There is no doubt: drag is sinking its six-inch heels into the mainstream.
And when people hear ‘drag’, they often think of RuPaul’s Drag Race or Danny La Rue. They think catty, bawdy and totally gorgeous, or shouts of ‘Yaas queen!’
Yes, that is a type of drag – much like rom-coms are a type of film – but the UK drag scene is much more than the shiny veneer of Drag Race.
We have kings, non-binary performers, bearded queens, femme-queens (also known as cisgender women, or a woman who identifies with the gender they were assigned at birth) and everything in between… like me.
I’m a drag king and a performer who plays with masculinity on stage, using make up and illusion to mess with gender. We’re often labelled as ‘the opposite of drag queens’ but really, there is no ‘opposite’ about it. There are cis women, trans men and non-binary drag kings.
How do drag kings do it? Well, drag makeup is called ‘painting’ for a reason. Thick layers of foundation create a blank canvas on which to ‘paint’.
I carve out ‘masculine’ features, contouring angular jawlines, thicker eyebrows, gaunt, high cheekbones rather than the oval, softer shapes of a ‘stereotypical’ cis woman. I apply layers of mascara and thin fibres on my upper lip for a moustache, then dapple a beard of black, brown, and white on my jawline.
I also bind my breasts down with sports tape… not too tight, or breathing can be tricky! Glamorous, huh?
Any gender can do drag yet even within drag communities there’s still the unhelpful misconception that drag kings are less skilled, less polished and less ‘fun’.
Kings might be a newer phenomenon but shows like Kings of Colour, Non-Binary Cabaret or Boi-Box will prove this is ridiculous. Cis women grow up being told they’re not funny, and this gendered preconception sadly transfers onto drag kings too.
Worse still, kings get paid less. They’re rarely booked by corporate or high-profile events who want glamourous queens ‘like the ones on Drag Race’. The gender pay gap has followed us, even when we dress as dudes… ironic.
There is no doubt that RuPaul has boosted drag’s overall popularity: according to Eventbrite, the number of drag events in the UK have soared almost 800 per cent since 2015 and 1,100 per cent globally. Yet many British performers worry this will only widen the gap between mainstream queens and everyone else.
RuPaul only allows queens on his show. No kings or femme-queens. Imagine The Great British Bake Off, but only with cisgender men.
Dragging us into the mainstream has given visibility and acceptance to many LGBTQ+ people. As a next step, we need to paint with all the colours of the queer community.
Parents worry about ‘exposing’ their children to drag but the rise of family-friendly drag shows and Drag Story Time in schools – which brings drag queens into educational environments – prove that exploring gender does not have to be rude or sexualised.
In my own show, Dragprov, we improvise songs, raps and skits from audience suggestions. No swearing. No sex. Just comedy, music and lots of sass.
Drag is feminism in its purest form; challenging unfair societal expectations of both men and women. Kings don’t have to be hyper-masculine, with contoured six-packs and monochrome suits.
My character, Christian Adore, is camp, glittery and emotional. He has long, dark eyelashes and far too many feelings. He also struggles with entitlement and societal expectations to be ‘manly’ and ‘strong’.
Why? Because drag isn’t a parody of gender – it shatters gender. It makes us question why someone ‘manly’ can’t embrace sparkly suits, or a ‘woman’ can’t be a seven-foot-tall glamazon, and it is rapidly moving beyond the binary between ‘queens’ and ‘kings’.
These larger-than-life personalities are starting to explore more subtle forms of internalised sexism and homophobia. Hang-ups that even the most ‘woke’ people have.
We all need drag. It’s flamboyant, it’s playful and it helps us discuss constraints that affect us all.
You don’t have to be LGBTQ+ to enjoy it but drag is most powerful when it gives a voice (lip-syncing or otherwise) to the silenced.
Find out more about Dragprov or visit eventbrite.co.uk for similar events
MORE: Misgendering I’m A Celebrity’s Caitlyn Jenner isn’t Twitter bants, it’s transphobia
MORE: Denying a woman an opinion is chauvinism, not chivalry
MORE: My Label and Me: I became homeless at 24
source https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/08/drag-gay-men-women-non-binary-queens-changing-game-11241406/
0 Comments