![]() ![]() The current reigning winners of both the flagship series and its spinoff, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, are both trans: Willow Pill and Kylie Sonique Love, respectively.īut despite all of these “firsts,” RuPaul has yet to feature a drag king on the long-running program. There was Peppermint, the show’s first openly trans-feminine contestant, and Gottmik, the first trans-masculine performer to compete on Drag Race. Although the reality show has long faced controversy for trans-exclusionary comments from its titular host and its casual transmisogyny, Drag Race has provided a platform for drag artists who challenge the notion that the art form is just for cis men. That’s largely thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race, a multi-million dollar empire that’s accrued 39 Emmy nominations, won 19, and spawned more than a dozen international franchises (and counting). While the struggle for visibility is all too common among drag kings, drag as an art form is more mainstream than it’s ever been. “You see Trixie, Katya, and Alaska, people like that becoming super successful after being on RuPaul, and we just don’t have the same opportunities. Just keep doing the show.’ Until the point comes when I’m done trying to show that I matter as a drag king and as a performer.” My crazy mind is like, ‘Man, just keep going. “It’s just the entertainment industry has to catch up to the fact that drag kings are very relevant and very much needed in this community. “There’s an ability for kings to make a living doing this,” Henrietta said. ![]() Payment from drag gigs-which, for them, ranges from $50 to $400 before tips-rarely recoups the cost that goes into makeup ($20-$50 for drug store products), costuming ($20-$50 for drug store products), costuming ($600-$800 for gems and an array of cheap $50 suits), and transportation (around $1,000 for cab fare, in order to avoid harassment on the train). To learn in more depth about what it means to be transgender, start at our one-page resource: Understanding Transgender People: The Basics.As an undocumented person whose access to work is limited, Henrietta’s only sources of income are drag, burlesque, and part-time private cheffing. ![]() NCTE works to end violence against all people who face bias because of their gender presentation and/or identity. Like transgender people, drag performers can experience discrimination and harassment because of their gender expression. If you’re not sure, for example, of which pronouns to use when referring to someone, just ask. It can be hurtful to refer to a transgender person’s presentation as drag, because it suggests that their deeply held identity is just a show they are putting on-which is untrue.īeing respectful of a drag performer’s gender is the same as being respectful of anyone else’s gender. Just as the vast majority of the general population does not do drag, most transgender people also are not drag performers. It is an important part of their identity, and can be a critical part of affirming their gender identity.ĭon’t assume that someone in drag is transgender, or vice versa. On the other hand, when a transgender person comes out and asks people to use a different name and different gender pronouns to refer to them, it is not part of a performance. Drag performers are artists and entertainers, so being in drag is not an integral part of their identity in the same way that gender is. Just as actors do not keep being referred to by their characters’ names after stepping offstage, drag performers do not necessarily keep the names or pronouns they use while performing. This persona will of course look different, but may also have a different name and ask to be referred to by different gender pronouns. Many drag kings are women, but people of any gender can be drag kings as well.Īs part of their performance, many drag queens and kings have a separate drag persona in addition to the self they live as every day. Drag kings, who wear men’s clothing and perform stylized forms of masculinity, are less common, but do exist. While some drag queens live their lives as men outside of their drag personae, people of any gender can be drag queens. ![]() Today, many prominent drag artists are still people who identify as men and present themselves in exaggeratedly feminine ways as part of their performance, and are known as drag queens. The term originated as British theater slang in the 19th century and was used to describe women’s clothing worn by men. Drag is a type of entertainment where people dress up and perform, often in highly stylized ways. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |