you better make it Fabulous
When I first saw a photo of Conchita Wurst I legitimately thought she was a woman. The illusion of female was so convincing to me that I just assumed it was a gorgeous woman who had drawn on a beard. Then the next second I realised it was a stunning drag queen, duh! It made me super excited for Eurovision and ever since I've just fallen more-and-more in love with the whole Conchita Wurst eleganza extravaganza, that's my entire thought process concerning Frau Wurst, I wish more people in the world shared in it.
I adore absolutely everything about Conchita. I love the beard, I think I'd feel very lost if she ever shaved it off. If she didn't have the beard she would be just another pretty drag queen, there is NOTHING wrong with that, looking at a beautiful queen never gets old. But the beard makes her immediately iconic. It sets her apart from the rest of the sisterhood, that and her amazing voice. The image of Conchita Wurst is thought-provoking and it pushes boundaries. The soft and flowing hair with the beautiful makeup (who doesn't love a subtle smoky eye?) juxtaposed by a full and dark beard. It's genius. It's also something of a revolution in the drag community, I love that now when I go out to a show it's practically a guarantee that I'm gonna see a bearded lady. It's showing how versatile the art of drag is, so much more than straight-up female impersonation.
Rise Like a Phoenix is an incredible song as well. It fully deserved to win Eurovision, even beyond the bearded lady hype. It's the perfect James Bond song, so epic and classy and filled with emotion and timeless. It reminds me of Adele's Skyfall, which I adore, one of her best. Rise Like a Phoenix has a beautiful message, so perfectly suited to Conchita's story. It's uplifting, the passion inspires me when I get down.
Not just beautiful, Conchita is also a sweetheart. Through all of Eurovision she showed such humility, genuinely grateful for all of her success. She just seems so sweet. She's a total pro in interviews too, she's cute and funny. She knows exactly when to cut her eye to the camera and she never comes off as an asshole. She has the kind of personality where I just wanna be her friend and hang out and talk about makeup.
The negative response to Conchita makes me angry and upset. I don't understand why people get so worked up, drag is hardly a new concept and how is a dude in a pretty dress hurting anyone? The only person getting hurt is Conchita, having her dick tucked and standing in high heels for so long cannot be comfortable. She's promoting tolerance and self-expression, the response of hatred is entirely unfounded. People pitching this 'what am I supposed to tell my children, this is harmful to them, WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN' fit is utter bullshit. Children love playing dress-up, they have no problem with the concept. It's good for kids to be exposed to new things, how are they supposed to learn about the world if they're looking at the same thing all of the time? The only thing harmful to children is poisoning their minds with prejudice.
It makes me want to vomit reading the comments acting as if Conchita is an alien that cannot be understood and needs to be quarantined. All this crap about gender and people not knowing how to address her and calling her an 'it'. I don't understand what's so complicated. Conchita is a man and putting his body into a gown doesn't mean he wants to be a woman. He portrays a woman for fun and when he is dressed as Conchita it is proper to address he as 'she', it's buying into the fantasy. People need to stop obsessing over boundaries of gender and making it a case of black and white. Gender exists and there are differences in the sexes, but mostly it's an illusion. They are boxes for society to shove us into. But the genders can be subverted, people don't need to be trapped by gender identity, they can be whoever they want. People need to open and extend their minds and break down their barriers.
Watching Conchita's Road to Eurovision and seeing that man approach her (as recapped in the top of the post) as she's innocently enjoying lunch and accusing her of embarrassing Austria and questioning her manhood. That makes me want to cry. It makes me want to sob and bang my fists on the wall. Why would you approach a stranger to spew hatred at them? Obviously she isn't embarrassing Austria when it was the residents of the country who voted for her to represent them, she just didn't take it upon herself, it was an opportunity the population gave her. But Conchita handled it with such grace, she didn't antagonise him, she let him say his piece and calmly told him to have a nice day. All class. Regarding the haters she always says 'thanks for your attention', how thick-skinned she is is so admirable. But watching the way people target her truly upsets me, I've learnt to not read the comments of her videos on YouTube, that's an endless circle of intolerance and hatred. It also makes me even more motivated to write about this magical community and confront the world with our truth and demand greater tolerance and equality in any way I can.
Conchita is a shining light for the LGBT community. She is so talented and beautiful. Her expression of self above boundaries is inspiring for everyone. She is a beacon of freedom and with her help Europe (and the rest of the world) can be brought into the future. I love her and I can't wait for more music.
And I just found out that she has signed her contract and is officially going to be an opening act for Lady Gaga's artRAVE tour. I'm so excited for her, she deserves to be with an audience who will understand her and she deserves the kind of exposure being attached to the Lady Gaga circus will attract. She and Gaga are a perfect match, I can't wait to see how it all goes!