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[c_smudge]

I need help parsing something out: so gender theorists, please add your two cents.

When is "drag" (specifically, male people performing female drag) a parody of gender (ie, a Good thing) and when is it a parody of women (a Bad thing)?

Comments

[legolastn]

I don't know where the line is, but I know participation in the LGBT community is not what makes it OK (well, depending on what your definition of OK is, I suppose - I do think it is seen as less misogynistic than when straight men do drag). There are plenty of drag queens who are misogynistic.

I suspect it may be easier to identify specific instances as "this is not okay" than to draw a more general line. You can perhaps see why this is so by looking at an example of a female friend who is troubled by men engaging in any sort of feminine gender presentation. Clearly from a genderqueer perspective (or even a more general gender-as-culture perspective) this would be a problematic principled stance (for her it is not a principled stance but rather a gut reaction that she does recognize as problematic). You can also see this in how society draws different lines of "okay" for different forms of drag/mimicry.

I do think being more towards genderqueer helps, but I think genderqueer drag performers could still be misogynistic (intentionally or unintentionally) and I'm also not sure someone who is "a man" who is a "female impersonator" would be unable to be misogynistic.

I recently read Black Like Me and I recommend it to you both because you mention blackface (the main topic of the book) and because the book in part explores the relationship between blackface and drag. My impression of the book is that its main thrust is to actually make a larger argument about the American model of subcultural relations, which is thought provoking in and of itself.

Also, here's an article you might be interested in on drag and "doing gender" by one of my colleagues at UofA: http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/0/4/4/2/p104427_index.html
The references for this paper should also point you to the important sociological works dealing with drag.

[c_smudge]

thanks for the thoughts and the book, I'm reading it now--I think what you meant in paragraph 3 is

a man who is a female impersonator is unable to not be misogynistic

which my gut tells me is true. if you indeed meant female impersonators are unable to be misogynistic, you might be saying that to impersonate something you must necessarily love it; i don't think i agree

[legolastn]

That was awkwardly phrased. What I was trying to say is that on the one hand genderqueer is no guarantee against misogynistic performance, while on the other hand I'm not convinced that "a man who is a female impersonator" would automatically give a misogynistic performance. I could be convinced the latter was, in fact, the case. But, for example, thinking perhaps less of drag queens and more of female impersonators who impersonate specific celebrities, I do think there are performers who at least intend their performance as respectful homage. Which doesn't seem to leave much room for (again, at least intentional) misogyny.

[c_smudge]

ah, sweet clarity. i think many if not most female impersonators do intend performances as a respectful homage, and i agree there is probably little room for intentional misogyny there. <3