Drag Queen Essay

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Born Naked, the Rest is Drag
“Just 'cause I wear paint, does not mean I am not a man” is a lyrical snippet from "Kai Kai" by Sharon Needles. This particular phrase stresses that a drag queen can be considered tacky, offensive, or just plain wrong, instead of being viewed as an artist. Gone from males wearing messy make-up in ill-fitting dresses, where they can now be considered professional artists resembling supermodels, popstars and real women. Society loves to put people in defined categories separating male and female, while drag refuses to be categorized, blurring the codes of gender. With this in mind, becoming a drag queen is the conscious act of cross-dressing, while acting in a stereotypical behavior of this gender, attempting to challenge gender identity against norms. Through a Pinterest website forum from Season 4 of RuPaul's Drag Race: Episode 7, this serves to both glorify and subvert hegemonic norms, by the exaggerated performances, commentary and overall feminine behavior of the drag queens.
Reviewing the cast’s social behavior demonstrates gender-bending personas they use to express themselves and identify with. Heterosexual men may find this offensive and controversial, or should I say, confusing to their sexuality, due to their usual thoughts on conformity. For example, on the Pinterest forum pin one is a photo from the shoot where Phi Phi O'hara commented on having to appear woman-like by posing appropriately to hide his muscular physique, because biologically, women are expected to be thin, not muscular. “Conceptualizing gender as if it was distinct types or fixed to the individual through biology: since man and woman seem to be opposites or two fundamentally distinct types of being, gender cannot be relatio...

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... drag queens.

Works Cited
Codes of Gender. UW Libraries Media Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes." Filmweb. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
Lesser, Ronnie C., and Erica Schoenberg. That Obscure Subject of Desire: Freud's Female Homosexual Revisited. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print.
Melanson, Karen. "Queer Theory: Destabilizing Gender." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"Pinterest Board: Born Naked and Rest Is Drag." Pinterest. N.p., 9 July 2014. Web. 10 July 2014.
Reger, Jo. Identity Work in Social Movements. N. p.: U of Minnesota, 2008. Print.
Rupaul Drag Race: Season Four, Episode 7: Dragazine. Perf. Rupaul Drag Race: Season Four Cast. LogoTv. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
"RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4 Trailer #1." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 10 July 2014.
Zeisler, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008. Print.

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