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Drag queen's are often associated with being gay and CDing has nothing to do with sexual orientation so I can see why there are not a lot of drag queen's and CDers on the same site. Drag is also more like acting than passing in real life so its apples and oranges in many ways. Drags performers are a lot of fun to watch. On youtube there are a lot of great drag makeup lessons than can be adapted to real life too!
Most "regular" crossdressers and transsexuals carry out female presentation without irony. When we venture forth we seek social acceptance in our chosen gender role.
What drag queens do is like burlesque--it's outrageous, bawdy and fun. It's the comic relief of crossdressing. I don't know whether more DQs are straight or gay, TG or pure masquerader, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't mind being stared at in the mall.
:heehee: Lallie
I enjoy seeing Drag queens, as i find them very amusing and entertaining , they are out to enjoy life in their own unique way and and i see nothing wrong with that , something we could all learn from .
Nothing wrong with showmanship. I rather enjoy it myself.:)
To amend my previous post, one thing I will say that one thing that does occasionally bug me about Drag Queens, and this isn't to say all of them but rather a specific type of them, is that some of them take the aspect of being a diva and think that means be a rude, nasty person. There's a comedian named John Mulaney who has a great joke about this where he says something like "You went through all the trouble to put on a nice dress and now you're going to be mean?" It ends with saying that their idea of what a woman is like is sort of like a guy and that "You could have stayed a guy if you were going to be an a**hole about it."
Now, I've had super friendly interactions with a lot of nice drag queens, but I've definitely left bars because others made me feel entirely unwelcome.
Hey, I like the drag queens myself. I couldn't do it myself because I couldn't adopt the "fierce diva attitude" that seems to be required of the job.
And when I was a kid I used to thrill when the old school impersonators like Charles Pierce or Jim Bailey used to appear on TV.
Chantal is quite correct: the Drag Queen and Drag King communities here in Winnipeg work very hard for charities; I overheard two talking about a year ago, one mentioning that they were doing 7 completely different multi-hour events in 4 days; the other was doing 6 events in 7 days. And remember these people have to build "personalities" and often have to sew/build major parts of their costumes, and they have to design performances with choreography, and they have to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.Quote:
Originally Posted by Princess Chantal
That said, there seems to be a custom here in Winnipeg for the Drag Queen's especially to insult each other with "fat" jokes, and there is some standing joke about fried chicken that I just don't understand.
The insults leave me, an audience member, feeling uncomfortable... even if the drag community is all "in" on it, that part isn't funny and it isn't good art. Partly because sometimes the insults are intended seriously: any community large enough tends to develop factions that ask people to take sides (or which expel them for not clearly denouncing and disassociating themselves from the other faction.) I don't dislike drag performers: I dislike the rancor that they get dragged into (or voluntarily promote.)
I don't "hate" drag queens. By my definition (and that is all it is my way of categorizing things) they are really the bane of crossdressing. They are over the top over emphasized blatant parodies that are strictly entertainment. They are also usually only doing it for the attention, going back to their gay (yes they are usually gay) life afterward. (Maybe I should have put the Kevlar on before I said that). But I don't hate them, they are entertainers.
I dislike more the wannabe weekend commandos who have a warped self centric idea of how the rest of the community should fit into their ideal. The ones who think your hair should look just like theirs, you should always wear the 50 pound sequined ball gown and the blue eye shade. I hate the attitude. And yes girlfriend if I wanted that drunk, sleazy married closeted creep you have been trying to seduce, I could have him in a heartbeat. But I don't hate anyone
But that's just me
[SIZE="3"]Why would I want to hate drag queens ? They are kindred spirits even though they are flashy and overdo the clothes, makeup and body English. Heck, some crossdressers overdo the clothes sometimes, myself included ! As a matter of fact, I redlined in a skirt the other night at the roller rink....[/SIZE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by trannie T
Agree one thousand percent wit this comment
I have found over the years that at the clubs the Drag Queens really avoid us CDs and there is not much interaction.
I have known a very few nice ones but not many! That being said many a Sat Nite I am up at Le Buzz and enjoy watching the drag show.
I have no problem with drag queens, we get a lot of them performing here because of the large gay community. most of them a very good at what they do.
Who hates drag queens? Really?
The only thing that irks me is that how the general populace, especially the media refers to going en femme as in drag.
I do not hate drag queens. I don't hate anyone. I DO hate some activities of some people whether they be doctors, politicians, priests/ rabbis/ ministers/ imans/ non-believers, royals, regular folk, gay/ straight/ bi, or drag queens!
But the topic at hand is drag queens, and the activities I hate there are specifically the over the top/ exaggerated makeup and actions of some -- NOT ALL. In another post in another thread, I made reference to female impersonator Jim Bailey. For those who don't know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bai...entertainer%29
He is fantastic. He is/ was loved by the women that he impersonates, i.e. Carol Channing, Liza Minelli, Judy Garland, etc. There is nothing creepy about what he does. He brings dignity, talent, and art to female impersonation.
BUT -- look at the extreme. I liken it as follows, so I ask you to put yourself in this space:
You are black person. You read the non-fiction book Black like Me by John Howard Griffin or see the film of it starring James Whitmore. (For the uninformed, Griffin was white and darkened his skin to be in disguise as a black man in the racially segregated and troubled Southern USA of the 1950s.). You see and admire his willingness to experience prejudice first hand with the goal to change it.
Then someone shows you a film from the 1930 or 1940s of white performers doing black-face. You see the actor portray your race as going around saying 'yassah yasah,youse right' etc. You see your race being portrayed as lazy or a schemer or oversexed. You'd be creeped out.
I now ask you to substitute all you know about drag queens and female impersonators into the above portrayals, and instead of being black you are a GG. How would you as a GG like being portrayed as a parody of who you are.
Then expand this to those of us who wish to quietly dress in women's clothes and lead a perfect ordinary life. Consider the fact that it hurts to be lampooned and to see the things that we love, women and femininity, satirised. Consider those of us who where humiliated by school mates and parents because we crossdressed, because those uninformed individuals associated us with the extreme element.
Yes, drag queens do much for the AIDS fund raising, but is it right for those as the members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco to lampoon the clerics of the Catholic faith. They'd never do their 'theatre' in burqas or wearing the hijab or niqab as Moslem women do - or dress as the women religious of other faiths.
Again -- its not hate of the person -- but a hate of the activities of some.
Huggles
Toni-Lynn
Especially their eyr makeup.
I hate loud and proud.
I can't stand their fake eyelahes
In you face colors.. YECH
They are so retowood looking make the rest of us look like clowns.
Showomanship? On of these days I am going to master the english language.... or is that mistress the english language? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Denise Rhodes
Well, somebody looks like a clown anyway. :straightface:Quote:
Originally Posted by Rebecca Jayne
Count me among the many who have no problem with drag queens. It's not my thing, but who am I to say somebody shouldn't wear a dress and makeup? :D
Uh, OK Lorileah, but I'm divorced!:brolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lorileah
Ouch! My side hurts!:heehee:Quote:
Originally Posted by Karren Hutton
I MUST remember to read Karen's posts BEFORE my glass of wine!:drink:
[SIZE="2"]I don’t hate drag queens, I just avoid them like the plague. The types of women most drag queens try to emulate are not the types I find to be interesting – it’s as simple as that. I suppose it’s a way to make a living, but drag is an exaggerated form of crossdressing that has nothing to do with us highly closeted type’s desire to pass or at least enjoy our feminine “space.”Quote:
Originally Posted by docrobbysherry
Trying to pass may be the key phrase here, at least in regards to the OP. The last thing I would want to do is cloak myself in some caricature of femininity, then parade before people shouting (in a visual sense) “LOOK AT ME!” hoping to elicit laughter or, at the very least, a reaction that would feed my twisted ego. I’ll tell you, if I had “fem stuff” to wiggle, I certainly wouldn’t wiggle it for attention…:hmph:
Like a lot of others here, I take this crossdressing business very seriously – I love humor, but dressing in drag for laughs is something best left to professional comedians. Tell me this – how come there isn’t a “Drag Queens” section on this forum? Doesn’t that speak volumes about its “place” among true crossdressing? Well? :waiting:[/SIZE]
I think it is important for everyone to understand what a "Drag Queen" really is. A drag queen is a gay man that dresses, usually in a very flamboyant way, and does shows (mostly comedy) that make fun of women, men that dress as women and straight people in general.
Most of them do not dress other than to perform.
Being a "Drag Queen" in a true sense of the word is a profession. They strictly do it for money. They don't do it for any emotional reasons. They don't plan on living as women or transitioning.
There are some transsexuals that do "Drag Shows". But they aren't really "Drag Queens". They usually just do dance routines and lip sync songs.
These are just generalizations of course because just like there are all flavors of TGs there are all flavors of Drag Queens.
I have CD friends that just can't stand Drag Shows because they think that they make fun of people that transition or crossdress.
I don't see it. I love Drag Queens, Drag Shows, gay poeple of all types (never met a mean gay guy, or girl for that matter, in my entire life). If you are a GG, TG, CD or whatever and you take offense to someone making fun of you then you need to lighten up a little. I can give you a dozen things about me, besides the obvious, that you could make fun of. I think we all need to laugh at ourselves a little.
I plan to do some performances as soon as my travel schedule slows down a little. I love to dance, show off and stuff so I am really looking forward to it. I have been called up on stage from the crowd on more than one occasion at the Rose Room in Dallas. I think it is really exciting to be up on stage with those bright lights on you. I guess I have a little exhibitionist in me. :)
Now, you don't have to love or prefer them, just like some people prefer vanilla instead of chocolate ice cream, but to say you hate someone because they wear exaggerated makeup is just outright silly. We all need to take a step back and realize that if we want to be accepted by everyone for who you are, we need to accept everyone for who they are.
Kisses,
Allie
P.S. THIS IS MY 200TH POST!!!! WOO HOO!!!! ;-)
I still love them:hugs:
From what I've read from the posting and the reactions of the out of town transgendered visitors, I am getting the picture that the Drag performers here in Winnipeg are quite a rare sight. We've had many of the visitors astonished by the drag queens looks, commenting how "passable" and attractive they look. 5 of Masquerade's longtime members ( Masquerade being the local crossdressing social group) are a part of the drag scene. One of them has been the president for several years of the group who is a major player of the drag community and she is in the process of transitioning. Another one was not only a past president, but was a co-founder of the Masquerade group and she has on her way to becoming a big presence on the drag scene. Oh I should mention that she is also in the process of transitioning.
The local drag community, just like Masquerade has been an outlet for closeted crossdressers and transgenders to take a step out the door. Many of the queens that I have had long chats with mentioned that they first started dressing in their youth and do some type of crossdressing away from the stage/club.
As for trying to "pass", ever been in the dressing room with a drag queen while she is fussing over her make up and looks? I've seen one that threw a major hissy fit over the fact that at one angle her contouring was not feminine enough. Many of the tricks to hide our masculinity was founded by a drag queen. Whether it being make up or body shaping, you could thank the drag queens. Yes their make up, mannerisms and clothing are most often quite exagerated, but so are most of the females in the real world that are expecting to be in the spotlight and or is playing a character.
Not a problem Dear. Your fortitude more than makes up for that.:battingeyelashes::)Quote:
Originally Posted by Karren Hutton
Hate Drag Queens? Heavens no.
But, maybe that isn't the point of the discussion. Granted that I've not read every word written on this site, but the only negative I've read here about Drag Queens are laments about the fact that the "public" (uneducated public?) generally thinks "Drag Queen" when any topic about trangenderism is mentioned. Thus, the issue could become the need to educate the public with the perception that this is harder because of the pervasive feeling that we are all drag queens with certain sexual preferences and perversities.
I never understood this general feeling until I observed very good friends of mine, people who I thought were quite liberal and open minded, literally sneer at two drag queens who were clearly headed for a performance. This was New Orleans, for heaven's sake, and I was shocked at the negative response from these two people who I thought I knew really well. I even mentioned that I wondered where the show was in which they were performing but that was just ignored. At that moment the world suddenly seemed a lot farther away from being educated about the wide variations of transgenderism.
Regardless, this public perception should never be a source of hate, especially from us who should know better!!!
With incredible respect to the artistry of Drag Queens,
tina
I only hate drag queens if they work for the IRS. :tongueout: