Drag Queens And Drag Kings
What is a 'drag queen'?
A drag queen is a male who adopts a female persona and presentation for entertainment purposes usually. Usually because cross gender behavior is so looked down upon, the only males who've ever have felt comfortable doing this are gay males. But, there have been heterosexual males like Milton Burle and such; and Flip Wilson who have drag characters too. It's just a guy who dresses up like a woman for the purpose of entertainment.
What is a 'drag king'?
A drag king is a woman who dresses up like a man usually for the purposes of entertainment. Usually there are things like lip-synching shows, or stage presentation. It's just sort of a fun thing that usually people in the gay community have felt very comfortable exploring. But there have been some heterosexual drag kings as well.
What is the difference between a drag queen and a transsexual?
The difference between a drag queen and a transsexual is that a drag queen is a male who is happy with being male and who is comfortable in the male general identity but they enjoy putting on a female persona and identity for fun or entertainment purposes. They don't want to be a woman medically, socially, and legally 24-7 though.
What is the difference between a drag queen and a crossdresser?
The difference between a drag queen and a cross-dresser is that cross-dressing is a paraphelia that involves usually a heterosexual man who is turned on by female clothing or accessories or even by embodying the role of his object of desires. Sometimes by dressing up as a female. It is a sort of sexualized paraphelia. A drag queen is someone who is dressing like a woman, not because it turns them on, but because it is a fun character and a form of entertainment.
Who are some famous drag queens?
Some famous drag queens in the heterosexual world are like Milton Berle, although he did a lot of comedy other than doing drag. His drag characters were beloved by 1950's America, which is kind of funny. Flip Wilson was an African American comic and entertainer. His drag character, Geraldine, was very popular in television. Of course Eddie Murphy has done all these movies where he dresses as various female characters. If you're talking about people who exclusively do drag as their entertainment though, there are people like Rue Paul who came out in the 80's and early 90's, and was very popular on MTV. Let's see who else, there are people like Divine, who was a superstar and muse to director John Waters. There are people who never wanted to change their physical sex, and have surgery and hormones, but they had a great female character that they loved putting out there that was very popular.
What is the big spectacle of drag queens?
I think that the reason why straight people are fascinated by drag queens is that crossing gender boundaries is still such a taboo, that it's titillating to them. It's interesting, ‘I can't believe they're doing that'. Also there's the aspect of the artifice of it. If a drag queen is really good, it can be amazing to know that they are a man who can look that much like a woman just using makeup and wigs and costumes. Finally, most successful drag queens are actually brilliant entertainers. It's more than just putting on makeup and a dress. You have to actually know how to keep an audience, how to be fascinating, interesting, witty and entertaining. And drag queens are good at that. All these things pull in an audience. Gay audiences love drag queens with more of a ‘they're one of our own' kind of thing. They're showing straight people that we don't have to play by their rules. I think everybody makes a big spectacle of drag queens just because they're fun and sparkly and exotic.
Why aren't there any drag kings featured in the media?
I think that there aren't a lot of drag kings featured in the media for two reasons, one is that woman are already allowed to present with what are considered male items of clothing, hairstyles, styles of dress and stuff, a lot more than men are. So, it's not so titillating or interesting or exciting to some audiences. Also, women just continue to face a lot more discrimination in entertainment and drag kings are something that has come out of the culture of women. So I think male-dominated audiences are just kind of keeping them down- they're not supporting them or as interested, which is unfortunate.
