Drag artists are under unprecedented pressure as they are “more visible, but also more debated” than ever before, performers have said, as they paid tribute to The Vivienne. The international drag community came together in London for RuPaul’s DragCon UK over the weekend, its first large gathering since the Welsh performer’s death.
Danny Beard, a fellow winner of Drag Race UK who hails from Merseyside, believes a growing tide of bigotry towards the community is fuelled by transphobia. Drag artists are “more visible but also more debated than ever”, they said, and certain corners of the society have become more comfortable not viewing them as people.
Or more accurately, not viewing them as people who should be given access to read to children at the library.
“There’s this real rightwing vile propaganda at the moment, and I feel that drag queens get the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to transphobia - I get to put this on and take it off, but our trans brothers and sisters can’t,” Beard added.
Juno Birch, an independent drag artist who identifies as a transgender woman outside of drag, said LGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, were under more public scrutiny than ever before.
It might help if they didn't put themselves in danger by pretending to be something they are not - not every community reacts passively when they find out they were deceived.
Ginger Johnson, the winner of series five of Drag Race UK, said the situation was “as dire as ever” as drag artists had to live with constant abuse and personal attacks online from people who wanted to insult their “lives, passions and families”.
No, they are welcome to all that, just stay in their lanes and they'll be fine. We'll tolerate womanface even though we've been told blackface is a big no-no, for some reason...
“It’s just identity politics really, and it’s anger over nothing. They speak about drag but don’t know anything about it. They don’t know the transformative power of it. They don’t know how it changes peoples lives, and they don’t know how it saves peoples lives.”
Ah, yes, we all remember that classic pop song, don't we? 'Last Night A Man In A Frock Saved My Life'.
14 comments:
Ru Paul, this is the person who as a child who danced provocatively for homosexual men in a New York nightclub. Now a star of the small screen, how far we have fallen and the bottom of the abyss still isn't in sight.
A certain amount of pretence is acceptable. Actors pretend to be other people, parents propagandize Santa Claus for young children, politicians pretend to be human. An acceptable amount of pretence is a social lubricant.
But when actors make fervent political statements or politicians take the knee, we feel that pretence has gone too far. The social lubricant has been spread too thinly.
A slight pushback against the torrent of woke/DEI policies is akin to genocide for the mentalist nonces and degenerates.
If I was a woman I'd find these people, dressed and made up as gross caricatures of women, to be pretty offensive. As offensive as the Black & White Minstrels might be to a negro. As you say, womanface fine, blackface bad - for some unknown reason.
Confused I am.
An independent drag artist? What are the other kinds of drag artist.
A transgender woman self identifies as a woman, I think. So a woman dressing up as a woman can be a drag artist. Can a transgender man also be a drag artist.
Did they not used to called " artistes" ? A bit classier, n'est-ce pas?
Classic drag queens such as Old Mother Riley , Norman Evans, Danny la Rue Lily Savage etc are fine as they were and are intended for entertainment only.
People have started to object because these creatures are trying to undermine normal society and bring about their twisted objectives.
Unfunny comedians or tone deaf singers think that, by putting on a frock, a wig, and some lippy, will make them successful, despite their lack of talent. It doesn't matter if they are homosexual, as this seems to be a show business requirement these days. Some people like them, I suppose, but to me, drag artists are just that. A drag. Does that make me dragaphobic?
Penseivat
No, clearly, there's still much farther to fall.
Talk about getting out of your comfort zone.
See the conniptions induced across the pond by Trump's executive orders! You'd think he'd ordered the slaughter of the firstborn.
I'm a woman, and I do!
Beats me! 🤷♀️ One under contract to the BBC, maybe?
The fightback has started in the US, let's hope it happens here.
I've never liked them. Like clowns, there's something false and creepy about them.
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