Drag Queens Research Paper

One of the most prevalent racial issues in America today is the representation gap: in all realms of society, from politics to music, there is scarcity of minorities in the public eye. As there has been in other industries with a significant representation gap, Broadway is being pushed to diversify. This is for two primary reasons: a social one, increasing representation of minorities and therefore decreasing ignorance based racism in society, and an economic one, drawing in new, bigger audiences by making productions more relatable to a more people. This has resulted in in movements towards non-traditional and color-blind casting, or casting which disregards the traditional race unless it is essential to the script.

Based on society’s perception of women in the Elizabethan Era, Elizabeth had to enforce her power and show her strength despite her femininity. Elizabeth was not afraid to show her power and punish those that threatened her. She would perform the restrictions that society and humanism placed on her. (Rohrs) Elizabeth’s gender was a disadvantage in the patriarchal society, but she would frequently use her femininity as a political too and influence the men in her court. Elizabeth was said to be a flirt that would lead men on to get what she wanted. Though she is referred to as the “Virgin Queen,” she was far from it. Elizabeth’s gender was effective on her men in court and men she was making negotiations with. She would do what she had to to keep attention on her, though. Elizabeth would dress her ladies in

The purpose of this research was to discover the role of make-up as a primary tool of consumption and as a result, it shed light on the act of doing drag to create an illusion of gender performance. From watching the transformation that takes place in the dressing room, and listening to the accounts of their character creation, it is easy to see in concrete terms how unstable the categories of “masculine” and “feminine”, and, “heterosexual” and “homosexual” really are. In fact, it can be argued that drag is a specific type of performance akin to method acting that has enabled drag impersonators to unintentionally remove the dichotomous relationship of gender and sexuality through the authenticity or parodic quality of their performance. They achieve this destabilisation of gender and sexuality through their use of cosmetics and artistic techniques such as, studying existing characters and using lights and shadows to build upon themselves so to create a character. This research demonstrates that a person’s desire to impersonate the opposite gender is not always evidence of a motivation related to gender

Sexual identity and gender norms were very clearly defined in Elizabethan times and are still very clearly defined in todays world and society. Women are presented as being more in touch with their emotions, being more dramatic and being less qualified to lead or be in charge of their own destiny, whereas men are often portrayed as being more rugged, hands on and very qualified to do all things simply because they are men. Emancipation is a relatively new term, even though, when Shakespeare was writing his play his country was governed by a female monarch. In twelfth Night Shakespeare explores gender norms, sexual identity and women’s abilities to be their own person, have their own opinions through Viola. This arguably creates a very feminist

Drag performers take on the look and mannerisms of their opposite gender as a way to entertain and inform their audiences of social issues that can be addressed with humor. Fortunately for the drag community, there has been a recent increase in the popularity of drag queens since the TV show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” won an Emmy in 2015. However, the female equivalent, drag kings, are given little media attention, thus casting them into obscurity. I argue that the lack of positive media coverage of drag kings in television, advertising, and social media, further isolates drag kings from potential viewers and their fellow LGBTQA community, causing strife for individual performers and their respective performing groups, and furthermore, depriving

When when Olive is required to compete in the talent category of the competition she unintentionally performs a striptease that was taught to her by her drug-addicted grandfather. When Olive’s sexually suggestive performance is faced with horror from the audience, her family supports her by jumping on the stage and performing similarly suggestive sexual dance moves. Ironically, the audience judges the parents as encouraging ‘adult-like’ behaviour and leaves the auditorium in disgust, while pageant officials unsuccessfully try to stop the performance. The pageant officials act as gender police and try to interfere in the performance as a mechanism of controlling Olive’s deviant behaviour. Beauty pageants are a justified practice through the belief that femininity and sexuality is a form of female empowerment, however, it contributes and perpetuates patriarchal

To learn more about the Drag community and the effect that pop culture has had on it, I looked to my best friend, Noah Simpson, also known as Blasphemy, his Drag persona. He is a fresh face in the Pittsburgh Drag scene, who has recently reached a one-year milestone of doing Drag. My interview focused on getting to know Blasphemy and her thoughts on Drag today through these questions:

“Killer Queen” by Queen is very intriguing to me for one big reason, depending on how I look at the lyrics; I cannot decide whether the song is about a classy prostitute or a homosexual man; however, before going into this ambiguity, I must establish some background for the song and its history. Queen is a British rock band formed in 1970; at the time of this song being written, the lineup was: Freddie Mercury, on lead and backing vocals; Brian May, on electric guitar and backing vocals; Roger Taylor, on drums and also backing vocals; and John Deacon on bass guitar. Though the band started out with heavier rock, this song marked their transition towards a more glam rock or pop rock tone of music; a change that proved extremely successful for

What is intriguing about Paris is Burning, is that the documentary seems to utilize the drag-ball scene as a conduit with which to communicate a larger message about economics and race. The men in the film are primarily gay men of color who all appear to be on the losing end of the economic policies of the 1980s. Yet they all desperately want to be apart of the class that most benefited from said policies. The men appear to believe the only way to full adjoin society is through wealth. The "balls" gives these men who are on the outskirts of society, a place to experience a kind of metaphysical change, an environment where they can live out their fantasies. The film does not present drag queens as simply stereotypical cross-dressers, who poorly

To be honest, there isn't much difference from Mrs Brown's boys to a drag show, yet Mrs Brown's boys has been ferociously popular and normal drag has been scorned. Whilst Brendan O'Carroll remains untouched and unharmed, drag queens can't even walk the streets at night alone without being attacked. in 2013, a drag queen by the name of lady Shaun was attacked outside of a club she was djing

In the excerpt from Judith Butler Gender is burning, Butler emphasizes how it is possible to ‘displace’ the rules of a normative society through the exaggeration of one’s Identity. As it applies to Drag culture, the ability to hyperbolize the standard value of normative gender roles allows for a unique evolution of one's original gender identity in a way that is more than just the traditional ‘male’ or ‘female categorization. Through parody, and exaggeration of normative genders, one is able to add a unique and transformative identity. On an individual level the ability to parody the stereotypical nature of male/female genders, allows for a creative interpretation on the characteristics of each gender. This hyperbolization also speaks to the

African-American Theatre has traveled along a rocky path, on great highs to devastating lows, still surviving and breathing. Though many practices and techniques of African-American Theatre were undervalued in the past, those practices and techniques are bringing about a new light to the theatre realm. “Black Theatre, as Hill and Hatch reveal the length and breadth of its American story, seems not fabulous but almost miraculous in its ability to survive the well-documented slings and arrows of American race relations” (Miller 335). Black Theatre stuck around through the racism that America is and was experiencing and never gave up.

The queens accept their role in exaggerating the ideas of femininity, and really try to go the extra mile. Not only do the physically make themselves appear hysterical; they create such intricate personalities that use wit and humour to captivate their audiences. This contemporary alternative often makes gay men and even drag queens themselves the butt of their jokes, and most people enjoy these self-deprecating acts. Another end of this genre is the group of queens who embrace their masculine bodies while still performing drag. One star that is a more subtle caricature of feminism is the famed RuPaul. He was one of the original men who would clearly expose his male body while donning wild wigs and heavy makeup. After this phase, he moved into what is called “glamour drag”, which is the persona that skyrocketed him into fame. He is most known for his Dolly Parton-sized blonde wigs, high heels, and tight ‘tucks’ (the act of tucking your male genitalia between your legs to make it appear as if you do not have those parts). What makes RuPaul different than most other drag queens is that he performs his own songs, while most are known for lip-synching. Also, rather than imitating celebrities, he has created his own drag persona. His character is fully his; he makes it clear that he is a gay man of colour underneath pounds of fake hair and makeup, and that he is performing this character. This character is not who he always is, though it is a part of him. He never tries to be anyone

A Drag Queen is a homosexual man who wears female attire to entertain a crowd. Some of them are participating in the Drag Queen story hour to make children aware that there are different types of people. The Drag Queen story hour allows Drag Queens to read children's books to toddlers. Currently, it is available in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and North New Jersey. This program is funded by government taxes.

Women were not allowed to perform on the stage at this time. All roles of the play were played by males. So yes this means that men had to dress up in dresses and skirts and play women.