“It’s to keep an open mind. I walked into this thing with an idea of what drag is and the kids have a different idea. They keep changing it. This season we have a trans man who is on our show who is competing with the other drag queens and this man is fantastic. Fantastic! So, I keep moving with what the kids are doing.”–Drag icon RuPaul, explaining his evolving vision of drag in RuPaul’s Drag Race to talk show host Stephen Colbert. This season, the show’s 13th, features contestant Gottmik, a transgender man, competing alongside drag queens.
Dymension
I always wondered about. If a Drag queen is essentially a gay man who has no desire to be a woman (i.e. not trans), how could a trans woman be a drag queen? See, the whole point of drag is that a person of one gender dresses up and impersonate a person of the opposite gender. That’s the whole point. If you are trans, than you are not impersonating. You are a woman. Same with drag kings and trans men. Would a cisgender woman want to be a drag queen, i.e. a female impersonator? So while would a trans woman be a female impersonator?
Jeez, the kids are confused.
SPDuffy
You lost me at “See, the whole point of drag is …”
Josh447
Many drag queens are straight.
Sister Bertha Bedderthanyu
Well said honey. Its sad when people insist on creating a third side to a two sided fence.
LumpyPillows
@Josh447 No, many drag queens are not straight. In fact I know none and I know a lot of drag queens.
I agree with @Dymension about what being in drag means. Women dressing up as garish exaggerations of women is not drag, its a beauty pageant. Anyone can participate in a drag show, it just might not be a good drag show, or it might. Every case is different in the real world. As far as Drag Race, Ru can do what ever he wants. It’s just a TV show. If the trans drag queens are entertaining, then there you go. It is about ratings, and Ru does not care if a fully transitioned competitor has a much easier challenge to look like a woman. Drag Race was never fair.
Charlie in Charge
I know regional trends are different but in the SF Bay Area we have plenty of straight cis-gendered women who are drag queens – and they even win competitions!
Dijonaise
Ru is a republican fracker and deserves to be publicly pilloried.
LumpyPillows
Delusional.
controversial2019
This season, it’s a man who was born with the body of a female (but identifies and lives as a man) dressing in drag. That confuses me.
I could never understand the feelings of a trans person, but from what I comprehend, this man was born into a female body but KNEW the body was wrong for him. Knew his soul was (is) male and that his body, being female, was/is wrong. I comprehend that.
But then I don’t comprehend him dressing in drag. If having a female body was/is wrong to him (as it must be hence identifying as male), why would he then want to dress as a female? That is the bit that confuses me.
LumpyPillows
I don’t get it either, but it is what it is. I support everyone, even if I don’t get it. But, my fear is that these rapidly escalating gender soap operas, especially all the Q variations driven by attention-starved straights, will undercut the political gains in the LGB community, and derail the progress we are making for T rights in the workplace, housing and health care. While we may be accepting, it is still a political battle that we were winning.
Beanie16
Drag race needs to change its name to Performance Artist Race. I worked the clubs way back in the 80’s in Philly, with some beautiful women like Joey Daniels, Willow Hendricks, who all quit the shows once they had transitioned. It’s about an illusion, making people believe you are another gender. A man who was born a woman is just reverting back to his former self, a bio male putting on a suit a lip syncing Barry Manilow is just a man lip syncing not a Drag King. He and Trans men putting on a dress are IMO Performance Artists..Period
Van Der Hoor
From my point of view Drag is an art form, that within itself, requires the artist to be able to have a set of tools to be able to perform in it. You should be able to construct a dress for yourself, lipsync, act, dance, high level of makeup skills, you need to know about pop culture, history and so on, it is a VERY complicated art form, however, you as an artist decide if you want to be drag queen or king, it is up to you to express yourself how you feel it within you and how far you want to take it depending on your goal.
a Trans Man who chooses to express themself in the art of drag (like Gottmik) has every right to do it how hey choose to do it. Gottmik chose to do it as a Drag Queen, he identifies himself as a man who performs as a Drag Queen, so whats the problem? None, he lives like a man and his job is being a drag queen and thats it. Female/male illusion is one of the ways to approach drag (much like farrah moan) but thats not the only way of doing it.
Beanie16
Drag started as men impersonating women..PERIOD. Having said that, when I first started seeing these beautiful talented queens doing what I thought wasn’t “Drag” I didn’t like it, now those same queens are some of my favorites to watch, especially after seeing a couple of the live shows RuPaul produces around the country. The drag of my youth, the 80’s, is or was us trying our best to “pass” as real it was the illusion that people came to see, men dressing as and impersonating women. Most of the queens had celebrity they had studied and rehearsed for hours to try and make you believe they are in fact Cher, Jennifer Holiday, and like my Mom Rusty Roads Mamma Cass. They looked, dressed and had the mannerisms of these celebrities. Today the costumes and the original of art makeup are the “celebrities” the performers are acrobats slamming their bodies on the ground, crawling on their stomachs across the stage, flips ect. and all of it amazes me but is it drag? Ru said that he is basically following what the “kids” are doing and they are including the trans folk. Ok but is it still “Drag”? Netflix has a documentary called Queens it follows the brave men that not only starred but performed in a drag pageant. It was before my time but it did have one man that produced the show, Jerry Venuti. Jerry ran the shows in the clubs I worked at in Philly back in the 80’s, Jerry loved to have the queens do huge numbers mimicking nit Broadway shows. I was the “80’s version of the Pit Crew, I danced back up with the ladies I spent many hours with them listening to their stories, amazed at the Trans woman bravery in living their lives as open as they could in the 80’s. The “big” stars of drag were all trans women. The difference was none of them were post op women, many were like the women on Pose, pre op women. Did it make a difference, I think it did because these were still technically men still “impersonating” celebrity women. If you are pre op you are still a man once you have the operation you are now a complete real woman. You are no longer “impersonating” a woman. No matter how talented a makeup artist you are, no matter how beautiful the costumes are or how great a performer you are I think having a vagina makes you a Performance Artist but a Drag Queen. I would even consider some of the ladies on Drag Race not to be Drag Queens but more Performance Artists. In the long run though it isn’t my show, if it were that hit Ginger Pit Crew would be in my bed right now, both being only fantasy, RuPaul can do whatever he wants. The audience is younger and that is what they want and accept as Drag. Those of us who disagree need to let those in charge now take the drag community in whatever direction they think, it’s their game now and overall I think they are really doing an outstanding job, they amaze and entertain me, if I don’t like it I have a choice either turn the channel or continue to enjoy the show.
Johnjx
It doesn’t make any sense any more, but it’s just a big silly outrageous costume party. Not worth trying to analyze.
Cozmo2
I think trans family should have their own show