I will admit that I am no scholar when it comes to the history of drag. So, forgive me if I maybe make a mistake or two. Drag has always been an art form. In the days of Shakespeare, it was used as a way to portray women on stage, as men were the only ones allowed to be actors. As time went on, drag went from being a theatrical thing, to just being a thing. The makeup changed, and drag move toward a more "natural" look from the Victorian era, right through the early part of the 1900's. Around the Mid 1900's, drag again changed. The 70's, 80's and 90's introduced us to Club Kids, Avante Garde, and brought us RuPaul, and his eventual drag empire.
Drag has moved from being just a thing that people do, to something that makes people money. And for some, it's good money. Talk to someone who's booked a show with a RuPaul's Drag Race contestant about booking fees, and you'll see what I mean. And, it's not just all about Drag Race. There are competitions all over the world, for drag kings and queens.
The invention of the internet has been a blessing and a curse. While you can now sit on Twitter during the airing of an episode, and talk with other fans, and also with the performers sometimes, it has also given everyone an open forum to be able to share every intimate feeling about any topic...including tearing down a person.
The drag community as a whole has two distinct sides to it, that I've observed. You have the people who are in it, because they love it. And, you have the people who feel like they're the best, better than everyone else, and have the ability and responsibility to determine what is drag and what is not. This, unfortunately, is one of my pet peeves.
Club Kid drag is just as much drag as Beauty Pageant drag. Bearded drag queens are just as much drag as Fishy queens. Poor queens have just as much right to call themselves a queen as someone who has thousands of dollars to spend on outfits.
I will admit, I don't like every drag performer that I come across. I don't necessarily understand every look that I come across. But, I don't have to. I don't want every drag queen I come across to look like they stepped right out of a Playboy photoshoot. But, I also don't want every queen to come out looking like a Pablo Picasso painting either. Both are totally valid forms of drag. As a photographer, I can appreciate that there are good points about both...in spite of the fact that I may not like either of them.
But, the truth of the matter is that tearing down a person over their choices when it comes to their drag, is not okay. I've seen enough professional performers, to know the difference between someone who has been performing for a long time, and someone who literally started under a year ago. There are very few new queens, who have everything perfect in such a little amount of time. (It's not impossible, but it's not the norm, either.) If you don't like something about someone's drag, don't spew hatred about it. If you don't understand someone's drag, ask them about it. "Why did you choose to do a gorgeous, fishy face and wear a beard? It's confusing to me." Drag can be a deeply personal thing, and most of the performers I've met, can tell you, and will tell you, exactly why and how they came to the aesthetic that the have.
Drag at this point in time, is less about the total aesthetic, though, than it is about messing around with gender perceptions. As I've said before, if I knew how to do makeup, I would consider doing drag with a beard. Not because I want people to point at me and ask questions, but, because I don't want to have to shave, just for a face...unless I know that I'm doing it specifically for that reason. (Although, there is a possibility that I may be losing the beard in the future, for a new project...if the project actually becomes "a thing.") Drag is not categorized as just one thing. Beauty is not the only way to do drag. You don't have to be a dancer to be a good performer. You don't have to be able to sing live. You don't have to be able to do splits, or back hand springs, or bend over backward and walk your hands and feet toward each other until it looks like you're going to split your spine in half. You just have to know what you're doing.
Once you know what you're doing as a performer, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. As long as you know that you're good enough, that's the important thing. And, if anyone ever tells you that what you're doing isn't good enough, or even worse, tells you, "it's not drag," I give you full on permission to turn around, look at them, and say "Fuck You." Especially, if the person trying to read you, isn't in drag themselves. It takes a whole lot of balls to be a man and look like a woman. (And vice versa.)
And, for my drag fans, who base all that they know of a performer based on RuPaul's Drag Race, I have one thing to say...Sashay, Away. What you see on tv is 12-14 hours of real time action, being edited down into a 60-90 minute episode. There is a storyline for each performer, based on the overall editing of the season. There are roles to be filled by the performers. While the ultimate challenge, is coming back from a "lip sync for your life," sometimes, you don't get a chance to show off your "performance" through that lip sync. That doesn't mean that you're not a good performer. It actually means, that the judges don't see anything severely lacking in your performance during the challenges.
Sometimes you can get away with relying on the body. Sometimes you can get away with relying on "The Look." If Michelle Visage, RuPaul, and the guest judges for the week aren't calling you out on something, there's no reason for others to do so. As RuPaul said, "We're all born naked, and the rest is drag." So, calling someone out and, saying, "That's NOT drag..." Well, your argument is invalid. And, you might need to check yourself, before you make a fool of yourself.
Drag has moved from being just a thing that people do, to something that makes people money. And for some, it's good money. Talk to someone who's booked a show with a RuPaul's Drag Race contestant about booking fees, and you'll see what I mean. And, it's not just all about Drag Race. There are competitions all over the world, for drag kings and queens.
The invention of the internet has been a blessing and a curse. While you can now sit on Twitter during the airing of an episode, and talk with other fans, and also with the performers sometimes, it has also given everyone an open forum to be able to share every intimate feeling about any topic...including tearing down a person.
The drag community as a whole has two distinct sides to it, that I've observed. You have the people who are in it, because they love it. And, you have the people who feel like they're the best, better than everyone else, and have the ability and responsibility to determine what is drag and what is not. This, unfortunately, is one of my pet peeves.
Club Kid drag is just as much drag as Beauty Pageant drag. Bearded drag queens are just as much drag as Fishy queens. Poor queens have just as much right to call themselves a queen as someone who has thousands of dollars to spend on outfits.
I will admit, I don't like every drag performer that I come across. I don't necessarily understand every look that I come across. But, I don't have to. I don't want every drag queen I come across to look like they stepped right out of a Playboy photoshoot. But, I also don't want every queen to come out looking like a Pablo Picasso painting either. Both are totally valid forms of drag. As a photographer, I can appreciate that there are good points about both...in spite of the fact that I may not like either of them.
But, the truth of the matter is that tearing down a person over their choices when it comes to their drag, is not okay. I've seen enough professional performers, to know the difference between someone who has been performing for a long time, and someone who literally started under a year ago. There are very few new queens, who have everything perfect in such a little amount of time. (It's not impossible, but it's not the norm, either.) If you don't like something about someone's drag, don't spew hatred about it. If you don't understand someone's drag, ask them about it. "Why did you choose to do a gorgeous, fishy face and wear a beard? It's confusing to me." Drag can be a deeply personal thing, and most of the performers I've met, can tell you, and will tell you, exactly why and how they came to the aesthetic that the have.
Drag at this point in time, is less about the total aesthetic, though, than it is about messing around with gender perceptions. As I've said before, if I knew how to do makeup, I would consider doing drag with a beard. Not because I want people to point at me and ask questions, but, because I don't want to have to shave, just for a face...unless I know that I'm doing it specifically for that reason. (Although, there is a possibility that I may be losing the beard in the future, for a new project...if the project actually becomes "a thing.") Drag is not categorized as just one thing. Beauty is not the only way to do drag. You don't have to be a dancer to be a good performer. You don't have to be able to sing live. You don't have to be able to do splits, or back hand springs, or bend over backward and walk your hands and feet toward each other until it looks like you're going to split your spine in half. You just have to know what you're doing.
Once you know what you're doing as a performer, it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. As long as you know that you're good enough, that's the important thing. And, if anyone ever tells you that what you're doing isn't good enough, or even worse, tells you, "it's not drag," I give you full on permission to turn around, look at them, and say "Fuck You." Especially, if the person trying to read you, isn't in drag themselves. It takes a whole lot of balls to be a man and look like a woman. (And vice versa.)
And, for my drag fans, who base all that they know of a performer based on RuPaul's Drag Race, I have one thing to say...Sashay, Away. What you see on tv is 12-14 hours of real time action, being edited down into a 60-90 minute episode. There is a storyline for each performer, based on the overall editing of the season. There are roles to be filled by the performers. While the ultimate challenge, is coming back from a "lip sync for your life," sometimes, you don't get a chance to show off your "performance" through that lip sync. That doesn't mean that you're not a good performer. It actually means, that the judges don't see anything severely lacking in your performance during the challenges.
Sometimes you can get away with relying on the body. Sometimes you can get away with relying on "The Look." If Michelle Visage, RuPaul, and the guest judges for the week aren't calling you out on something, there's no reason for others to do so. As RuPaul said, "We're all born naked, and the rest is drag." So, calling someone out and, saying, "That's NOT drag..." Well, your argument is invalid. And, you might need to check yourself, before you make a fool of yourself.
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