I'm Doing Drag?!
So, today's post is slightly selfish of me, but it raises to me an interesting possible debate.
Every year my organization holds a Drag Show, with 100% of our profits going to benefit the AIDS Resource Center of Ohio. It brings in over a thousand dollars, and it's our most popular event of the year. We fly in a notable drag queen to emcee for us, and then we have acts from numerous local talents, students, and our E-Board members, with a finale of everyone in our organization with the testicular fortitude to jump up on stage with us. Well the strangest thing happened this year... somehow I ended up on the E-Board. Crap. I have to do a number...
OK, so my first fear in this is "Oh my God I am not getting up on stage, I have huge calves that no dress can hide, I can't dance, I'm gonna look like a fool! And I'm going to do all this in a dress?!" And my second thought is "Oh my God, what number should I do? I could rock some old school Janet... ooh or what about the Yeah Yeah Yeahs? Oh, I've got it! Coin Operated Boy! Shit, I don't have a boy to BE coin operated! Oh my God, what am I doing for choreography?" (The spaz session continues, but I'll spare you the rest.)
So being me I've been talking everyone's ear off about this prospect, and met with some surprising results. First, I've been told I'd make a good drag queen... which I'm still unsure if that's a compliment or an insult. I've been told it'll be funny... sometimes that's just the message I get when I tell someone and they immediately guffaw. But I've also been told that drag is gross, and disgusting. Or creepy. Or "wrong". Um, what? I'm dressing up to put on a show to raise money for AIDS research and treatment. Lots of people do it. Birds do it, bees do it, heck even educated fleas do it (Oh my God maybe I should do THAT song!). What's wrong with drag?
Well, from talking to people, and mind you this is almost exclusively within the LGBT community that I've discussed this, people find it creepy because they can't tell who's what underneath, or they think it's just "weird to do", and one of my friends says she hates the idea because she thinks guys in drag make hot girls sometimes and that could get weird. OK, that third one I can almost get on board with... I mean I've seen some drag kings that if I had a few drinks with mistakes could happen. But hey, there are trans men I think are hot, and there's nothing wrong with that right? I mean some of you guys reading this were at Camp last year... remember Justin Timberlake? I know I do! Wink wink...
But I have to wonder where this drag-phobia is coming from. Is some of it transphobia as well? Even within our community I see and hear people putting forth the message that "men should be men and women should be women"... which is funny because your girlfriend is wearing a backwards ball cap, has a hoop earring coming out of her lip, and owns more Abercrombie polos than I even thought that store MADE. My stepdad would definitely have a few colorful words to say about that.
And on another note, since when does drag = trans? From my experience, there is some correlation. I know in Dayton a lot of transwomen do drag for money, because there's not many places around us that will treat them as employable people like anyone else. So yeah for us there's a higher correlation of trans people doing drag than honestly there SHOULD be. Hell, some of them even just enjoy it. It looks fun doesn't it? It's like high class (admittedly sometimes not as high class... Buff Faye? Yeah, you know what I'm talkin about...) karaoke, plus a fashion show. I like both those things! But trans is not drag, and drag is not trans. Drag is performance, and fun, and entertainment. Trans is life. Trans is identity. Trans is the realization of who you really are.
And as far as this disdain or discomfort goes with people not acting like they "should"... shouldn't we be a little more receptive to that? Or does tolerance and advocacy only extend as far as we must push it to include ourselves?
Hopefully some people jump in on this discussion, I think it's definitely something worth getting other opinions on. I'll admit my experience and knowledge in this area is vague at best, and likely ignorant. So please, educate me!
Also... anyone have any ideas for my performance? Pretty please?
4 comments
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Good Points
"And as far as this disdain or discomfort goes with people not acting like they "should"... shouldn't we be a little more receptive to that? Or does tolerance and advocacy only extend as far as we must push it to include ourselves?"
That's a really really good point. I was at a conference this weekend and went to a session called Gender Identity, Transmasculinity, and Transphobia facilitated by a FTM who made another good point:
"Transphobia is sexism."
Like you said Drag does not mean trans. And like MLK said - "Intolerance anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." There can be intolerance even in a community that may be viewed as progressive. Differences in culture and social norms affect it. People always need to be educated and there must be someone that has the courage to do that, even if the idea isn't popular. I identify as a heterosexual male and I make mistakes all the time re: what I say or even how I think. We must allow people to grow, while challenging norms and behavior.
Now re: your drag show I won a contest like this in college raising money as well for a sorority. I used Christina Aguilara. It went over well and I can offer dancing tips, and I wore a man thong, cut off jean shorts, and a sweeeeeet top from my former place of employment, Charlotte Russe. The crowd went bananas. B.A.N.A.N.A.S.
Drag and Trans
Transgender, in the definition most commonly used today, reads "may include anyone who deviates from our socierty's socially constructive binary system of gender" (there are more variations on this than words in the sentence).
With this definition, which looks as Transgender as an identity (why I like it) it MAY include individuals who perform in drag. I have been involved with the drag community for a few years on various levels (balls, pageantry, bar shows, benefit shows, college shows, etc.) Some of my peers idenitfy as Transgender, where others may not. Some of the most "realistic" queens often will not ("I am just a dyke who does drag" and/or "honey, it makes me money, but that is all") For others, it may be part of their transistioning process, and/or part of their rejection of the social constructions of drag (I personally LOVE biological females who like to be drag queens and biological males who perform as kings - usually there is some underlining political commentary and/or shock value; this is, however, not always welcomed by all drag kings and drag queens).
Drag culture is, itself, a unique culture within the LGBTQ community - and there are some facisnating stories out there (I suggest the book "Mother Camp") Within the drag community there are arguments over what is drag? Who does drag well? Who will you perform drag for (ie. the performer, the radical queer audience, the LGBT audience, or the non-lgbtq audience)?
What is often forgotten is how much drag has played in Queer history - and continues to be an instrumental part of movement. I shudder to think of folks whose limited exposure to drag has been a buffet of "flawless" queens lyp-synching to the latest Beyonce ballad. Whereas that has its place, if that is the drag you know, I say go out and find that seedy club - the one you hear only "old folks" (cough) "people in their 40's" (cough) "where all the druggies and male escorts hang." There you may find something straight out of a John Water's film. A 300 lb queen in a fishnet outfit - mascara running down her face because the A/C doesn't work - she's just finished her "ode to Ann Coulter" where she brought out a mannequin and chopped it up with a chainsaw while belting out Salt n' Pepper's "None of your business". Next up is a drag queen with a full beard and hairy legs (he's a construction worker by day) with a big lollipop and and blonde pipply longstocking pigtails and he's singing a whitney houston melody for his commentary on Lindsay Lohan (he has powered sugar ready for the climax).
That, folks, is drag in its purest form.
Peace and Love
J'Lissabeth
PS - oh, for suggestions on your first time out in drag:
1. Never start with a ballad
2. Classics sell themselves (i.e. - Like a Virigin - everyone knows it, all you have to do is show up and roll around on the floor - everyone loves it - classics are always a good choice for a first run).
PPS - for those of you booking for schools in the fall, note that Miss P (www.myspace.com/missp_diva - a new website is under construction) is a great MC/Host to bring in - she can give you a PG, PG-13, R or X-rated show (negociations in the contracts) and can even bring a whole cast with her (She brought 5 queens, 2 kings (all national title holders) for $2000 plus travel total = she will negociate). She will come by herself and/or with Honey Graham (who does gospel) pretty cheap.
I run into this all the time
I run into this all the time most especially when I'm dating or out at the club. don't get me wrong I'll admit I'm a lil weird I'm a genderqueer in love with drag but at the same time much of the roots of homophobia are based in sexism and our society's obsession with a black and white view of sex and gender I'm constatly saddened to find that members of the LGBTQ community can be so intolerant of gender diversity
Credit Where Credit's Due
PS: The above pictured queen is Nina Flowers... and she's fierce as hell bitches. If you don't know her I definitely recommend watching Ru Paul's Drag Race. Just for her, Bebe Zahara Benet, and Ongina. I loved them all :)
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