Drag Queens : Lifestyle Or Disguise

Furthermore, in spite of women gaining independence they started to shock society by their rebellious fashion styles and attitudes. Their rebellious attitudes were shown mainly through fashion choices: hemlines got raised, more jewelry became worn, makeup got heavier and hair became shorter.1 According to the 1920’s Vanity Fair, these magazines allowed people to stay updated on Women’s Suffrage and fashion ideas. In the light of, 1920’s Vanity Fair, many of the images shown were of women’s fashion which consisted of ‘Flappers’ who were the progressive, sexually liberated woman of the 1920’s.45

This piece has a woman looking at her reflection in a shattered mirror, the bold text reads, ‘You Are Not Yourself.’ I chose to discuss this piece first because of its relevance to our most recent reading, The Last Time I Wore A Dress, by Daphne Scholinski. It encapsulates the stereotype that society has created for what is considered appropriate and inappropriate for someone to identify as a female. Throughout the book, Daphne struggles with her gender identity, she writes, “It was the doctors who came up with the idea that I was “an inappropriate female” – that my mouthy ways were a sign of deep unease in my female nature and that if I learned tips about eyeliner and foundation, I’d be a lot better off” (Scholinski 6). In our lecture about

Fatema Mernissi’s essay “Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem” shares her experience when she enters a department store in New York and is told she is too big when she can’t find a skirt her size. After being told she is too big, Mernissi continues on to question the sales lady. The sales lady then tells her that being a size six is a “normal” size. Immediately, it is noticeable that Mernissi isn’t too fond with the sales lady comment. The theme in Mernissi’s essay is the idea of women accepting the fact that men and society tell them how they should look in order for them to be beautiful. For example in the essay Mernissi questions as to why women accept this and how exactly does this work. By this, Mernissi shows her concern as to why women not only accept it, but also practice it.

However, this show has recently taken over social media and has changed the way society views drag as well as what it stands for. Being able to get a first hand look at these men’s personal stories as well as being able to see their identity and what it means to them has given society a clearer and deeper understanding as to what drag really is.

Gender norms surround every person in every culture, even though they have variety in each culture, they are still real and still impact individuals who stand out from the norms. Leslie Feinberg's book “Stone Butch Blues” shows how hard it is to challenge gender in the 1960’s when homosexuality and the transgender movement was something that was just starting up. Leslie shows the reader that just by existing in a transphobic environment ze is challenging what it means to be a man or a woman, and more importantly, what’s in between. Leslie shows that gender isn’t just black and white, it’s a spectrum of colours.

These physical expressions through “processes of non-traditional literacy production, gender/race/sexuality articulation,” is presented in ways that outside of these spaces, would be “definitionally obscene,” much like the harassment and violence that transgender and gay individuals, along with drag queens, often encountered in 1980s hegemonic spaces (Gregory 28). “The irony is that the very real experience of difference, the heightened awareness that it brings, should help to create a disguise so immaculate that nothing remains but the in-joke of one 's private knowledge,” proving that successful gender performances are not innate nor natural, arguments that 1980s heteronormativity argued to justify oppressive power hierarchies (Hentzi 36). These performances exposed the truth of outside society’s discomfort and defensiveness of their beloved and seemingly meaningful gender, race, sexual, and class boundaries. This is because “if men can be women, blacks can be white, the poor can be rich, and gays or lesbians can be straight (and vice versa in each of these examples), then the necessity and inevitability of these boundaries become suspect,” and these boundaries can indeed be crossed and ceased (Schacht 148). 1980s balls ultimately could prove that “hierarchical borders that previously demarcated superiority and subordination would lose their omnipotent meaning” and these

Furthermore, a few of his plays are written about drag queens and others about being gay. Mr. Fierstein grew up in a time when being gay was a very hard lifestyle to be open about. Over the decades the support group lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community or better known as LGBT, has supported the mass movement worldwide. Mr. Fierstein set out to illustrate to the world that it is ok to be yourself, and that the LGBT community will not accept anymore bigotry. His plays focus on the hardships faced by the oppressed and by the tyrants.

Conference coordinator Samantha Jo Dato said, “It’s about honoring what the trans movement was, what it looked like, where it came from. We’re here to remember that we are all in a marginalized situation and these are our roots.”

“The woman who does not require validation from anyone is the most feared individual on the planet” (Mohadesa Najumi). Essentially, femininity is the art of being a woman. Through fashion in the 1920’s, a new kind of femininity blossomed enthralling both men and women. As illustrated during the Jazz Age, a wave of women rejected the damsel in distress outlook and began channeling their inner Femme Fatale.

Building her credibility throughout, she maintains a front as a God-Loving Chrision and mother. But her outrage and highly opinionated argument is disreputed when she mistakes the expression of feminine traits by a male character as transgenderism. Her integration of specific facts displays her

While this visibility does afford transvestites formal recognition, the presence of satire in their representation undermines their plight for recognition as a definition of gender expression and sexual identity (Hennessy, 2000). This, therefore, acts to police and regulate the social and cultural bodies of transvestite individuals within the neoliberal state. Therefore, men and women who show characteristics inconsistent with the neoliberal state's prescribed gender roles are often regulated and policed through the labelling of marginalized and different groups (Keyes, 2014). An autonomous, feminist and individualised woman often is subjected to ‘lesbian' labelling and this form of ‘othering' contributes to the regulation and individualised policing marginalized groups experience under the heteronormative, neoliberal state and its subsequent restrictions on gender and sexual identity (Keyes, 2014). However, the sex-gender matrix that operates under heterosexuality can often be understood in terms of the social struggle of queer visibility in the consumerist culture, to recognise not the form but the function of families in the homosexual sphere (Dnes,

Betty Friedan explores the troubles that women have faced and the reason behind these troubles in The Feminine Mystique. She defines the “feminine mystique” as a limitation set on women’s femininity across America in the 1950s and early 1960s. She explains how she believes it came to be so widely upheld due to magazines written by men and how it has had an effect on women in a negative way. According to Friedan, due to the feminine mystique developed from magazine stories, society forces women to abandon any career aspirations in order to devote their lives to being housewives and mothers, as well as be completely fulfilled with this life path.

The depiction of transgender women characters in mainstream television has been offensive, insulting and derogatory. An article from GLADD called “Victims or Villains: Examining Ten Years of Transgender Images on Television”, examines 102 episodes and storylines on mainstream television that contained transgender characters since 2002. Of these, more than half were characterized as containing negative representations of transgender. In 2007 only 1% of television series had a recurring transgender character, which has slowly increased to 4% in 2013.

Now this is where I destroy the idea that only queer men do drag. Drag is extremely inclusive and anyone can join in on the fun. For example we have drag kings, bio queens, even young aspiring queens like 8 year old Lactacia are welcome. Drag kings can be defined as women and dressed as men for performance and entertainment. Performers like Landon Cider, Robin Heartz, and Spikey Van Dykey. Bio queens on the other hand are women dressed as an exaggerated idea of being female. Women such as Tayla Macdonald, the girls of Drag Coven Aka Courtney Conquer and Ja’mie Queen West, and Lucy Garland are well known in the community. As for Lactacia, the 8 year old drag queen the young queen have recently blown up in the media and the world of drag. Lactacia and their mother recently did an interview with Elle Magazine where they were asked how the 8 year old got into drag, like many others including myself it all started with a little show called Rupaul’s Drag Race. Drag Race is a reality competition show where they find the next drag superstar. Much like Americas Next Top Model, but with much more charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. Through the growing popularity of the show it is spreading the art of drag and the magic behind it. Not only has casted a spell on Lactacia and I, but millions of others as well.

This excerpt shows how more emphasis is put on women’s appearance and its keep up, and also shows the negative connotation of this prettiness; it is associated with shallowness. Not only is there an assumption that women spend much of their time on their appearance, but also there is the connected fact that others pay more attention to their appearance than their other character traits. This is still a reality of today as can be seen on the red carpet. Female celebrities have a whole industry devoted to making them look fashionable and pretty for events. The focus of these events becomes what they’re wearing rather than their work as actresses and singers.