I've been watching a lot of RuPaul's Drag Race and it's got me thinking... You know, in this day and age, I feel like we are so quick to not only judge others, but to take our judgement so far that we then begin to judge an entire group of people.
Up until recently, I had a total misconception about drag queens. I believed not only that drag queens were very feminine, but also that, in a way, they wanted to be women. Being exposed to RuPaul and his queens has really opened my eyes, not only to drag queens but to both the gay community, which I've always felt severed from, and the difference between a transexual and a transgender.
Let's begin with the difference between a transexual and a transgender. A transexual is someone whose mind works like the opposite sex's. In short, they're "insides" feel like they're the opposite sex. Meaning that, in their heart and mind, they feel like they're the opposite sex. A transgender, however, is someone who has or is in the process of transitioning into the opposite sex. Meaning, surgically, they are switching their body from their "birth gender" to the gender they feel they should have been from the first place. That means, possibly, prior to the transition, a.k.a. sex change, that individual was a transexual and, after some very long time to think it over, decided that they were tired of feeling like the opposite sex, but not being truly able to embody the appearance of the opposite sex.
Now, onto the main topic on my mind: Drag queens. As I said before, I believed drag queens were all overly feminine and wanted to be women themselves. However, once I started watching RuPaul's Drag Race, my perception took a full 180-degree turn. Firstly, not all drag queens are overly feminine. Many of them are, but not all, and that doesn't make them any less of a drag queen in any way. Secondly, drag queens are so misunderstood for being perceived as desiring to be women. It didn't take me very long to wrap my head around what drag is really all about: Performance.
Being a drag queen is sort of like a creative outlet. Drag queens are performers, not transexuals. Because, you see, especially with gay men, there is a feminine side of us that we are in tune with. That does not mean we want to be women simply because we have a feminine side. Drag is a creative outlet for this feminine side. To give this feminine side life and to set it free, gay men dress up like women. What fun is it to stroll around in men's clothes while trying to set this feminine side free? There isn't any. Thus, gay men dress in drag in order to really bring this side of them to life, usually by giving it a name.
For example, my feminine side that I am most in tune with is Shanaynay. I created her off of Shane Dawson's character when I was a freshman in high school. I created her simply to make my friends laugh while we all sat around at the lunch table. If you think about it, I was doing what drag queens do: Perform. Now, my "performances" were usually just me talking like a girl from the ghetto, but if someone would have given me the outfit, a wig, some heels and, most importantly, the confidence to put all of that on, I could have knocked my little lunch performances out of the park. Why? Because, with the clothes on, I would have been able to feel more like Shanaynay and let her take over, per say; I could have given her true life and let the character in my head become a physical, tangible character and I could have shared the image in my head of Shanaynay with my friends.
Drag queens are not transexuals; they are performers giving life to and embracing their feminine sides.
No comments:
Post a Comment