and transsexual people.[12]

Many drag performers refer to themselves as drag artists, as opposed to drag queens, as contemporary forms of drag have become nonbinary.[13][14]

History of drag[edit]

Europe[edit]

Pantomime dames[edit]

In the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, pantomime dames became a popular form of female impersonation in Europe.[15] This was the first era of female impersonation in Europe to use comedy as part of the performance, as opposed to the serious Shakespearean tragedies and Italian operas,[16] the dame became a stock character with a range of attitudes from "charwoman" to "grande dame" that was mostly used for improvisation.[16] The most famous and successful pantomime dame was Dan Leno. After the World Wars, the theater and movie scenes were changing and the use of pantomime dames was on the decline.[15]

America[edit]

Eugene d'Ameli, a white man, dressed in blackface as an African American woman for a minstrel show in the late 19th century

Minstrel shows[edit]

Development of the drag queen in the United States started with the development of the blackface minstrel show.[17] Originally the performers would only mock African American men, but as time went on they found it amusing to mock African American femininity as well. They performed in comedic skits, dances, and "wench" songs.[18] These minstrel shows and their "wench players" were used by white men to both mock and oppress women and African Americans.[18]

Vaudeville and female impersonators[edit]

Julian Eltinge as a female impersonator in the 1910s

The broad comedic stylings of the minstrel shows helped develop the vaudeville shows of the late 1800s to the early 1900s,[17] with this shift, the "wench players" became "prima donnas", and became more elegant and refined, while still retaining their comedic elements.[18] While the "wenches" were purely American creations, the "prima donnas" were inspired by both America and European cross-dressing shows, like Shakespearean actors and castrati,[18] with the United States shifting demographics, including the shift from farms to cities, Great Migration of African Americans, and an influx of immigrants, vaudeville's broad comedy and music expanded the audience from minstrelsy.[17] With vaudeville becoming more popular, it allowed female impersonators to become popular as well. Many female impersonators started with low comedy in vaudeville and worked their way up to perform as the prima donna.[15] Famous female impersonator Julian Eltinge found success in this and eventually made his way to the broadway stage performing as a woman.[15] At this time being a female impersonator was seen as something for the straight white male, and any deviation was punished.[17] Connection with sex work and homosexuality eventually lead to the decline of vaudeville during the Progressive Era.[17] Both the minstrelsy and vaudeville eras of female impersonation led to an association with music, dance, and comedy that still lasts today.[15]

Night clubs[edit]

In the early to mid-1900s, female impersonation had become tied to the LGBT community[dubious – discuss] and thus criminality, so it had to change forms and locations.[17] It moved from being popular mainstream entertainment to something done only at night in disreputable areas, such as San Francisco's Tenderloin.[17] Here female impersonation started to evolve into what we today know as drag and drag queens.[16] Drag queens such as José Sarria[19] and Aleshia Brevard[20] first came to prominence in these clubs.[17] People went to these nightclubs to play with the boundaries of gender and sexuality and it became a place for the LBGT community, especially gay men, to feel accepted. As LGBT culture has slowly become more accepted in American society, drag has also become more, though not totally, acceptable in today's society.[16]

Protests[edit]

Main articles: Cooper Do-nuts Riot, Compton's Cafeteria riot, Stonewall riots, and Invasion of the Pines

The Cooper Do-nuts Riot was a May 1959 incident in Los Angeles in which drag queens, lesbians, transgender women, and gay men rioted; it was one of the first LGBT uprisings in the United States.[21]

The Compton's Cafeteria riot, which involved drag queens and others, occurred in San Francisco in 1966,[22] it marked the beginning of transgender activism in San Francisco.[22]

On March 17, 1968, in Los Angeles, to protest entrapment and harassment by the LAPD, two drag queens known as "The Princess" and "The Duchess" held a St. Patrick's Day party at Griffith Park, a popular cruising spot and a frequent target of police activity. More than 200 gay men socialized through the day.[23]

Drag queens were also involved in the Stonewall riots, a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the LGBT community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The riots are widely considered to be the catalyst for the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.[24][25]

During the summer of 1976, a restaurant in Fire Island Pines, New York, denied entry to a visitor in drag named Terry Warren. When Warren's friends in Cherry Grove heard what had happened, they dressed up in drag, and, on July 4, 1976, sailed to the Pines by water taxi, this turned into a yearly event where drag queens go to the Pines, called the Invasion of the Pines.

Story time in libraries[edit]

In December 2015, Radar Productions and Michelle Tea developed the concept of "Drag Queen Story Hour".[26] Launched at the San Francisco Public Library, Drag Queen Story Hour was adopted by the Brooklyn Public Library in the summer of 2016, and has since traveled to various libraries, museums, bookstores, and recreation centers, and parks across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.[27]

Drag queen names[edit]

Man reading a book in a store
Advert for drag queen jobs as spoofed in Wild Side Story.

A drag queen may either pick or be given a drag name by a friend, sometimes called a "drag mother", the so named thus becoming known as a "drag daughter".[28] Drag mothers and drag daughters have a mentor-apprentice relationship. Drag 'families' were part of ball culture and drag 'houses' until the 1960s.[29]

Art of drag[edit]

man with long hair and a beard, wearing a radiant gold dress
Conchita Wurst, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014.

The process of getting into drag or into character can take hours. A drag queen may aim for a certain style, celebrity impression, or message with their look. Hair, make-up, and costumes are the most important essentials for drag queens.[30] Drag queens tend to go for a more exaggerated look with a lot more makeup than a typical feminine woman would wear.

With the complete look, drag queens often go out to clubs and bars, where they will typically perform an act which is called a "drag show."[31] Many drag queens do dress up for money by doing different shows, but there are also drag queens that have full-time jobs but still enjoy dressing up in drag as a hobby.[32]

Many parts of the drag show, and of the drag queens’ other intellectual properties, cannot be protected by intellectual property law. To substitute the lack of legal protection, drag queens revert to social norms in order to protect their intellectual property.[33]

In entertainment[edit]

Drag shows and venues[edit]

a drag queen putting on lip liner
A drag queen preparing stage make-up.

A drag show is an entertainment consisting of a variety of songs, monologues or skits featuring either single performers or groups of performers in drag meant to entertain an audience, they range from amateur performances at small bars to elaborately staged theatrical presentations. Many drag shows feature performers singing or lip-synching to songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime, or dancing, the performers often don elaborate costumes and makeup, and sometimes dress to imitate various famous female singers or personalities. Some events are centered around drag, such as Southern Decadence where the majority of festivities are led by the Grand Marshals, who are traditionally drag queens.[34]

In film[edit]

In music[edit]

a drag queen, holding a guitar above her head. She has a bright pink wig on
Miss Understood, who has appeared in several films and on television.

While some male music celebrities wear exaggerated feminine clothing as part of their show, they are not necessarily drag queens, for example, Boy George wears drag queen style clothes and cosmetics but he once stated he was not a drag queen.[36] However, RuPaul[37] is a professional drag queen performer and singer.

Examples of songs where lyrics refer to drag queens:

In television[edit]

What Would You Do?, airing since early 2008, has had episodes featuring drag queens.[38][39]

In mid-2008, RuPaul began producing RuPaul's Drag Race, a reality television game show which began airing in February 2009. The premise of the program has several drag queens compete to be selected by RuPaul and a panel of judges as "America's next drag superstar", it inspired the similar spin-off shows RuPaul's Drag U and RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars.

In 2018, American Idol featured a drag queen, Adam Sanders (drag name Ada Vox) as one of its contestants,[40] he made it to the top ten.[40]

Also in 2018, So You Think You Can Dance featured Jay Jackson (drag name Laganja Estranja) as one of its contestants,[41] he finished in eighth place.

In education[edit]

While drag queens have a prevalent status as entertainers, it is important to recognise the important role they play in educating people on gender roles and stereotyping. Professor Stephen Schacht of Plattsburgh State University of New York, began introducing his and his students experiences of attending a Drag Show to his gender/sexualities class to challenge his students ideas of dichotomy, over time he began inviting students to attend with him. He gathered from his students that after attending the drag show they had a new appreciation for gender and sexuality and often become very vocal about their new experiences in the classroom.[42]

Societal reception[edit]

Drag has come to be a celebrated aspect of modern gay life.[43] Many gay bars and clubs around the world hold drag shows as special parties. Several "International Drag Day" holidays have been started over the years to promote the shows; in the U.S. Drag Day is typically celebrated in early March.

A televised drag competition, RuPaul's Drag Race, is the most successful program on the Logo television network; in 2016, RuPaul's Drag Race won an Emmy award for "Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program."[44] However, its winners and contestants have yet to receive the same level of recognition as mainstream reality show contestants.

RuPaul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the television industry on March 16, 2018, making him the first drag queen to be given such an award.[45][46]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "Pride Flags Gallery". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2018-06-25. 
  2. ^ Baroni, Monica (2012) [1st pub. 2006]. "Drag". In Gerstner, David A. Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. New York: Routledge. p. 191. ISBN 978-1-136-76181-2. OCLC 815980386. Retrieved 27 April 2018. 
  3. ^ Felix Rodriguez Gonzales (26 June 2008). "The feminine stereotype in gay characterization: A look at English and Spanish". In María de los Ángeles Gómez González; J. Lachlan Mackenzie; Elsa M. González Álvarez. Languages and Cultures in Contrast and Comparison. Pragmatics & beyond new series v 175. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. p. 231. ISBN 978-90-272-9052-6. OCLC 860469091. Retrieved 29 April 2017. 
  4. ^ When Cross Dressing was a crime http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2015/03/12/tbt-when-cross-dressing-was-crime?page=full
  5. ^ ">> social sciences >> Sarria, José". glbtq. 1923-12-12. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  6. ^ Dr. Susan Corso (April 15, 2009). Drag Queen Theology. Retrieved: April 1, 2018.
  7. ^ "Understanding Drag". transequality.org. National Center for Transgender Equality. 2017-04-28. Retrieved 2018-03-13. 
  8. ^ Rupaul (June 1995), Lettin' It All Hang Out: An Autobiography, Hyperion Books, p. 139 
  9. ^ Ford, Zack. "The Quiet Clash Between Transgender Women And Drag Queens." ThinkProgress, 25 June 2014. Web. 9 September 2017.
  10. ^ Spargo, Chris (2012-01-15). "NEW: RuPaul's 'Tranny' Conroversy". NewNowNext. Retrieved 2013-10-06. 
  11. ^ Musto, Michael (2010-11-12). "Is "Tranny" So Bad?". Blogs.villagevoice.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-10-06. 
  12. ^ "Is 'Tranny' Offensive?". The Bilerico Project. 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2013-10-06. 
  13. ^ Knauf, Ana Sofia. "Person of Interest: Arson Nicki". The Stranger. Tim Keck. Retrieved 1 July 2018. 
  14. ^ Lam, Teresa. "Getting to Know Non-Binary Drag Artist Rose Butch". Hypebae. Retrieved 1 July 2018. 
  15. ^ a b c d e Moore, F. Michael. Drag!: Male and Female Impersonators on Stage, Screen, and Television: An Illustrated World History. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, 1994.
  16. ^ a b c d Baker, Roger. Drag: A History of Female Impersonation in the Performing Arts. NYU Press, 1994.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003), Wide-Open Town, University of California Press 
  18. ^ a b c d Bean, Annemarie (2001), Female Impersonation in Nineteenth-Century American Blackface Minstrelsy, New York University 
  19. ^ "The Drag Times." Drag, 1980. Archives of Sexuality.
  20. ^ "Finocchio's 1961 Revue One of LaMonte's Best". The Times. San Mateo, California. February 3, 1961. p. 23. Retrieved May 11, 2017. 
  21. ^ Moffitt, Evan (31 May 2015). "10 Years Before Stonewall, There Was the Cooper's Donuts Riot". Out Magazine. Here Media Inc. Retrieved 30 June 2017. 
  22. ^ a b Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2004). "San Francisco" in the Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered History in America, Ed. Marc Stein. Vol. 3. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 71–78.
  23. ^ Witt, Lynn, Sherry Thomas and Eric Marcus (eds.) (1995). Out in All Directions: The Almanac of Gay and Lesbian America, pg. 210. New York, Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-67237-8.
  24. ^ National Park Service (2008). "Workforce Diversity: The Stonewall Inn, National Historic Landmark National Register Number: 99000562". US Department of Interior. Retrieved January 21, 2013. 
  25. ^ "Obama inaugural speech references Stonewall gay-rights riots". North Jersey Media Group Inc. January 21, 2013. Archived from the original on July 23, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013. 
  26. ^ Lamarche, Una (19 May 2017). "Drag Queen Story Hour Puts the Rainbow in Reading". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 June 2017. 
  27. ^ "About Drag Queen Story Hour". Drag Queen Story Hour -- drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores. Drag Queen Story Hour. Retrieved 22 June 2017. 
  28. ^ Rupp, Leila J.; Taylor, Verta A. (2003-05-15). Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret. University of Chicago Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780226731582. 
  29. ^ "The Rainbow History Project: Drag in DC". Rainbow History Project. 2000–2007. Archived from the original on 2014-06-14. Retrieved 2007-10-20. 
  30. ^ "Dude to Diva: How to Become a Drag Queen | The Chronicle". Dukechronicle.com. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  31. ^ King, Mark. "A working life: the drag queen | Money". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  32. ^ "Tom Bartolomei: 10 Myths About Drag Queens". Huffingtonpost.com. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  33. ^ Sarid, Eden (2014). "Don't Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen – How Drag Queens Protect their Intellectual Property without Law". Florida International University Law Review. 10 (1). Retrieved 8 April 2016. 
  34. ^ "Southern Decadence Official Website". Southerndecadence.net. 2013-09-03. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  35. ^ "Hurricane Bianca (2016)". 
  36. ^ "Boy George: "I'M Not A Dragqueen!" At YouTube". YouTube.com. 2007-12-27. Retrieved 2014-03-01. 
  37. ^ Rupaul Biography Drag Queen Diaries
  38. ^ https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/video/parents-disapprove-drag-queen-sons-eat-56275264
  39. ^ https://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/drag-queens-harassed-cafe/story?id=12332984
  40. ^ a b "Facts About Ada Vox From "American Idol" You Need to Know". Goodhousekeeping.com. 2018-04-25. Retrieved 2018-06-01. 
  41. ^ "'Drag Race' Star Laganja Estranja Shows Off Sickening Moves on 'So You Think You Can Dance'". billboard.com. 2018-06-04. Retrieved 2018-06-08. 
  42. ^ "Browse journals by subject". Tandfonline.com. Retrieved 2018-06-01. 
  43. ^ Sarid, Eden (2014). "Don 't Be a Drag, Just Be a Queen—How Drag Queens Protect their Intellectual Property without Law". Florida International University Law Review. 10 (1): 142. 
  44. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race". Television Academy. Retrieved 2016-09-28. 
  45. ^ France, Lisa Respers (23 June 2017). "Hollywood Walk of Fame Class of 2018 revealed". CNN. Retrieved 21 February 2018. 
  46. ^ "RuPaul Is the First Drag Queen to Get a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame". 

External links[edit]

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