Internal Conflict In The Elizabethan Era

Conflict begins when people don’t understand someone else’s views on life, love, or pretty much anything in general. It gets even deeper when emotions and personal opinions become involved. Recently, I found myself having an internal conflict on a particular lifestyle that I don’t know much on. From this I developed a million questions about people that are the complete opposite of what society approves of. A million thoughts and opinions of an issue that I wasn’t very aware of, but I felt like with this something I connected with. Not because of my own person, but because I have someone in my family who is extremely familiar with this community and lifestyle. Because I’m not very close with this family member, I’ve come to the conclusion that doing

research would aid me in discovering an understanding of this subculture. Men dressing as women has been around as far back as Shakespeare days. Men used to dress as women during plays because women performing wasn't permitted. Unlike the subculture of drag, back in that time period, the men weren't considered to be doing "drag." They were simply performing for the entertainment of the play. This time period was much more conservative and religious than the culture we now live in.

During the Elizabethan Era, religion possibly played the most important part in the society’s lives. While religion during this time was going through dramatic back and forths between Protestantism and Catholicism, Shakespeare’s audience was well aware of the bible and conservative beliefs. Back in the United States, traditional drag began to be seen in the late 1800s when broadway star, Julian Etinge, began performing as a girl as early as the age of ten. During this time period, the United States in particular was at a time of paranoia. In an article written by TQS Magazine, “A Brief History of Drag,” it explains the drag culture as a risk to the country, "After the two world wars, under Joseph McCartney, national paranoia in America was rife. Anything deemed ‘subversive’ (communist parties, for example) was also deemed a national risk.." The United States wasn't used to this subculture, thus making it unusual at the time and considered a “subversive” group of individuals. Important events within the world’s history are distinctive in the reaction received from society and the acceptance of the subcultures created

thereafter.
Specific social issues that defy societal norms includes building a way for others to have a voice in society that are facing similar issues within the LGBTQ community. While the drag culture and LGBTQ community are two distinct different groups, it’s important to notice the impact one has on the other. The TQS article based on the history of drag queens states, "In 1970 the first ever gay Pride happened. It’s because of these drag queens, and these people, that we have many of the freedoms we enjoy today." The drag culture as a whole has paved the way for other subcultures within the LGBTQ community to submerse into the harsh realities of the world. The roles of the people within this subculture has become another social issue within the community themselves. The roles of gender between a drag king and queen play a big part in the division of the community, along with their sexualities. Things as little as just using proper pronouns when addressing drag queens and kings becomes an issue against society as well. Drag culture has continued to defy societal norms through their lifestyle choices, such as the language they use and dressing in clothes of their opposite gender, doing so for the entertainment of others. It goes even deeper when other social issues, such as sexism and femininity become involved through their performance activity and sexual preferences causing offensive reactions.
Entertainment is a big part of the drag lifestyle, with performances that exaggerate womanly behaviors to create humor but it causes drag to potentially be offensive to those fighting for femininity. Afterall, that is how this subculture was developed and made known publicly. Drag performances are as little as them performing for small crowds in a local bar or as extravagant as performing on Broadway. The infamous movie, “Kinky Boots,” which tells the true story of a shoe-maker who partners with a local drag queen to produce shoes for drag queens in particular, has been made into a highly raved about Broadway show. I believe that drag became such a big source of entertainment because of the way the drag queens and kings are able to make their pleasure into pleasure for others. The particular source of pleasure I believe stems from maybe not wanting to mock this community, but knowing what sells. It’s ashame to say that the world pays for shows like this, but these performances became a main source of income for the drag community. They know how to turn their lives into dramatic scenarios that relate to social norms but don’t exactly duplicate what is done by the “normal” person everyday. Relating the entertainment based lifestyle of the drag culture to the LGBTQ community, one can note that this is somewhat misleading. Transgenders main “dilemma” in life is being trapped in a physical composition that they don’t believe was meant for them. Their souls and feelings don’t belong with this body that they were giving, making them feel the need to transform into their desired gender. Their beliefs for wanting to be of the opposite sex and become known as a different gender aren’t understood by society, which makes their lives that much more difficult. Drag is filled with makeup and costumes that can be removed at the end of the day, but the feeling of being someone completely different than they were you were born can never be forgotten.
Drag culture issues expand far into other worldly issues such as sexism, which creates a division between the LGBTQ community. Many people don't know the difference between The article, "The Trouble With "Queerness": Drag And The Making Of Two Cultures," by Katie R. Horowitz, explains how gender and the sexuality of those living in the drag lifestyle has a major role in their community. Horowitz explains how because most people don't know the differences between these smaller communities within the drag culture, everyone is summed up as only "drag"- "Although for these reasons queens and kings are discursively lumped together under the heading of drag, in terms of audience demographics, aesthetics, stage persona, movement vocabulary, and treatment of race, class, gender, and sexuality, the two performance genres are so radically distinct as to be, in some cases, diametrically opposed." There are transgenders and homosexuals, and etc. who just prefer to dress one way over the other. It causes those in the LGBTQ community to become frustrated when they are confused as being something that they are not.
The language that is used by the drag culture is another part of their lifestyle that defines them as different from the rest of society, using words and signals that only drag would understand. In the article, "Speaking Like A Queen In Rupaul's Drag Race: Towards A Speech Code Of American Drag Queens," Nathaniel Simmons argues that the drag culture as a whole does specific actions and carries themselves in ways that are able to be related to this one subculture in particular. He explains how they have their own way of communicating with each other, as well as having their own symbols to identify themselves. This article focuses on the specific verbal communication between those in this subculture, with evidence provided from the popular television show, RuPaul's Drag Race. The show brings an understanding into the identity of the drag culture- "RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) features individuals who, although competing, are working towards a common goal and maintain a sense of shared identity as illustrated throughout the show by comments such as ‘‘we are sisters’’ or ‘‘this is like a drag sorority.’’ (633) Sororities are known to be one united group of individuals, normally of the same sex who united for a common cause and purpose. But it is very well known that a sorority is for women, while fraternities are for men. The drag culture is technically not composed of females in the same kind of way a sorority at any university around the country is, which makes them opposite to what is known as normal. Simmons also goes on to say that after watching the entire fourth season of RPDR, the drag culture has almost their own set of "rules" that everyone within this lifestyle should be well aware of- "Much of this resulted in transcribing moments in which contestants used labels and descriptions of people, metacommunicative terms, or moments in which corrective action was taken by means of pointing out one’s culturally inappropriate behavior." It goes to show that even though the drag culture is against societal norms, they must follow the normalities of their subculture.
Analyzing the drag culture as a big picture, one wouldn't find many reasons to believe that this community is making any improvements to society as a whole. But despite all the negativity around this group, they have contributed positive actions causing people to feel a certain level of comfort. It has become a community where one is free to explore the opposite gender and be someone completely different than who they actually are. The drag culture has also built a way for others in society facing similar issues within the LGBTQ community, "In 1970 the first ever gay Pride happened. It’s because of these drag queens, and these people, that we have many of the freedoms we enjoy today." Those in this community believe that the drag lifestyle allows them to live their lives the way they believe they were meant to live. They know that because of the path these people have paved before them, they don't have to confine to societal norms. The drag culture has been a subculture that has continued to evolve from what it first was. It is a group of individuals who have endured the criticisms of the world all at once, but continue to do whatever it is that makes them happy. Despite all their positive efforts into changing society, some of the actions by the drag culture go completely against what they claim to believe in.
In conclusion, I guess it’s important to note that I wanted to discover the other side of my family member’s life, and I’ve realized that maybe it would be better to gain his personal perspective on the issue and why he does what he does. There’s no definitive conclusion on what I believe in regarding drag, and research doesn’t always mean one can come to a solid conclusion on anything because sometimes we have to gain knowledge by physical face to face interaction. Society believes in whatever is “thrown” in our faces and as a human being continuing to learn new things everyday, I can say I tend to follow these stereotypical beliefs. We believe in things that are seen everyday, which becomes known as normal. Whenever we come across something that isn’t what we believe in, we automatically reject it and build a wall that tries to block this out. But like on a construction site renovating a new home, there can be bulldozers that come in and tear these walls down. The drag culture is the bulldozer causing chaos amongst our home, society’s views.