What do We Know about DragKings?

Teila BlanchfieldApril 1, 2011

WRTG 3020 – 098

Introduction

• This presentation is an examination of the article Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes written by Leila J. Rupp, Verta Taylor and Eve Ilana Shapiro. – Showing how drag kings and drag queens are both similar

and different in their gender performance• The presentation also draws from the documentary

Venus Boyz, a movie based on different individuals who choose to live the life of drag. – Showing how individual accounts into how drag makes them

feel, and why they chose to perform drag

Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes

• Three sociologists decided to study the differences between drag kings and drag queens

• Focusing on two groups– The 801 Girls, a drag queen troupe in Key West,

Florida– The Disposable Boy Toys, a political feminist

collective in Santa Barbara, California• These are drag kings

Who are the authors?

Leila J. Rupp

Verta Taylor

Eve Shapiro

Leila J. Rupp

• Leila J. Rupp is a historian, feminist and professor in Feminist studies and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her interests of study include women's history, women's movements, sexuality and LGBT.

Verta Taylor

• Verta Taylor is a professor and Chair of the department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her areas of interest include gender, qualitative research methods, and social movements.

Eve Shapiro

• Eve Shapiro is an assistant professor of Sociology at Westfield State College. Her areas of specialization include social movements, gender and sexuality, deviance and social control, research methods, new technologies, classical and contemporary theory and social inequality.

Theoretical Framing

• The existing literature on drag suggests that drag queen and drag king performances do not critique the binary system in similar ways– Binary system: a system in which a society divides

people into male and female gender roles, gender identities and attributes

The Argument

• “We argue that the transgressive personal gender and sexual identities of drag queens and drag kings influence and are influenced by the performance of drag and are key to understanding the boundary – and identity – deconstructive potential of drag.”

• Rupp et al pp 278

Important Definitions to Know

• Transgender: referred to a wide range of gender non-conformity, including genderqueer and FTM identities.

• Genderqueer: claimed identity outside of the male/female binary

• FTM: signified moving from a female to male gender of sex

• Rupp et al pp 282

Research Methods• Multiple qualitative methods• The 801 Girls

– Observing, tape recording and transcribing 50 drag performances, including the dialogue, music and audience interactions, collecting data on the production of the performances by attending weekly drag queen meetings, observing the performers in their dressing room, conducting semi- structured life histories of 12 performers, and remaining connected to the drag queens and field setting after completion of the original research. They also conducted informal conversations with 50 audience members at the shows which added to the data on audience responses, as did the coverage on local newspapers.

• The Disposable Boy Toys– Conducted and transcribed semi-structured interviews with 28 of 31 current and

past members, an analysis of documents from DBT and from an annual conference called the international Drag King Extravaganza, content analysis of 200 hours of video-recorded drag performances from DBT and participant observation at meetings, rehearsals, workshops, and performances .

What They Found in the 801 Cabaret Performances

• The 801 Cabaret (drag queens)– They raise questions about ‘naturalness’ of gender and sexual

identity– They are not female impersonators, they announce from the

beginning that they are gay men– They interact with their audiences in aggressively sexual ways– They work to undermine the divide between heterosexual

and homosexual by deliberately working to arouse desires outside audience members’ claimed sexualities

– They extend their performance to their audience, in hope to arouse straight men by touching and foundling

What They Found in the Disposable Boy Toys Performances

• The Disposable Boy Toys (drag kings)– They conveyed messages about sexism, racism,

body size, and militarism, as well as gender and sexuality

– They explicitly critique binary categories of masculinity/ femininity and gay/straight

– This was done through acts about transsexual, genderqueer, and fluid identities, queer desire, and transgressive masculinities and femininities

Now that you understand the article, lets take a couple steps back……

• We will take a look at…..– Drag Kings• The definition of kinging according to Rupp et al• Who performs drag • Why individuals choose the drag lifestyle• The transformation from female to male

– Drag Queens• Definition according to Rupp et al

– The findings Rupp et al found in Drag Queens and Drag Kings

• Related findings were also drawn from the movie Venus Boys. A documentary based on different individual’s drag lifestyle.

Plot summary of Venus Boyz (2002)

• Meet a group of women who explore their masculine sides as "drag kings" in this offbeat documentary. Using a legendary Drag King Night in New York as a starting point, we follow some of the women into their lives, whether their drag persona is an identity they assume part-time or full-time. Drag kings in London and Zurich are also interviewed, including some who are experimenting with hormones to accelerate their masculinity.

• Venus Boyz

What is a Drag King?

• Drag kinging includes female-bodied individuals performing masculinity, transgender indentified performers

performing masculinity or femininity, and female identified individuals performing

femininity, the latter known as ‘bio queens’.• Rupp et al. pp 276

Who performs Drag?

• Anybody can choose to perform drag• There is no model or expectation an individual

must follow to be capable of performing drag• Many women carry “normal” lives outside

their drag performances• Some have families, children, full time jobs

But why be a Drag King?

• Some individuals enjoy the act of performing as the opposite gender.– It can be… Erotic, Exciting and Exhilarating

• Individuals enjoy the experience of being a man and becoming an alter ego.– The exploration of choosing different personas as

a man

But why be a Drag King continued…..

• It can be a vacation from being a woman.– Stop smiling/ and stiffen up– Forget trying to impress others– No need to act lady-like

• Different attitudes and respect individuals gain becoming a male.– People treat men differently than women.

What do individuals feel while performing Drag?

• A sense of….– Empowerment– Eroticism– An escape from everyday gender roles

• Its fun and exhilarating• Enjoyment• Feelings of belonging• Self expression

The Transformation?

• Typically part of the look….– Facial hair– Binding– Packing– clothing

• Some kings focus on mannerisms and clothing rather than facial features

• Many kings use both the outward presentation and attitude/mannerisms to come into their male character.

Facial Hair

BindingPacking

Clothing (the options are endless)

Becoming a man

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbRPd2axofg&feature=player_detailpage

Why are Drag Kings different from Drag Queens?

What is a Drag Queen?

• Drag queens are gay men who perform in women’s clothing, although they are not

necessarily female impersonators.• Rupp et al. pp 276

Differences

• Coming to drag• Gender performances – how they underscore the social construction of

gender and sexuality– Sexuality on stage

Coming to Drag

• The 801 Cabaret– Gender transgression and same-sex sexual desire played an

important role in coming to drag– Beginning even before their early teens

• Gender transgression included dressing in feminine or androgynous clothing, experimenting with make-up, and playing with “girls toys”.

– Use of flamboyant dressing as a masquerade that allows the drag queens to create new identities, that they are able to put on and take off

– Although there is cross-dressing at early ages, identifying as gay and same-sex desire is the most important factor in the implementation of a drag queen identity

Coming to Drag

• The Disposable Boy Toys– Experienced drag identity transformation as a

result of performing as a drag king• Although many women were butch or masculine before

– Joined in search of a drag community, performance opportunities and time with friends who were already involved

Performances of a Drag Queen

• Drag queens play with categories of sexuality out of their own histories and desires, but they announce that they are gay men with intact male genitalia– Announce they are gay, not female impersonators

Performances of a Drag King

• Drag kings deliberately and consciously invoke questions about what is ‘real’ beneath the costumes– Don’t announce sexual orientation

Article Conclusions

• Drag kings and drag queens are very different– In coming to drag– The different performance styles and how each group

approaches sexuality on stage• Drag kings and drag queens are also similar– Use entertainment as a form of education to challenge

hegemonic gender and heteronormativity– Performed gender shows the possibility for change in

dismantling rigid and binary gender and sexual categories – They both challenge gender and sexual systems

But what did you Learn?

• Throughout this presentation readers have seen how different

• There are a variety of reasons one may choose to perform drag

• Stereotypes into categories is nonproductive because there is such a huge range of categories that there can be no one definition– Just like any other sub culture there are many different

categories of people• Gender is undefined and its really what you make of it

Even Cartoons play with their sexuality, challenging gender

norms…

References

Rupp, Leila J., Verta Taylor, and Eve Llana Shapiro. "Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes." Rpt. in Sexualities. 3rd ed. Vol. 13. 275-95. SAGE. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <http://sex.sagepub.com/content/13/3/275>.

Venus Boyz. Dir. Gabrielle Baur. Perf. Diane Torr, Dréd Gerestant and Del La Grace Volcano. First Run Features, 2002. Netflix. Netflix, Inc. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Venus_Boyz/60029213?trkid=2361637#height1783>.