A Drag Queen is a cultural practice in which individuals wear clothing of the “opposite” gender (in terms of the binary gender system). Often for entertainment purposes and in conjunction with performances. These performances can include singing, dancing, lip-synching, acting and comedy. Practitioners are often, but not exclusively, part of the LGBTQ+ community.
The best known forms of drag are drag queens (typically men who dress and behave as women). And drag kings (typically women who dress and behave as men). However, there are a variety of drag styles and identities that are not strictly binary. And explore a wide range of gender expressions and identities.
What is drag?
Drag is more than just a form of entertainment. It is also a way of challenging and critiquing social norms and expectations around gender and sexuality. It is an important means for self-expression and for generating discussions about gender roles and identity. Drag plays a significant role in LGBTQ+ history and culture.
It is important to understand that drag is a form of performance or expression. And does not necessarily indicate the gender identity or sexual orientation of the person performing. It is a role or character that a person adopts for a performance that does not necessarily reflect their identity in everyday life.
The main purpose of drag is performance and entertainment. But it also serves as self-expression and a celebration of LGBTQ+ pride. A typical drag show includes lip-syncing or dancing, and performers often wear elaborate clothing, hair and make-up.
What is a drag queen?
Drag Queen, a man who wears women’s clothes and performs in front of an audience. Drag shows (usually in nightclubs and at gay pride festivals) are largely a subcultural phänomenon. Although the term “drag” has never reached the masses, it is widely used in popular culture. Partly due to singer RuPaul, who topped the charts in 1992 with her hit song “Supermodel (You Better Work)”. Films like “The Birdcage” (1996) and the popularity of movie musicals like “Rent” and “Hairspray” have also made the image of the Drag Queen a well-known cultural symbol.
Drag queens wear exaggerated female clothing and make-up to assume and present themselves as female roles. While most drag queens are men (often gay or queer men), there are a growing number of drag queens who are transgender or cisgender women.
The most famous drag queens
Several drag queens have achieved significant fame and notoriety, often through various entertainment media. Here are some of the most famous:
- RuPaul: RuPaul Charles is arguably the most famous drag queen in the world. Known for his music career, acting roles and especially for hosting the reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. He has done much to popularise drag culture and bring it into the mainstream.
- Divine: Born Harris Glenn Milstead, Divine was an American actor, singer and drag queen closely associated with independent filmmaker John Waters. She is a cult figure, especially for her role in Waters’ film “Pink Flamingos”.
- Bianca Del Rio: This is the stage name of Roy Haylock. Bianca Del Rio won the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and is known for her sharp wit and comedy skills. Since her win, she has toured internationally and appeared in two feature films.
- Lady Bunny: A fixture in the New York drag scene. Lady Bunny is known for her epic humour, over-sized wigs and as the founder of Wigstock. An annual open-air drag festival held in NYC.
- Adore Delano: The stage name of Danny Noriega. Adore Delano was a finalist on the sixth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and previously performed on “American Idol.” Delano has also released several pop albums.
- Alyssa Edwards: Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, known by his stage name Alyssa Edwards, is an American drag performer, choreographer and businesswoman. He gained recognition on the fifth season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and later had his own Netflix show, “Dancing Queen”.
- Shangela: DJ Pierce, known as Shangela Laquifa Wadley, is another notable drag queen who has appeared on several seasons of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. And has starred in various television series and films, including “A Star Is Born”.
What is a Drag King?
A drag king is a person, usually a woman, who dresses as a man. Often portraying stereotypical male character traits in an exaggerated and humorous way. The term is mainly used in the LGBT community. It is an art form often displayed in bars and nightclubs, especially in shows highlighting Drag Queens and Drag Kings.
Drag Kings can also explore and portray different gender identities. And expressions that do not necessarily adhere strictly to binary gender roles. Therefore, performing as Drag King can also serve to challenge and subvert gender norms and expectations.
It is important to emphasise that performing as a Drag King refers to a performance. And does not necessarily say anything about the gender identity or sexual orientation of the person performing. It is more about the theatrical performance and less about a deeper personal identity. Although the two aspects can of course be linked.
The most famous drag kings
Many talented Drag Kings are known around the world. Here are some notable names:
- Landon Cider: Landon Cider is a famous American drag king who is known for being the first drag king to win the drag queen reality TV show “Dracula’s Drag Race”.
- Murray Hill: Murray Hill, also known as “Mr. Showbiz”, is a well-known American drag king and comedian. He is a prominent figure in the New York entertainment scene and has received several awards for his work.
- Spikey Van Dykey: Spikey Van Dykey, a well-known drag king from the USA. He is known for his performances all over the world. And has created his own drag king show “Spikey and the After Midnights”
- Adam All: Adam All is an award-winning British drag king and activist who is considered one of the first drag kings to gain widespread attention in the UK.
- Ken Vegas: Ken Vegas founded the DC Kings. A monthly drag king show in Washington D.C. that ran for nearly two decades. And provided a platform for many aspiring drag kings.
- Diane Torr: Diane Torr was a pioneer of modern drag kinging, offering workshops where women had the opportunity to explore their masculine side.
- Carlos Las Vegas: Carlos Las Vegas is a well-known drag king from Germany who has made a name for himself in the German drag scene.
Each of these Drag Kings has contributed in their own way to the development and popularisation of Drag King art. It is important to note that there are Drag King scenes in many cities and countries. And that many talented Drag Kings may not yet be known nationally or worldwide.
What is the history of drag?
There is a rich literary tradition of men dressing in women’s clothes on the stage. In this sense, gender-swapping is as old as Shakespeare’s romantic comedy As You Like It. In which Rosalind disguises herself as Ganymede to woo Orlando, thus meeting him “man to man”. A direct line can be drawn from Shakespeare’s gender swap to the 1959 hit comedy Some Like It Hot. In which Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguise themselves as “Daphne” and “Josephine” and join a travelling jazz band to escape the Mafia. The singer of the band is Marilyn Monroe, an icon of femininity that many drag queens emulate. As well as Cher, Madonna, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Bette Midler and other stars of show business.
The fact that Lemmon and Curtis appeared on screen as drags hardly makes them drag queens, although the effect is the same. Gender norms are radically overridden when drag appears. As with the film Tootsie (1982), one Hollywood theme that enabled the popularisation of drag queens is the idea that men only dress like women to get a girl. In contrast, a film like Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder (1954) reminds us that drag is still no laughing matter in many circles. The chief inspector in that film sends his subordinate out of Grace Kelly’s flat with a piece of evidence (her handbag) after warning him that he will be arrested if he goes out on the street in that get-up.
Basic components
There are usually three rules to drag. First, a drag queen takes on an artist’s name. A 1996 guide, The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide, compares the cultish adherence of Manhattan drag queens to bird-watching, listing major players such as Hedda Lettuce, Miss Understood, Mighty Afrodite, Mona Foot (aka Glamazon) and Perfidia (“The Sultan of Switch”). This reinvention of one’s identity through naming (or renaming) refers to the second part of being a drag queen: performing on the stage. The drag queen owes the song As You Like It again to Jaques’ famous declaration: “All the world’s a stage”.
Most drag queens are not known for their understatement and strive for overkill through the use of heavy make-up, “falsies” and a gender-bending technique known as “tucking”. The authenticity of femininity is always undermined by the roughness of a drag queen. Which often includes a vulgar brow presence and a desire to shock. The third aspect of drag is based on a belief in the fluidity of the sexes. Dragging is meant to make this fluidity visible through performance.
In the past, gay men have been prejudiced against drag queens for being “too gay” or giving gay people a “bad name”. However, it is widely recognised that the gay and lesbian social movement in the United States dates back to the night of 28 June 1969. When the Stonewall Riots began in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan, when a group of drag queens actively resisted arrest. Arrests of drag queens were commonplace before Stonewall. The drag queens of Stonewall in 1969 were subject to routine harassment and police surveillance and are considered pioneers in the fight for gay and lesbian liberation.
Casa Susanna
Casa Susanna was a popular weekend destination in Jewett, New York, in the early 1960s for cross-dressing men and transgender women. The bungalow camp was run by Susanna Valenti and her wife Marie, who also ran a wig business in the city.
Marie acquired the 150-acre property in the mid-1950s. Originally, the Valentis had named it Chevalier D’Eon Resort. They charged $25 for a weekend stay, which included food, accommodation and make-up lessons.
Hidden in the rural Catskills, Casa Susanna offered its guests much-needed privacy at a time when public cross-dressing was a criminal offence in most of America. However, the guests occasionally visited the town of Hunter to shop, where they met with mixed reactions. Some were negative, but many locals saw them as reliable customers. Casa Susanna was a sanctuary for its guests to live out their “inner girl”. Without persecution, and functioned as an important space where guests could comfortably and happily participate in activities. Such as gardening and board games while expressing their gender identity or inner desire to cross-dress
Most of Casa Susanna’s guests were married and considered themselves heterosexual men who liked to dress up. But many others later identified as transgender and lived their lives as women, including Virginia Prince and Susanna herself.
Casa Susanna offered photography and appointed Andrea Susan as the official photographer to protect the privacy of the guests. Andrea developed the photos at home with a film camera and gave the negatives to her mentor Dick. The negatives later ended up at a flea market and were discovered by Robert Swope, who published them in a book. The publication led to former visitors to Casa Susanna sharing their experiences, which helped to document the institution.
How did drag become mainstream?
In the twenty-first century, drag culture is a pop cultural phänomenon. Drag has become more mainstream through a series of cultural developments and events over time. Some key events and influences are:
- Theatre and film: Even in early forms of theatre and film, opposite sex roles were often played by men. Which can be seen as an early form of drag. In the 1970s and 1980s, films like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Tootsie” emerged that dealt with drag and reached a wider audience.
- Stonewall riots: Drag culture played an important role in the 1969 Stonewall riots. Often considered the beginning of the modern LGBT rights movement. Drag performers were among those who stood up to police violence. And the riots led to greater visibility of drag and the LGBT community as a whole.
- Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Other Films: In the 1990s, films such as “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar” and “Paris Is Burning” contributed to the popularity of drag. These films featured drag queens in leading roles and reached a wide audience.
- RuPaul’s Drag Race: One of the most influential developments in the popularisation of drag was the reality TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, which started in 2009. The show, in which drag queens compete in various competitions, has reached a wide audience and spawned several spin-offs worldwide. It has helped bring drag culture into the mainstream. And has raised awareness and acceptance of drag and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole.
Conclusion
Although drag is now more mainstream accepted than ever, it is important to note that many members of the drag and LGBTQ+ communities still face discrimination and challenges. In addition, there are re-emerging bans and laws that specifically defame and attack drag. And although some forms of drag have entered the mainstream, there are still many aspects of drag culture that are subversive and challenge established norms and expectations.
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