I'm Serving up Drag Queen Realness: a Look Into Language, Kinship, And

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I’M SERVING UP DRAG QUEEN REALNESS: A LOOK INTO LANGUAGE, KINSHIP, AND SIGNIFICANCE OF GENDER PERFORMATIVITY WITHIN AND BEYOND THE DRAG COMMUNITY AND ITS ROLE IN NATIONAL TRANSGENDER PROGRESSION by Hannah Paperno

A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of

The Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

with a Concentration in Anthropology

Wilkes Honors College of

Florida Atlantic University

Jupiter, Florida

May 2016

This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s thesis advisor, Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes, and has been approved by members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Honors College and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences.

SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE:

______Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes

______Dr. Christopher Strain

______Dean Jeffrey Buller, Wilkes Honors College

______Date

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my thesis advisor, Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes, for guiding and supporting throughout this process. She helped me keep my head on straight and motivate me despite all of the struggles that accompany a research project. I would also like to thank Dr. Corr for her motivation throughout the thesis process and Dr. Strain, my second reader, for his guidance and mentorship throughout my last four years. To the rest of the professors at the Honors College, thank you for inspiring me to focus my research on something that I truly love and teaching me to always think critically of any type of research material that comes my way.

To some of my dearest friends, James D’Amore, Courtney Noya, Skylar Benedict, Evan Jackson,

Sarah Sax, Brian Pennington, Robert(o) Hernandez, Michael Ford, Michael Habib, Rachel Rohan,

Tania Rodriguez and Addison Breen – thank you for your love, support, and fierceness throughout this entire process. Having friends who are as excited about my research as I am have kept me focused and driven even when times were frustrating. Thank you for all of fun and laughs on

Thursday nights with our many trips to de Nile. These are memories I will never forget.

To my parents, though you may not have understood drag before I came around I am so grateful that you have supported me during my time at the Honors College and taken the time to learn about some of the things that I enjoy. I love you very much.

To the Honors College, thank you for giving me the opportunities to learn and grow both as a student and human being. I am a much better person after having come through this university and

I will be forever grateful.

ABSTRACT

Author: Hannah Paperno

Title: I’m Serving up Drag Queen Realness: A Look into Language, Kinship, and Significance of Gender Performativity within and beyond the Drag Community and its Role in National Transgender Progression.

Institution: Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University

Advisor: Dr. Jacqueline Fewkes

Degree: Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

Concentration: Anthropology

Year: 2016

______

In this study I aim to examine the uses of kinship, language and naming practices, and gender performativity within and beyond the drag community of the United States and how each of these elements plays a role in national transgender progression. My data was collected through surveys, interviews, and a textual analysis of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Based on my findings, I argue that drag community and its media presence over the last two decades has led to a national transgender progression within the United States.

Keywords: Transgender, LGBT, drag, community, progression

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To all of my queens out there. Come through.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Introduction...... 1 II. What is Drag?...... 3 III. Drag Herstory...... 10 IV. Drag in the Public Sphere...... 14 V. Language Practices...... 28 VI. Kinship...... 36 VII. The Importance of Drag...... 39 VIII. The Transition of Jennifer Sinclair...... 43 IX. Transgender Progression...... 56 X. Glossary of Terms...... 60 XI. Works Cited...... 62

Introduction

“I’m trying to bring attention to one of my favorite causes which is me.”

-Willam Belli

For years I had an idea of what drag was but had never really explored it. I knew who

RuPaul was but never knew her history or really what exactly it was that she did. It was not until

I got to college that I attended my first drag show, sponsored by FAU Jupiter’s LGBT organization

Spectrum. Five queens performed, and I fell in love. The costumes were over the top and colorful and sparkly and everything I loved in a performance. I was sitting in the middle of a row about five or six rows back from the front with some of my closest friends. I recall at the end of our row was a student frantically making rosary necklaces for our Catholic club. The juxtaposition was absolutely hysterical to me. The show began with a queen entering the stage in a flapper dress with a huge beehive hairdo. She was told us about herself and about the group that would be performing with and then introduced the first queen. Each one performed twice to a wide range of music.

There were some old jazz and Broadway songs, some Latin music, and some top 40s hits. They did kicks and spins and one even did a cartwheel all while in heels. I cheered so loud that for the next week I sounded like I smoked fifty packs a day. They were queens but more than that they were royalty and from then on I knew I could not get enough.

Since then I have attended drag shows across the state though mostly in West Palm Beach.

I was witness to a RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant performing in Gainesville-- although I did not

realize who she was until two years later when I finally watched the show—and have met some other queens who hold very prestigious titles within their community. My interest in drag and gender performativity has grown over the last few years and I knew that the best way to explore this more was to study it for my thesis. Luckily I already had some rapport with the local queens who perform at our campus so I knew it would relieve some of the stress of getting informants.

The approach I took once I rounded out my topic was to create a list of both survey and interview questions to use to gather data and submit that to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) so that I could get permission to do the research that I wanted. I knew that my main focuses would be on language, kinship, and the importance of gender performativity through drag and how this may or may not have impacts of the larger transgender community. I identified transgender progress by its mentions in the media and the legislation mad regarding the transgender community. To gain insight, my plan was to conduct interviews with drag queens right after taking photos of them transforming from male to female. For those who I could not interview due to time or geographical constraints I would use the survey to gather the information. I collected my data through one interview and two surveys in order to complete this thesis..

After receiving all of the data and combing through the responses, I compared this to both prior knowledge and background research (either from academic articles or examples drag in the media) on drag culture. I then analyzed each individual subset to determine whether or not each element of the drag community has had an impact on transgender progression within the United

States.

What is Drag?

“We're born naked, and the rest is drag.”

-RuPaul, Lettin it All Hang Out: An Autobiography

My definition of drag, and the understanding that results from this definition, structures the whole of my research. Drag is a means through which men and women can perform exaggerated notions of gender and expose a part of their identity that is left often in the shadows in day-to-day life. In the United States, drag is a means for men and women to cross-dress to appear more passable in the gender opposite to their sex and express a part of their identity. For the purposes of this study, I focus only on male to female drag. Drag is more than just a costume – it is an attempt to be passable as a woman and is often associated with entertainment purposes. American drag queens frequently point to Shakespeare for the origination of the term “drag” when it was used as an acronym which meant “Dressed Resembling a Girl” (“RuPaul’s Drag Race Dictionary) or

D.R.A.G. Drag differs from cross-dressing in that the former is used more for performance purposes along with identity expression. Those who cross-dress do not do this for performance purposes as one might expect at a drag show but it is possible that it may be done for personal enjoyment or for comedic entertainment for friends. One who cross-dresses typically does not wear as heavy or elaborate makeup as a drag “queen” – drag queens are meant to be exaggerated and performative (“RuPaul’s Drag Race Dictionary). LW Hasten, professor of anthropology at

Columbia University and self-identified “transman” (transgender female to male), argues that drag is not necessarily just cross-dressing but a form of “hyperbolized gender” (Hasten). He writes that

drag is “by nature gender-disruptive” and “an intrinsically ‘queer’ form of expression, linked specifically by various theorists to gay male culture” (Hasten). Through his research we can understand drag more as a form of identity expression that appears unique to the LGBT community as it blurs the lines between male and female representations. It is also important to note the differences between these two previously mentioned terms and being transgender. Not all queens identify as transgender, although some do. Typically, a person who is transgender identifies with a sex different than the one that they were born into, although those this term may hold a different meaning to those outside of the United States. For instance, in the Bugis of Indonesia have five gender identities - male, female, calabai, calalai, and bissu. Despite the multitude of genders, these are not synonymous to the transgender individuals that exist in American society (Davies, xi). The study I have done focuses specifically on those within the United States and these ideas and practices should be applied thusly. Those who perform in drag may still identify as men but still choose to perform as women. That being said, while one is portraying a woman (whether it be their desired sex or a temporary gender reversal) it is often expected by the queens that female pronouns would be used unless the individual specifies otherwise. Only in some cases does a drag queen’s gender identity align more with the queen than the self. In these cases, the person uses the drag queen through a temporary medium in which they will be able to express their true gender identity until they are able to make a more complete transition (hormones, surgery, etc). Using

RuPaul’s Drag Race as a means of comparison, in the remainder of this chapter I analyze what drag is according to RuPaul and according to the different queens that I have interviewed.

As of April 2016, RuPaul has aired 8 seasons of her competition reality show. Each season features 14 queens who compete for the title of next drag superstar. Throughout the season, queens are expected to face challenges focused on sewing, acting, singing, dancing, comedy, and lip-sync

battles. These tasks test their creativity, improvisation, and ability to be the best drag queen that they can be. At the end of each episode, the challenges are judged by RuPaul and her guests to decide which queen should be sent home. Eir-Anne Edgar of the University of Kentucky touches the characteristics that make a successful drag queen on RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR). In her thesis statement she states:

“…the failure to repeat gender norms through drag performances is not in and of itself subversive or empowering. Successful drag, as framed in RuPaul's Drag Race, hinges upon the performer's ability to deploy stereotypical notions of femininity through performances of gendered norms. The show demonstrates that limitations of the male body also contribute as constraints for gender performances.”(Edgar, 133-134) After viewing the three most recent seasons and applying Edgar’s observations of the reality show,

I have both applied her understanding of what successful drag is based on the show and examined some of the ways in which the show reveals what qualities should be attributed to a successful drag queen.

The next part of my research includes an examination of what makes a successful queen using Edgar’s observations and challenges from RuPaul’s Drag Race. The main challenges that will be analyzed are sewing, lip-syncing, and comedy though the show is not just limited to these three. For instance, there is always a dancing challenge though I feel this falls well under the umbrella that is lip-syncing music. These challenges, however, are meant to unpack the secret to becoming a successful drag queen (at least in the eyes of RuPaul and her judges). Though the majority of most queens’ performance is often just lip-syncing, she includes other elements to challenge the notion that drag is a man in a wig singing show tunes. There are many queens who make their own costumes, which is important when realizing the difficulty of finding a dress to fit the biologically male form. Humor also comes into play when queens are asked to host an event so that they can keep the audience engaged throughout the show.

On RuPaul’s Drag Race, one of the most difficult challenge queens seem to face would be through sewing. A handful of the competitors come onto the show with no sewing background making these tasks far more difficult to complete. However, it is through these challenges that one is able to see that mark of a true queen. That is not to say that every drag queen must be able to sew, however, it would help her appear better-rounded and progress her in the competition. Some queens have overcome this with help from other queens. Adore Delano from season 6 was able to make it to the final 3 with the help of fellow competitor, Bianca Del Rio, who was able to offer her sewing tips and tricks to get her through to the next round.

A handful of the challenges also focus on acting and having the ability to memorize and recite lines. These particular tasks along with singing and dancing test to see whether or not the drag queens are able to do more than just lip-sync which is typical of a drag performance. The many drag shows I have seen focus solely on the queen lip-syncing to a popular and often up-beat song or a song that focuses on the queen’s personality. These other tasks challenge each drag queen to do more than what is expected of them. It also has the ability to make the queen more marketable and successful after the show if she is able to prove that she can do more than just lip-sync.

Lastly are the humor challenges. Queens are expected to participate in one challenge throughout the season where they fulfill the role as standup comics, typically in a roast style. Many instances in drag, queens are expected to speak aside from doing lip-sync. From my experiences at drag shows, queens are often asked to MC performances, introduce fellow queens, or participate in question and answer sessions following the shows. In these instances, queens are expected to continue entertaining the crowd through a humorous medium. Queens will often make fun of themselves, the crowd, or other queens. When drag is often thought of simply dressing as another gender, it is through RuPaul’s Drag Race that the audience is able to understand the complexities

of being a drag queen. Drag is more than putting on new clothes – it is putting on an entirely new identity fit with different mannerisms and trends.

Drag also features different subsets of the art form. The importance in understanding the different ways in which drag queens choose to express themselves relates to the understanding of identity expression through drag. The way a queen dresses and applies makeup can indicate the different type of queen she might be though I will focus on the three that seem to appear most frequently. The first of these styles is fish drag. A queen classified as fish is one who, rather than dressing theatrically, dresses to look as much like a woman as possible. This term will be explained in more depth later as language is further examine. These queens try to look passable both on and off the stage (Bartolemi). Courtney Act, Australian drag queen who appeared on Season 6 of

RuPaul’s Drag Race, is an example of a fish queen. Though her costuming may be over-the-top at times, upon first glance her makeup makes her appear exactly like a woman.

Genderfuck drag is what got the famed RuPaul started. Though she does not ascribe to this style any longer, RuPaul began by portraying a style that calls to question the notions of gender by appearing as both a man and woman. RuPaul is able to further pursue this style by using RuPaul

– her birth name – as her stage name as well. This style blurs the lines between male and female while still representing drag. RuPaul also uses pronouns as a way to express her genderfuck drag style. She is known for saying “You can call me he. You can call me she. You can call me Regis and Cathy Lee; I don't care! Just as long as you call me.” (Charles). Since her career has progressed,

RuPaul has transformed into a different drag style – glamazon.

The following type is often described as a pageant queen or glamazon and happens to be the current style that RuPaul lives by (Brumfitt). Glamazon is similar to pageant in terms of style,

however, they are not expected to compete in drag pageants. These queens are often seen wearing extravagant gowns and jewelry. These queens compete in pageants that are structured similarly to the way a beauty pageant would be – gown, talent, and a question and answer (Bartolomei).

Beauty—where the queens are meant to wear their most glamorous gowns and most fishy makeup—is a major component of this drag style as it is expressed typically with intent to win a pageant.

Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble addresses the functionality and the performativity of drag as a form of gender expression of identity. Throughout her book she focuses on gender and feminist theories while occasionally mentioning where drag falls in the discussion. She questions whether or not drag is an imitation of gender or if it “[dramatizes the signifying gestures through which gender itself is established” (Butler, xxxi). Arguably, drag could fall under either of these categories or could be a combination of the two. In my research, I hope to address what constitutes

“doing drag” and how this impacts both emic and etic perspectives of this community.

One of the more out-of-the-box styles of drag is referred to as camp. Camp queens use humor as the backbone to the majority of their look using over-the-top makeup and costumes like

Trixie Mattel of season 7 who states that she paints her face not for the back of the audience but for those waiting out in the parking lot (“Born Naked”). Season 6 winner, Bianca Del Rio, could also be classified as a type of camp queen that she calls clown. Bianca Del Rio is an insult comic whose makeup resembles what a clown might wear if they performed in drag – bold, harsh lines around the eyes, a forest of false eyelashes, and a sense of humor to back it all up.

Some queens rely on impersonation for their style. Chad Michaels, for instance, a popular queen on Season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, is known for her Cher impressions that she

demonstrated during the crowd favorite snatch game challenge (“Snatch Game”). Though these queens like Chad still lip sync and put on their own drag style, they often impersonate a particular celebrity for their entertainment career. A more current queen who does something similar is

Derrick Barry who is well-known for her uncanny impersonation of Britney Spears.

Butler also argues that drag is not the only form of performative gender. In fact, gender is inherently performative just simply by being. Men and women choose to dress and act a certain way daily in order to reflect a part of their identity – this is not an action specific to just drag queens. For example, as a biological female I dress myself a certain way every single day to let others know that I identify as a female. Since getting my hair cut short I try even harder to perpetuate my femininity through flowy and more feminine clothes and makeup that exaggerates my thin, feminine features. Biological men choose daily to wear clothes designed for men, which tend to be boxier and less form-fitting than female clothing. Those who are transgender make the choice to dress themselves each day as the gender they feel suits them best – this act is homogenous. Everyone does it regardless of whether or not it is a conscious or subconscious act.

If performative gender can be understood in a way that does not seclude or other drag queens then it is possible to improve upon the relationship drag queens and transgendered individuals have with those outside of their community.

Drag Herstory

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

- William Shakespeare, As You Like It

In order to understand drag as it is used today, it is important to look at the progression of drag throughout history. One of the first examples of drag can be found at Shakespeare’s Globe

Theatre. Juliet Dusinberre examines the roles that boys and men had when it came to expressing gender during a play. She speaks to Shakespeare’s epilogue As You Like It as an example by stating:

“The body of the actor becomes a blank page on which gender identity, as opposed to biological sexual identity, can be written. In the history of women’s acting of Shakespeare’s female parts, however, the fiction of gender identity has never been allowed to usurp the fact of biological sex. Women remain women in a way that was not possible on Shakespeare’s stage because there were no biological women on stage, and therefore gender identity was a fiction, generated between player and audience.” (Dusinberre, 2)

Much like the way Judith Butler describes gender, it is fictitious within the realm of Shakespeare.

The difference being that the gender identity in these plays ceases at the end of the scene. They are expressing who they are as actors as opposed to what gender they feel best fits who they are as a person both on and off stage.

Drag has found its way into other various performance mediums. Kabuki Theatre is a

Japanese style of performance art that has been around for upwards of four centuries performed

entirely by men (“Invitation to Kabuki”). According to RuPaul’s Drag Race star Gia Gunn who performed in Kabuki Theatre when she was younger, the men who take part in it are not doing so to express their gender identity in the same ways that drag queens perform to express theirs.

According to James R. Brandon who specializes in Kabuki and Sanskrit theatre from the

University of Hawaii, Kabuki arose out of a governmental ban in 1629 on actresses to appear on stage (Brandon, 112). These male to female performers made popular by Kabuki Theatre are called onnagata. Brandon suggests that their creation resulted in the appearance of

“…unsubstantiated myths: only a male actor can suggest the essence of a woman, only a man possesses the physical strength to wear a heavy wig and multiple kimono, and so on. These are not really artistic explanations; they are rationalizations for why the social institution of male-playing-female should continue undisturbed in the modern era when it was no longer needed or required.”(122) As Brandon mentions, the tradition of men performing as women in Kabuki continues to this day despite the ban on performing female actresses no longer being in place. The assumption behind this is for both social reasons—presumably a male-dominated society feels that men performing as women is more desirable than women performing as women and to keep women from performing in an obscene nature (CH3CHO, japantoday.com) —and to keep this centuries-long tradition alive. It is through the example of Kabuki that we see men performing as women beginning as early as the 17th century.

The dance world is also not an exemption from uses of drag for performance. Trockadero is a style of dance featuring only men who perform parodies of popular dances like Swan Lake,

The Nutcracker, and other famous acts. Suzanne Juhas discusses the queering of ballet by examining the Trockadero’s version of Swan Lake. She states that

“The queer nature of the Trocks' performances is a matter of complex gender play. They are men performing as women. Yet, as convincing as they are in their 11

theatrical gender roles, in important ways they do not dance as women – for example, in their use of pointe technique. That is, to dance on pointe makes them look like ballerinas, but the way that they dance on pointe departs somewhat from ballerina technique. Dobrin contrasts the traditional dancing of the female ballerina, ‘going for a lightness, an ethereality, a delicacy,’ with the pointe work of male dancers: ‘Audiences are seeing a pointe work aspect that they really haven't and should not have seen before from a woman, because we're really going for a male aggressive attack on something that is traditionally a female area.’”(Juhasz, 55-56) Queer rolls in Trockadero are not just limited to female roles – they perform queer gendered stereotypes of men too. They perform as women who have a heavier foot than the actual women they are impersonating, therefore parodying their performance. They also perform under stage names that bring the parody beyond just their actual performance but to their program as well.

Some examples of such stage names include Nina Enimenimynimova, Ida Nevasayneva, and Maya

Thickenthighya. This allows for the dancers to display their identity and sense of humor in a similar way that drag queens do when choosing their drag name.

However, drag was not always the most acceptable practice. In 1969, the LGBT community led a mass rebellion against their discrimination often referred to as the Stonewall

Riots of 1969. It was a lesbian woman named Stormé DeLarverie who sparked the outburst when one of the policemen raiding the popular gay bar where many chose to dress in drag, hit her on the head and caused an uproar (Chu, 3). It was then that the nation was given an idea that the LGBT community was willing to fight, quite literally, for their rights. The Stonewall Riots are often regarded as one of the first pivotal moments of the gay rights movement (3).

Carsten Balzer makes note of a major change in the way drag was perceived by the public with the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York. These riots occurred in the midst of the civil rights movement and “later became known as the birth of the modern gay liberation movement” (Balzer,

114). The Stonewall Riots were able to “[smash preconceived notions of sexuality and behavioral conformity” and caused two changes:

“First, it made a wider public aware of the situation in which homosexuals and drag queens were being forced to live. Secondly, it changed self-perceptions within the subculture: from feeling guilty and apologetic to feelings of self-acceptance and pride. Flawless considers this change, which finally led to the rise of the drag queens and the drag queen media hype, to have resulted from reciprocal processes of acceptance by society and self-acceptance by individuals in the subculture.”(114) This passage gives insight into the treatment of drag and trans people during the 60s and 70s and offers as a stark comparison to their treatment today when people like Caitlyn Jenner can comfortably make a public transition.

Despite that, drag has risen in popularity over the last few decades particularly with the rise of RuPaul in the mid to late 20th century. Though RuPaul is not the only queen of her time, she has become a household name in a way that her drag counterparts (such as Lady Bunny) have not. RuPaul her autobiography Lettin it All Hang to discuss her successes as a drag queen on television and in the music industry. Though not all queens revel in the same success, it does offer insight into the possibility of a drag queen becoming successful within mainstream media. This offers the chance for others like RuPaul who have made their career out of their drag performance to have similar experiences and contributions in mainstream media. This offers a contrast to the ways in which drag queens were treated during the time of the Stonewall Riots and lends to an example of possible transgender progression. RuPaul revolutionized modern drag as it is seen today as she births future generations of drag queens to graces stages across the United States.

RuPaul was brought up in the old-school drag scene when drag was first on the rise and it is the future of drag that starts with her.

Drag in the Public Sphere

“…The fact that drag is mainstream is a great thing. The fact that drag is in people’s living rooms and 14-year-old boys can watch a show called ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ with their family. I think that’s amazing.”

-Bianca Del Rio, Interview with HISKIND (2015)

There are great impacts that the media may have on the world, particularly when it comes to portrayal and performance. Think of modeling advertisements and their influence on men and women’s understandings for desirability based on what is presented in an ad. The same thing can be said for drag in the media. In this chapter I will examine examples where drag or a form of cross-dress has been used in either television, film, or other media outlets and analyze the types of impacts that it may have on its audience.

Some of the most well-known drag queens such as RuPaul, Lady Bunny, and Divine became the first to break into the public sphere but the popularity of drag became more pronounced in the 1990’s with the success of RuPaul on MTV when her music video Supermodel of the World first premiered. It was at this point that the notion of drag became more widely acceptable with the emergence of subcultures and solo performers (Balzer, 111). RuPaul, one of the more publicized queens of her time (and still today), performs under a platform of self-love and self-acceptance

(Charles, 177). In 1990 on the show Geraldo, the public first heard RuPaul’s now famous line,

“’Cause if you can’t love yourself – how in the hell you gonna love somebody else – can I get an

A-men in here?” (118). This line is now used to close every episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race after a new queen is sent home as she continues to promote her platform more than 20 years later.

Taylor and Rupp’s address the ways in which the audience at a drag show is able to learn from the performing queens. Their article Learning from Drag Queens challenges the idea of gender by claiming that gender identity and sexuality are not fixed notions but are capable of changing and others the concept of heterosexuality within the gay community. Taylor and Rupp argue that drag shows are in “a place where for an hour or two gay is normal and straight is other”

(Taylor and Rupp, 12) and the purpose of these shows are to “use entertainment to educate straight people about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered lives” (12). At these shows, labels are meant to be left at the door because the use of “man”, “woman”, “gay”, or “straight” “just don’t fit” (16).

According to one queen, they have “taken gender and thrown it out of the way” (16) as they use their show to break boundaries and teach the audience about love and pride. The use of drag as an educational tool for the rest of the LGBT community and beyond focuses not only on the importance of gender performativity but its accessibility to the public sphere. Drag has also been used as a device for character portrayal in many films. The one that has created an entire subculture since its release was the 1975 film Rocky Horror Picture Show featuring Tim Curry, Susan

Sarandon and Barry Bostwick (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”). Almost 40 years since the film’s release, the number of people who subscribe to this culture appears to grow every year.

More and more people are taking part in the subculture by attending film screenings and live performances of the show every year around Halloween. Those who attend the live performances are asked upon arrival if they are a virgin. By Rocky Horror standards, this question is not posed to ask the audience members about their sexual history. Rather, it is to see who has attended the show before and is familiar with the various types of audience participation including shouting at

different characters, holding newspaper over their heads during the raining scene, and standing in the aisles to do the Time Warp. Those who respond with a yes to this question have never seen the show live before. Those who are “virgins” (Norman) are typically asked to go up on stage prior to the show to mimic an assigned sexual act often using props with their partner that has been randomly assigned to them. Once they lose their virginity, the show may begin.

In other films that feature drag, however, the use of men dressing as women helps to portray depth to a person’s identity. The Birdcage was an American adaptation of a French film that was released in 1996. In this film, a gay cabaret owner (portrayed by Robin Williams in American version) and his drag queen companion (Nathan Lane) agree to act straight so that their son could introduce them to his fiancée's right-wing politically-active parents (“The Birdcage”).

Throughout the film, stereotyping occurs in the portrayal of the drag companion, Albert.

He is given feminine qualities and mannerisms that you would expect from a man who is not only gay but a female impersonator which is why he feels that he needs to learn to be straight in order to be introduced to a conservative family. A scene from the film is devoted to him learning how to be straight by mimicking John Wayne, a popular, masculine film icon. Further, the home in which the family lives in is adorned with phallic artwork which must be entirely redecorated so as not to blow their cover when their future in-laws visit (“The Birdcage”).

Through a comedic medium, this film captured the struggles that the LGBT community faced in the mid-90s with the prejudices against not just gay men but men who perform in drag. It was able to show the significance that gender performativity had featuring the clichéd yet accurate moral of not judging a book by its cover. These men were forced to mimic what they believed was a typical straight man in order to be accepted by a more conservative portion of society. The use

of drag in this film not only gave insight into the identities of two gay men but the way that these men are perceived by etic communities.

Kinky Boots, which came out in 2005 and has since been adapted into a Broadway musical, is about a man, Charlie, who inherits his father’s shoe factory. In an effort to keep the factory from going out of business he has to change their market. After being mugged in an alley he is saved by a drag queen named Lola, who is notorious for breaking her heels during her acts. Charlie notices this and begins producing shoes fit for a queen. Many times, Lola has to visit the shoe factory to test out the product – sometimes in drag and sometimes out of drag. One man in particular is initially attracted to Lola, before he realizes Lola is actually a man and then mocks her. In an attempt to regain his masculinity, he taunts Lola each time she is in the shop. In this scenario we see Lola being treated as an Other or as if she does not belong – she is considered an outsider to what would be considered the norm in this situation (or an Other). Lola wished as a young child to be more masculine to fit her father’s expectations for what a man should be, but knew that it was not who she was, thus she pursued a career in drag (Jarrold).

Much like The Birdcage, this film highlights the prejudices against the non- heteronormative. This film is set in England as opposed to the United States. Putting this film in the public eye with a drag queen as the main character arguably challenged any preconceived notions about queens, and brought to light the struggles that they face in their day to day lives.

Lola’s tagline before each of her shows is “Ladies, gentlemen, and those of you who have yet to make up your mind” (Jarrold) highlights the inclusivity of a drag show environment and an attempt to eliminate the gendered Other.

Another film which also address drag in a similar way by showing identity expression is

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! – Julie Newmar which was released in 1995. In the article

Style or Substance: Heterotextual Traces in “To Wong Fu”, James Keller examines camp drag and its uses in the film To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar as a means of expressing the exaggerated manifestations of masculinity in Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes’ previous film roles. He reviews the film’s referral to Swayze and Snipes’ acting careers for the purposes of satire and lists their most notable roles as stereotypical masculine males. Keller defines this camp drag as “‘sensibility devoid of content’ (Meyer 6), the frivolous expression of gay sensibilities” that are

“little more than men’s interpretations of femininity” (Kelley, 65-66). She argues that this film questions preconceived notions of gender by taking actors typically type-casted as strong, masculine characters and putting them in dresses.

The examination of this film creates a better understanding towards audience reactions to on-screen “affection between same sex partners, particularly males” (70) by referencing derogatory terms shouted at the film during such scenes. The reactions to this film also create a baseline for the typical reactions to non-heteronormative relations on-screen. If these types of relationships were to be included more frequently then the inclusion of these types of differing gender expressions in mainstream media could lead to progression of the drag and transgender community.

In other films, drag has been used as a tool for comedy such as films like Mrs. Doubtfire featuring Robin Williams (1993) and White Chicks featuring the Wayans Brothers (2004). In both films, the use of drag is to create a disguise for a character in order to achieve a goal whereas drag for drag queens is used as a form of identity expression. An aspect of drag is impersonation so where this may not seem to be the typical drag style that has been discussed it still falls under the

umbrella of drag. RuPaul explains the difference between his male and female persona as such:

“The reality is that I am a man. The illusion is that I am a woman. But of the two, the illusion is truer” (Charles, x).

In the Broadway musical, Hairspray, and subsequently the film that was produced as well, drag is used simply as a method of character portrayal. Both on and off Broadway, the mother in this production is always played by a large man (or a man in a fat suit) as a comedic element to the story (Hairspray). It is never addressed in the story line that the mother is played by a man simply because that is not the purpose of the actor’s role. Much like when Shakespeare’s plays were first being performed using an all-male cast, the actor who plays the mother is supposed to appear as a female rather than a man in drag. This is meant to be humorous to audiences but not meant to represent the mother’s possible drag identity.

Drag has also made its appearance on television as well. The network television station,

LOGO, which targets primarily LGBT audiences broadcasts one of its more popular reality TV shows, RuPaul’s Drag Race. First airing in 2009, RuPaul’s Drag Race is a competition hosted by

RuPaul geared towards finding the world’s next drag superstar. The competition features elements of sewing, singing, acting, lip synching, and humor. May 2015 marked the end of their 7th season of Drag Race announcing Violet Chachki as the winner.

The season 6 winner of the show, Bianca Del Rio, has offered quite a lot of insight into her experiences in the drag community since she entered the drag scene. In an interview with Attitude

Magazine, Bianca Del Rio claims that doing drag helps her “get away with murder” (Rio). She compares the way the public would react to her insult comedy sketch in and out of drag stating that the difference in reactions is in the wig – without it, she would be called a “hateful fag” (Rio)

but with it she is considered to be hysterical. As an insult comic, her usual demeanor may seem offensive but when she performs as a drag queen she is considered to be putting on an act, which is why she feels she is considered hysterical rather than hateful. Her character and others like her are meant to portray their interpretation of women when performed by men – the hourglass figure, slim facial features, and makeup are often exaggerated. This differs from the way the modelling industry, for example, portrays women because one is meant to be taken seriously while the other, drag, is meant to be considered a character or an act. Bianca’s statement sheds light on the treatment of queens as purely performative, as Bianca makes it clear that she would not be able to do the same things she does as a queen if she was not in drag, which further gives insight into how this impacts general treatment of the drag and trans members of the LGBT community.

However, RuPaul’s Drag Race is not the only popularized television show whose premise is based on gender performativity through drag. A sketch comedy show which first aired in 2003,

Little Britain, focused its entire show on the use of its characters in drag. The creators of the show played the main characters of each sketch, Matt Lucas and David Williams, however, each of the characters that they played were women (Little Britain). One character in particular, Emily

Howard, local transvestite, pokes fun at the idea of cross-dressing and the way it can be perceived in public places. Emily Howard can be described as an “unconventional transvestite” who often wears “old Victorian dresses” (Emily Howard) and occasionally “trails back into her masculine mannerisms” (Emily Howard). In each sketch that she appears in, she is usually trying to convince a person or people of her femininity whether she is trying to go into the women’s restroom at the gym or posing nude for a painting class. Her famous line in each sketch it “I’m a lady!” as she unsuccessfully attempts to persuade those around her that she is a woman. The show pokes fun at

some of the situations surrounding it and the difficulties that men who dress as women may face such as attempting to use a women’s restroom.

Drag has also made its presence in children’s television programs on channels like Disney and Nickelodeon. SpongeBob Squarepants, for instance, has many occasions in which the male characters dress as women. During the episode titled Clams where Mr. Krabs is in search of his lost millionth dollar, SpongeBob and Squidward attempt to trick Mr. Krabs into thinking a different dollar bill is the one that he lost. He mentions that this dollar has many attributes that set it apart from his millionth including that it had been “kissed with coral blue #2 semi-gloss lipstick”

(Clams). The scene then jumps to SpongeBob holding a purse and a tube of blue lipstick which he is also wearing saying “actually, it’s coral blue number…” (Clams) at which point he is cut off.

The audience would assume that a woman kissed the dollar since it is women who typically wear makeup, not men. The show challenges this notion by adding a comedic element of surprise when it is revealed that SpongeBob was the one wearing lipstick.

Another instance of SpongeBob dressing up as a woman would be in the episode The

Slumber Party where Mr. Krabs’ daughter, Pearl, hosts a sleepover. After fearfully watching a movie with SpongeBob about sleepover shenanigans, Mr. Krabs sends SpongeBob to spy on the party. After many failed attempts to gain access, a knock is heard on the door and Pearl opens it to see what appears to be SpongeBob in a wig. This stranger introduces herself as Girly TeenGirl from Farawayville. As she is angrily sent away by Pearl and her friends, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs drive up to the home in a pizza delivery truck revealing that Girly TeenGirl was not Spongebob in a wig (The Slumber Party). The assumption that Girly TeenGirl was also SpongeBob implies that it was not out of character for SpongeBob to dress up as a woman. The children who also watch

the show presumably have similar expectations for his character and perceive SpongeBob dressing as a woman as normal.

SpongeBob is also famous for debuting what could be likened to a homosexual male relationship between SpongeBob and his starfish companion, Patrick. In the episode titled Rock- a-bye Bivalve, SpongeBob and Patrick find an abandoned baby clam that they decide to raise together. Throughout the episode, the two are seen walking around with the baby in a stroller, caring for it, and feeding it as parents would typically do. SpongeBob takes on the stereotypical motherly female roll by not only wearing dresses, nightgowns, and hair curlers, he also takes primary care of the clam, Junior, while Patrick leaves during the day to go to work (Rock-a-bye

Bivalve). This episode introduces children to two men raises a child and instills at a young age the acceptability of this practice.

Throughout the series, SpongeBob is not the only character who dresses as a female. In the aptly named episode That’s No Lady, Patrick dons a new identity, Patricia, to avoid a man who keeps shouting “get out of town” at him. This episode presents a male character who parades through life in her new identity as a female (That’s No Lady). Although Patrick reveals himself at the end of the episode, it is through this series which children are able to be exposed to non- heteronormative ways of life.

Another Nickelodeon show which portrays men who dress as women is The Fairly

Oddparents. Throughout the series, it is common to see either Timmy (the main character who is a young child), his father (Mr. Turner), or Cosmo (one of Timmy’s fairies who grants him wishes) dress in women’s clothing. Two episodes from the series highlight this best the first of which being

The Boy Who Would be Queen. In this episode, Timmy wants to get his crush, Trixie, the perfect

gift for her birthday. In order to understand what a girl likes, he wishes that his fairies turn him into a girl so that his female mind will help him. Masquerading as Timantha, she finds that not all girls like stereotypical girl things when he sees Trixie dressed up as a boy purchasing comic books

(The Boy Who Would Be Queen). This episode allows kids to learn that there are not certain expected interests that boys and girls must have and it is okay to like other things. One should not have to hide his or herself from their gender in order to openly express their interests.

The other episode that focuses on men dressing up would be in Miss Dimmsdale when

Timmy’s father tries to compete in their town’s beauty pageant. Throughout the episode, many people try to deter Timmy’s dad from competing and in outrage, he loudly exclaims “Where does it say that a man can't be beautiful?” (Miss Dimmsdale). He challenges gendered norms regarding beauty pageants by embracing his own beauty in the same way that women do. At this point, children who watch it are encouraged to embrace their beauty as well regardless of gender.

Timmy’s dad goes on to win the title of Miss Dimmsdale.

Other television shows like That’s So Raven and The Suite Life of Zach and Cody also incorporate elements of drag into their writing. These programs show the viewer that dressing up in the opposite gender’s clothes is not something that should be frowned upon. Many children look up to characters in their favorite television shows so if Raven Symone or Cole Sprouse can wear opposite gender clothing then it is just as acceptable for anyone else to. Though these show use cross-dressing primarily for entertainment purposes, children are much more impressionable than adults. Therefore they are more likely to find cross-dressing acceptable than a member of an older generation that was not exposed to this kind of media as a child. This will lead to transgender progression as those who grew up with these shows are now more comfortable with trans as they have been exposed to it since childhood.

Aside from television, drag has also made its appearances on the internet in recent years.

Though her YouTube channel has been removed, Tonetta was once a drag queen who truly made her debut after being featured on the show Tosh.0. Tonetta is a character played by an older gentleman who has a very intentionally messy style of drag. She performed vulgar and sexually explicit songs on her YouTube channel such as Pressure Zone and Drugs, Drugs, Drugs.

Other well-known drag queens also have YouTube vlogs like Alyssa Edwards and Willam

Belli, both made popular on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Alyssa Edwards hosts her show Alyssa’s Secret where she talks about current events in drag, her life, or other various topics and occasionally brings on other queens she has performed with on RuPaul’s Drag Race (Edwards). Her videos are often promoted on her Facebook page, her Instagram, and other social media outlets. Willam has a similar vlog and has also been featured on the YouTube channel Superfruit hosted by two members of the band Pentatonix where he taught them how to do drag (Grassi and Hoying).

The last internet portrayal of drag is via the popular news portal, Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed has a group of four men called the Try Guys who do different things together like Halloween costumes, makeup tutorials, and women’s underwear. One of their most popular videos featured the Try Guys trying drag for the first time. In this segment, four queens in California where the show is filmed helped the four Try Guys pick their names, outfits, tuck, do makeup, and lip sync. Each Try Guy created a queen with their own personality to reflect their identity in some way. Even the songs which they chose expressed their characters. Each queen that helped the individual Try Guys referred to the queens are their drag mothers for helping them experience drag for the first time.

When introducing the Try Guys at their drag show, the queens subsequently refer to the Try Guys as their daughters. The Try Guys have a large following and this video with over 15 million views

opened up their audience to the world of drag which they may not have previously experienced

(The Try Guys Try Drag For The First Time).

The last visual representation of drag in the public sphere is the newly released magazine,

QUEEN. The magazine’s website details what each issue of the magazine will be about:

“We are launching the world’s first high-end, high-fashion international drag magazine – QUEEN. This magazine will be as multifaceted as the world of drag itself. Featuring everything from glamour to avant-garde to gore, we will be showcasing all angles of drag reality: fashion, beauty, storytelling, music, dance and more. QUEEN is for everyone: from the drag enthusiast to any person that enjoys the artistry of transformation. It will be available for subscription internationally as well as for sale at select booksellers worldwide. This magazine is for an audience that supports and enjoys the growth of drag culture into the mainstream: an audience excited for a new publication showcasing all things drag in an elegant, sexy and high-end way. Drag is a big world and we intend to show you the best of the best that every country has to offer. Supporting QUEEN will take our drag community to the next level, help up-and-coming queens gain recognition and book work.”(Hastings) The introduction of this magazine into mainstream media showcases drag as normal as it is structured similarly to a fashion magazine. It is showcasing drag as art and as a way of life and hopes to grant its viewers an educational inside look on drag culture.

QUEEN is taking steps to ensure that a drag fashion magazine is as popular and mainstream as Elle and Vogue. Adore Delano appears on the first cover of QUEEN – she was made famous by Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The photographer and creator of the magazine, Magnus

Hastings, appears to be using QUEEN as an extension of his already existing photography project,

Dragged Around the World where he photographs drag queens internationally.

Finally, drag has also made its mainstream appearance in the music industry famously driven by RuPaul. Her fame in the music industry has paved the way for many other drag

performers to gain traction outside of the drag community. Adore Delano, as previously mentioned, starred on Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and on Season 7 of American Idol. Both of these roles helped to kick start her music career. Though she performed some of her songs prior to RuPaul’s Drag Race, she did not release her first album, “Till Death Do Us Party” (“Adore

Delano”), until after the Season 6 finale.

Courtney Act had a similar timeline as Adore, however, her career began in Australian from which she hails. Courtney was a semi-finalist for Australian Idol and later went to compete alongside Adore Delano in Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. She released music both before and after her appearance on the show and is among the ranks of one of the drag queens known for her music career (“Courtney Act”).

Following their analysis of drag shows, Taylor and Rupp focus on the queens of club 801

Cabaret in Key West, Florida. The performers reveal the ease at which they are able to break the gender binary by performing as women yet intentionally breaking that illusion by speaking in their usual, male voices. One of the queens of 801 Cabaret describes her transitions between genders outside of drag starting as a male, switching to female, and then finally resting on male as she began to love herself in her natural body. Due to her change, she has begun labeling herself as

“omnisexual” (Taylor and Rupp, 14). Another queen reveals that she “passed for a woman for a time” though she was unsure if this was “because [she wanted to be a woman or because [she was attracted to men that [she wanted to be a woman” (14). The headliner of the 801 Cabaret drag show, Sushi, explains the way in which doing drag differs from being transgendered. When asked about the distinction between drag and transgender identities, Sushi mentions a queen she performs with to claim that “a drag queen is someone like Kylie who has never ever thought about cutting her dick off” (14). As in, a transgender person does not wish to have the male genitalia that would

associate them with a man whereas a drag queen, like Kylie, does not care that she still has a penis.

As these queens are performing in a public space they are creating a more accessible venue for others to learn about the differences between gender identities within the LGBT community. These drag shows paired with the media outlets who show drag whether it be through a television show or a concert provide a more well-rounded understanding of the drag community at large.

In summation, drag has appeared in mainstream media through many forms and outlets. It appears most notable in children’s television shows, as it is able to reach a more impressionable audience. Drag also has a presence in video blog forums on YouTube, magazines, and in the music industry. This publicity can help indoctrinate the general media-consuming public on what drag is and help break the barriers of a heteronormative society.

Language Practices

“Can I tell you what I’ve learned is true? When you have a boy name in drag, everyone calls you

‘him’.”

-Bob the Drag Queen, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 8

In order to gain an in-depth look into language I have used both interviews, surveys, and examinations of RuPaul’s Drag Race to begin charting the common words used in the drag community. In both interviews and surveys I was provided with a list of common words and phrases to examine to simplify the process. Through watching RuPaul’s Drag Race I began taking note of words that seemed uncommon to everyday American vernacular and made note of how many times they were used and what context they were used it. From there I was able to get a glimpse at what was a popular term and what was rarely used.

In accordance with the language used during Seasons 4-7 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and those

I have interviewed, I have examined the different words and phrases unique to drag queens and their followers. I have taken the words that I felt were most common and cross-referenced RuPaul’s

Drag Race Dictionary to modify each definition.

Many of the words I observed are used multiple times throughout each episode from

RuPaul’s Drag Race from various queens in many contexts. Serving, which can be used interchangeably with giving, is a term often used during both the mini and main challenges of each episode along with their runway look. Serving is used as a way to refer to what the queens are

wearing and is often used in conjunction with the word realness though this is not always the case.

An example from Season 5 was when Jade Jolie described her performance during the first challenge where the queens were asked to gracefully pose underwater for a photoshoot. She said

“I was giving Helen Keller drowning realness” (“RuPaullywood or Bust) as a way to make fun of herself for doing such a poor job. Serving, giving, and realness are often used to accurately describe the way a queen is being portrayed in a certain moment. If a queen is serving up her look very well, it is often to be described as sickening.

The next term that can be used to describe a certain type of queen is fish. A fish or fishy queen is one that looks either very feminine or passable (meaning that they could pass or be mistaken for a real woman). The term was derived as a play on the supposed fishy scent of women’s genitalia and is thus used in drag to say that a queen is feminine. Occasionally, the use of the word fishy is paired with a queen mimicking smelling something putrid in the air by waving their hand in front of their nose and making a disgusted face as illustrated in RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Survey responses compared to its use on the show indicated that this is a word that is unique unto the drag community.

One of the most popular terms that is used not only throughout the season but in a challenge designed specifically to test this is the concept of reading. To read a queen is to accurately and openly criticize someone else, oftentimes in a humorous way. One of the challenges the queens must face is to read one another on their flaws. RuPaul starts this challenge by saying “In the great tradition of Paris is Burning, bring out your library cards because the library is open!” Each queen then puts on a pair of sunglasses and takes turns reading each other. For instance, during Season

5, Ivy Winters read Coco Montrese by saying “you must be blind because it looks like you’ve been using Tang for your highlights” (“RuPaul Roast”). In this instance, Ivy Winters was calling

out Coco Montrese for painting her face with orange makeup. However, sometimes these reads can be described as shady. This term can refer to one queen talking behind another’s back or to throw shade is to openly criticize another queen. Shady reads are often taken more as hurtful or mean as opposed to light-hearted and funny.

Commonly used as a name replacement is the term bitch. In each episode in any season, this term can be hear upwards of a dozen times. It can either be taken as an insult or a term of endearment dependent entirely on the context used. If it is clear that the two queens are in an argument, then bitch should not be taken in a light-hearted and fun way. Rather, if the queens are laughing and appear to be enjoying themselves based on context in discussion, body language and facial expressions then bitch should not be taken with any negative connotations. Lastly is kai-kai which is a term heard a few times each season and should be pronounced as if someone were saying sky-sky without the S’s. Based on the few times it is mentioned and cross-referencing that with the online dictionary, kai-kai refers to the act of sex between two drag queens. This should not be confused with ki-ki (key-key) which is a phrase used to describe gossiping or small-talk.

Of the surveys that I conducted, some of the terms presented by queens were “yaaasssss”,

“tea”, “Gaga”, “slay”, and “gag”. Some of these have already been described but it is important to understand where these words came from and why they are used. Some of these words too seem very obvious in meaning though will still be explained and a handful of them often appear side- by-side as I have observed in watching a few season’s worth of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

The first is just an exaggerated form of the word yes and is often used in conjunction with the word Gaga (like Lady Gaga) to create the phrase “Yas Gaga”. This is often used as an expression of approval when one queens likes something another queen is doing. This phrase (and

many others) may also be accompanied by non-verbal communication in the form of snapping.

The snapping can either be interpreted as approval like “Yas Gaga” (if a queen likes an outfit, for instance) or can be used in agreement with something that another queen has said.

The word tea can usually be accompanied by the word shade which was examined earlier.

Tea can be used in various forms depending on its context. If a queen were to say “no tea, no shade” then it is meant to translate to be synonymous with “no disrespect” (RuPaul's Drag Race

Dictionary). It can also be used in a completely contradictory way by saying “all tea, all shade” which essentially means “I do not care if I offend you so I am going to say this anyways” (RuPaul's

Drag Race Dictionary). Both phrases are followed by a read of some kind but only one is meant to offend.

The letter T is often used throughout many words in the drag queen dictionary seemingly at random though holds great meaning. Hunty is commonly used as a form of endearment to other queens and is a combination of the words honey and cunt. Based on my observations, this word can often be seen following the phrase “no tea, no shade Hunty”. The infiltration of the word cunt actually proves very prominent throughout drag language as it is a representation of femininity.

Though not commonly used for most, it is a representation of female genitalia which is why it is so important to the drag community. Including the letter t in various words is common throughout drag culture. “Good mornting, hunty” is an example of this use of the letter t in common speech.

Also, the word cunt is used in an acronymic form on RuPaul’s Drag Race. RuPaul states multiple times throughout every season that the winning queen must show charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent which happens to spell out the word cunt. So not only are there certain characteristics that they must display but the overarching theme is that they should tie themselves to the biological

female form as emphasized by the use of the word cunt. Though it may seem vulgar, this word is a backbone to expressing femininity through drag language practices.

Another similar inclusion of femininity into language is the use of her in words where it is not typically seen. Much like the previous trend, her is included as a way to emphasize the fact that drag queens are females. A very common example that is often used by RuPaul is the term herstory in place of history. In a clever and comedic fashion, it replaces the male pronoun in the root of history with a female pronoun to make it more representative of drag queens.

Other common words that have positive connotations are slay and gag. When someone is slaying it means that they are killing it with their look or their performance – they are outstanding.

This places the verb on the subject. Gag places the verb on the object of the sentence and is used when referencing oneself. A person typically gags over another queens’ look usually in shock or utter disbelief but it should be seen positively. A common example is “I was gagging on the eleganza”. This means to say that the object was in disbelief or taken aback by the beauty of the subject’s appearance.

In order to learn more about language practices within the drag community, I conducted an interview with a local queen named Jennifer Sinclair. I met her through one of her many performances at FAU and knew from listening to her speak years ago that she has been a part of this community for upwards of three decades and would be a useful informant for this study. She began drag around 1987 and now performs at local bars and clubs and hosts fundraisers to benefit the community.

While conducting my interview with Jennifer Sinclair, I found that there are words and phrases that are popular in the entire LGBT community though they may have gotten their start

with drag queens. She cites “hey queen”, “Miss Thing” and “girlfriend” (Thesis Interview) as examples of these words or phrases that started with drag queens but through shows, parades, or other events where drag queens are in a public eye their language has been adopted by other members of the LGBT community. She also believes that they have been made popular by members of the straight community on the Bravo network on the Real Housewives shows as their popularity has grown through other communities as well. Though these terms may not always be used exclusively by drag queens they are still commonly used features of the language that are very popular.

There are some aspects of the language practices that are non-verbal. Previously mentioned was snapping as a form of approval or agreement. There is also a general tongue pop that is common amongst queens but made popular by the drag queen Alyssa Edwards. It is when the tongue makes a popping noise from the top center of the roof of the mouth often referred to as a palatal click. The tongue pop appears to emphasize the end of a sentence though I have not observed any other uses for it. For example, when Alyssa Edwards begins her YouTube video blogs she will introduce herself and the show then follow it with a tongue pop. This sound is often accompanied by one or both hands held up at shoulder level opening at the same time that the popping noise sounds.

There are also more negative uses of body language within the drag community. If a queen hears something that she does not like regardless of whether or not it was about her, she may respond by pursing her lips, raising her eye brows and either doing a head or eye roll (or sometimes both). Though this can sometimes be used as a joke, it is more typically an expression of distaste for something that someone has said. This can be seen many times on RuPaul’s Drag Race and is often associated with classifying a “shady” queen.

Naming practices within the drag are also incredibly unique. They choose their names for various reasons whether it is after a family member, a friend, or a personal story. For others, it is something more meaningful or personal to themselves. Trixie Mattel of RuPaul’s Drag Race

Season 7 chose her name based on her experiences as a child. During episode 8 of her season, she explains that she grew up with an abusive step-father. Any time Trixie would act or say something feminine, her step-father would call her a Trixie. She said “for years, that was one of the worst words I could think of. So I took that name Trixie and it used to have all this hurt to it and I made it my drag name and now it’s something I celebrate, something I’m so proud of.” (“Conjoined

Queens”).

However, not all queens choose their name in a similar way. Of the surveys I received, one queen decided to choose her first name based on a very common female name so that she would appear generic and average. Her last name was based on a popular fashion brand name so that she could seem like she was her own brand. Another queen built her name and character off of Rose

McGowan’s character in Planet Terror. For Jennifer Sinclair, her name was given to her by her friends before she performed for the first time (Thesis Interview).

When it comes to names, some drag queens choose to have names that are more masculine though that is not to say that they should be referred to as men. Some that have been featured on

RuPaul’s Drag Race in the last five seasons are Chad Michaels, Willam Belli, Bob the Drag Queen and Derrick Barry. As men impersonating women, it can be confusing for others when or how to use certain pronouns. Even though they have male names, they are still impersonating women and therefore they should be referred to as such unless they specify otherwise. Referring to them as women expands their act of performativity beyond just the queen themselves, when their audience fully acknowledges that despite the biological male form these drag queens are performing as

women. Despite the decision to choose more masculine names, this does not take away from the expression of femininity through exaggerated representations of the female form while also expressing their identity through choice of a male drag name.

Through both language use (whether it be verbal or non-verbal) and naming practices we are able to learn more about ways in which drag queens express identity and femininity in more than just their look. Even queens who choose typically masculine names as their drag names are emphasizing their female form by offering a stark contrast between their name and their appearance. Although it may not be clear on the surface – like the use of cunt throughout much of drag language or a male name – these are all ways in which drag queens choose to exude femininity.

Kinship

“My mom told me that this isn’t the future she sees for me and that she saw a lot more for me and that she thinks of drag as less. And I hope to show her through the show that drag is not only more, it’s everything.”

– Laganja Estranja, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6

I have been to my fair share of drag shows and particularly those hosted by FAU on the

Jupiter campus feature a questions and answer portion after the show is over. Many of the queens who performed when asked how they got started will mention someone that they refer to as their drag mother. This in itself got me wondering how drag queens are connected to one another which is where kinship comes into play. The quote featured at the beginning of this chapter is from an episode of Season 6 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. This queen in particular, Laganja Estranja, is known for her famous drag mother who competed in one of the seasons prior. Her mother, Alyssa

Edwards, was the first person who got her started in drag. Based on my observations, a drag mother is the person who got a queen started in drag. Alyssa put Laganja in drag for the first time and is therefore considered her mother. Like any biological mother, a drag queen can also mother multiple drag daughters. One of the queens that I interviewed mentioned that not only did she have drag daughters but she had drag granddaughters because those she got into drag years ago have also influenced others.

There are also drag sisters at play within this kinship system. Though I expected drag sisters to be queens who had the same drag mother I found this to not be the case. Based on my interviews, one queen specified that drag sisters are not specifically queens who have the same drag mother.

Rather, drag sisters are just queens who perform together. Even more so, they are queens that are close to each other. Just as I would regard a close friend of mine a sister, these queens regard their other drag friends as sisters too. These queens would have what is called a fictive kin relationship where their ties are neither formed by blood or marriage.

Another thing I have noticed from the various drag shows I have attended and from examining drag queen profiles on social media are the associations with specifics “hauses”.

Pronounced like “house”, a haus is a group of women who all associate themselves in a family.

One of the most famous ones (though by no means the only one) is Haus of Edwards led by the ever popular queen Alyssa Edwards who was made famous by season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Two seasons later, one of her daughters, Laganja Estranja, performed on the show. She mentions during an episode of Untucked that Alyssa was the first person to put her into drag after discovering that Laganja had a passion for it. You can see photos of these two along with one of Laganja’s running mates, Gia Gunn, all posing together as the Haus of Edwards.

However, not every drag queen is associated with a drag family. Willam Belli confessed that because she did not come up through the club scene that she does not have a drag family to associate herself with (“Frenemies”). Typically, drag queens get their start performing at local bars or clubs (as is revealed on RuPaul’s Drag Race and in conversations with queens I have had over the years). The other queens on Willam’s season seemed shocked that she did not have a drag family to go home to and claimed that they would not be able to live without them (“Frenemies”).

For those who came up in the club scene that Willam mentioned, they are more likely to have some

sort of family to tie themselves to therefore it is more common that a queen will have some sort of family even if it just consists of sisters. Willam is a unique case where she does not have (or did not at the time of filming) have a drag mother, daughter, or sisters. Based on her melancholy account and the reactions of her fellow competing queens we can assume that kinship is an important aspect of a drag queen’s life. Throughout her season, Willam is secluded from the other queens because she seems to not understand how to work with them in a way that is expected or desirable as they were brought into drag in a different way than she was. Having a drag family allows the queens involved a chance to get to know other members of the community and grow together whereas queens like Willam are stuck in the position of not knowing where to fit in. These families strengthen bonds between members of the community where they are able to use their kin ties to share with others why drag is important and meaningful for them.

The Importance of Drag

“I think I’m finally starting to fit in.”

-Katya Zamolodchikova, RuPaul’s Drag Race

This chapter is a combination of objective and subjective observations of drag as an important aspect to the LGBT community. Much of this information comes from drag queens that

I have interviewed or have responded to my surveys but this is also an analysis of what can be assumed of the impact of the drag community on the larger LGBT group.

On the whole, drag is a medium through which people are able to create and express their gender identity. Eve Shapiro examines the feminist drag group Disposable Boy Toys (DBT) in her article Drag Kinging and the Transformation of Gender Identities. Through participation in this troupe, she is able to examine the ways in which gender identities are able to take shape amongst those who chose to perform gender with DBT.

In this particular instance, performing gender is able to allow these kings and queens the ability to redefine their identities in a way that they feel best suits them. She also notes a myriad of gender and queer theorists and their analyses on gender performativity. She states that

“drag queens, and more recently drag kings, have been the subject of substantial theorizing by both sociologists and queer theorists (Halberstam 1998; Munoz 1999; Newton 1972). In the first drag ethnography, Newton (1972) argues that drag queens used gendered camp to resist homosexual stigma. In his research on female impersonators, Tewksbury (1994) finds that performances often draw on hegemonic gender norms and work to reinforce normative gender identities. In more recent work, Rupp and Taylor (2003) assert that drag queens pose a politicized challenge to beliefs about gender and sexuality in their

performances. In studies of transsexual individuals (Gagne, Tewksbury, and McGaughey 1997; Schrock, Reid, and Boyd 2005), as well as in ethnographies of drag performances, drag show audiences, and drag communities (Newton 1972; Piontek 2002; Rupp and Taylor 2003; Schacht 1998), scholars have examined the meaning of public performances of gender and debated whether drag destabilizes or reinscribes gender and sexuality hierarchies (Dolan 1985; Lorber 1999). What none of this research has examined, however, is the effect on these gender performances on the performers themselves.” (Shapiro) This provides a stable basis to the importance of gender performativity within and beyond the drag community. What this article does not delve into is how these gendered performances aid in the progression of the transgender community now that drag is becoming so mainstream. However it is possible that drag did not have the same popularity eight years ago as it does today. RuPaul’s

Drag Race was not in existence, RuPaul was the only drag queen in the music industry and there were very few drag queens using YouTube as a medium through which to gain publicity. This article offers a significant history and background on gender and queer theory but leaves a gap in the time since its publication and the present. Fortunately the use of surveys, interviews and television program analysis should make strides to fill this gap.

In the article Behind The Make-Up: Gender Ambivalence And The Double-Bind Of Gay

Selfhood In Drag Performance, Keith McNeal discusses gender ambivalence through performing in drag. He regards gender has being a “gendered ritual of rebellion whose patterns of symbolic inversion are particularly resonant with the culturally generated ambivalence of gay men in the

United States” (McNeal, 345). He argues that drag is a cathartic medium through which gay men are able to safely express their femininity in a way that is not stigmatized within their community.

At drag shows,

“gay men are able to observe and indeed laugh together at what society tells them they are. In the drag show, it seems that we encounter a silent, intersubjective agreement on the part of audience members in which the drag queens unabashedly act out and perform on stage many of the conflicts, attributions, and ambivalence of being gay and male in the United States.” (346-347)

This aids in my research on the importance of drag both for the drag community and those outside of it. Drag is an arena “in which gay men vicariously and ambivalently participate in the gendered drama presupposed by the hetero-normative model of gender and sexuality, but they do so relatively safely because the drag queen is also ‘not me.’” (347). That is to say that a drag identity is not necessarily a man’s only identity and therefore it is more acceptable to perform in that state if it is not the only identity through which a queen subscribes. This generates a better understanding of the use of drag in creating an identity and the role it plays in the daily lives of the queens.

From my collected surveys, one queen said that she felt drag was important because “it allows me to fucking look bomb as fuck and go out and exude confidence! When in drag i become the fucking eye of attention, and i just love how fucking happy it makes me.” Another said she felt it was important because “its art we are litterly moving breathing art a show right in front of you for you.” To these established queens, drag is not only a way to express themselves and allow them to be all that they want to be while also presenting themselves as an art form to those that they are performing for. This relates back to Judith Butler’s theory that gender is performative, or an act, allowing self-expression. Drag formally represents this both as a way of life and an art form.

Jennifer Sinclair said in interview that the most rewarding experience since doing drag is the lives she has touched. A huge part of her drag career rests on fundraising. She seeks to help out organizations that look at AIDS research, food pantries, and youth groups in the local community. For her, drag is more than just a performance but it is a way to benefit those around her (Thesis Interview). Another local queen, Velvet Lenore, stated in an interview that she does charity work as well. Much like her mother, Jennifer Sinclair, her drag career is centered on benefiting others (Velvet Lenore – The Drag Queen). When asked what she would tell the world

about drag, Jennifer Sinclair said that “Drag is challenging, rewarding, and it’s popular! Now, especially… thanks to television shows” (Thesis Interview). Through these interactions we can learn that drag is important not only to the queens themselves but to local communities. It provides the encouragement to gay community members to feel more comfortable expressing themselves and drag can be used as a basis for fundraising for areas of need.

The Transition of Jennifer Sinclair

“I’m a people person. I love to entertain, I love making people laugh and so it’s been ... it’s been a good career”

- Jennifer Sinclair

The following few pages feature a photo essay detailing the transition of Jennifer Sinclair from male to female. Rather than accompany the photos with quotes or captions, I would prefer that the photos speak for themselves. The purpose of including this photographic essay is to allow readers to gain insight into this transition. Those who are familiar with drag or frequent drag shows regularly often only see the finished product or they see the before and after but never the actual process. The series of photographs shown were taken over a time span of between an hour and an hour and a half.

Transgender Progression

"I'm not doing this to be interesting. I'm doing this to live."

-Caitlyn Jenner, Vanity Fair

Through some of the previous chapters we can decipher whether or not drag has had any influence on transgender progression. The transgender population is not at the same standing as it was five, ten, or even twenty years ago. The world did not know as much about the transgender community, there were fewer transgender people in the public eye, and there were fewer people fighting for transgender rights. In brief article that was published in the journal Off Our Backs—a response to the “One In Ten Film Festival” hosted at Pennsylvania State University, which prides itself on its selection of queer films—author Guidroz made a claim that this festival excluded the bisexual, transgender, and drag population in the presentation and marketing of the event. Though things may have changed in the two decades since this article was published, this does address the history of bisexual, and more closely related to my research, drag and transgendered identities in the LGBT community. It is possible that there still may be othering within the LGBT community, as this article suggests, aiding and encouraging “phobia and bashing against gender-benders”

(Guidroz, 21). This article offers a comparison point to treatment of drag and transgender people and how this may have changed over time.

To examine some progress we can refer to Chapter 3 where I looked at drag in the public sphere, which is one of the most influential factor in determining drag’s impact on the transgender community. Cross-dressing, drag, or trans characters that appear in films and television shows

targeted towards children can lead to younger generations growing up more accepting to these as being normal or entertaining. Though this influence can be altered slightly by context of the cross-dressing character, the message still remains the same to its viewers

– if it is “okay” for these male characters to wear women’s close or vice versa then it is okay to do the same off-screen.

We can see transgender progression in many ways beyond just Caitlyn Jenner. For instance, transgender friendly or gender-neutral bathrooms have been a topic of debate in recent years. North

Carolina passed a law in April of 2016 that requires that all citizens must use the bathroom that aligns with the biological sex on their birth certificate. This law actively discriminates against the entire transgender population and since received backlash. Though not all states agree that one should be allowed to utilize the restroom of the gender that they identify most with, it is a matter of equality worth discussing. Florida Atlantic University is one of the state colleges that has instituted gender neutral bathrooms on its main campus.

Another way to view transgender progression is through modeling advertisements and campaigns. Jaden Smith, Will Smith’s son, came out as gender fluid within the last year or so.

Through this he has been the face of a handful of modelling campaigns for women’s clothing despite being biologically male. His most recent stint in the modeling world has been for Louis

Vuitton’s womenswear standing alongside biological females all wearing skirts and articles from their spring collection (dailymail.com). In the picture to the right you can see an example of Jaden

Smith (on the far right) modeling in a skirt alongside four other women. Though the world of modelling is not the end-all-be-all of transgender progression it is still noteworthy that a major brand name would include a male model to advertise their women’s wear clothing line.

We can also view progress being made towards transgender inclusion in RuPaul’s Drag

Race. At the start of season 7 there were big changes made to the show – the removal of the use of the words tranny and she-mail (Duffy). The former did not appear frequently from my observations on the show but it must have appeared enough to receive backlash from their audience. Tranny can be seen as a derogatory term to some so its removal was understandable.

She-mail, however, was used in every single episode through the first six seasons as a way to introduce the mini challenges. It was used in another form during season 5 when the contestants were shows a person’s lips then asked to state whether they thought it was “female” or “she-male” meaning a man in drag. Some viewers of the show took offense to the latter use so the show removed the use of she-mail/male in both new seasons and previously released episodes where the word could be censored out. Both the transgender community and the drag community played a role in trans-inclusion of language use on this reality show which has the possibility of extending to one of its many audience members.

In another one of her interviews, Bianca Del Rio addresses just this. One of the questions that the interviewer, Adam Packer, asks is “Do you think the problems the LGBT community face could be resolved by drag?” Bianca Del Rio comments on the joys of having drag become so mainstream to a point where drag queens are becoming household names across the nation. She feels that our nation should be celebrating the fact that “14-year-old boys can watch a show called

‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ with their family” as opposed to celebrity feuds or something else equally as insignificant (Packer).

The transgender community has made major strides in the last decade but whether or not that can be attributed to the drag community has yet to be seen. Jennifer Sinclair suggests that comparing the transgender community with the drag community is almost like comparing apples to oranges – they are two different entities. Jennifer noted that there have always been transgender people like Renée Richards so it should not be considered noteworthy that there are more coming out in the public eye. Jennifer Sinclair said that “the media has made it possible for voices to be heard and laws to be passed and rights and hopefully we’ll keep moving forward and everyone can live as they want to live and love who they want to love” (Thesis Interview). Though I understand where she is coming from, I respectfully disagree. I feel based on my research and my observations over the last few years that the entire LGBT community is able to hold influence over the progress of its subsets. For instance, the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States was a big stride in the community at large and has since opened up discussions about other inequalities that the community still faces. This arguably allowed a more welcoming environment for Caitlyn

Jenner to come out as transgender and complete her transition under the public eye and encourage others to do the same. Though the drag community differs from the transgender community by means of intention, they still have the same goal in mind – equality. Introducing one facet of the

LGBT community into the public sphere opens up a dialogue for other members to be included in as well. Though it may not seem to be an obvious correlation between the two events, I think there is heavy influence between the drag and transgender communities.

Glossary of Terms

Bitch: Term of endearment, synonymous with “friend” or “girl” Camp: Style of drag that is overly exaggerated; similar to clown style drag Cross-dressing: A form of men or women dressing as the opposite gender to their biological sex Drag: A form of cross-dressing that is paired with identity expression Fish/Fishy: Feminine; resembling a female Gag: Shocked in a positive manner about someone’s outfit or about what someone said Genderfuck: A style of drag that blurs the line between male and female Glamazon: A style of drag that is very glamorous Hunty: A combination of the words “honey” and “cunt”; term of endearment Kabuki: A style of performance in Japan where men perform as women Kai-kai: The act of a drag queen having sex with another drag queen Ki-ki: Another word for gossip or chatting Reading: To accurately and openly criticize someone else, oftentimes in a humorous way Realness: Used to accurately describe the way a queen is being portrayed in a certain moment Serving: See “Realness” Shady: A way to describe a queen who gossips or is known for saying mean things. Sickening: Used to describe a queen who looks good. Slay: See “Sickening” Stonewall Riots: A 1969 riot at a local gay bar that was the pivotal moment of the gay rights movement. Tea: Can sometimes mean “truth”; when used in the sentence “no tea, no shade” it means “no offense” Transgender: A person who identifies as transgender means that their gender identity does not fit into the biological sex that they were born into. Trockadero: A style of dance where men perform both female and male roles in parodied performances of famous ballets (such as Swan Lake). Yas Gaga: An exaggerated form of the word “yes”

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