tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/drag-queens-11100/articlesDrag queens – The Conversation2023-06-01T19:39:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2065472023-06-01T19:39:42Z2023-06-01T19:39:42Z5 things to know about Drag Queen Story Time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529441/original/file-20230531-8916-x5y0rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5355%2C3570&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Contrary to misconceptions, exposing children to diverse expressions of gender identity supports their natural development and fosters inclusivity. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/five-things-to-know-about-drag-queen-story-time" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Recent news reports have described the public controversy involving topics of sexual orientation and gender identity, and how these are presented to children, especially in schools and libraries. Protests at <a href="https://london.ctvnews.ca/female-biker-group-steps-in-to-protect-drag-queen-story-time-in-parkhill-ont-1.6377062">Ontario</a>, <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9411397/drag-queen-story-time-protest-coquitlam-bc/">British Columbia</a>, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-anti-gay-activists-target-childrens-libraries-and-drag-queen-story">Alberta</a> and <a href="https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/drag-queen-book-reading-sparks-duelling-protests-in-moncton-1.6309496">New Brunswick</a> libraries and public centres have targeted Drag Queen Story Time events.</p>
<p>These are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2020.1864621">educational events</a> where drag performers read books to children. The aim is to present the diversity of gender expression and identity, build acceptance and develop creativity in personal expression. </p>
<p>Recently, however, these events have been met with backlash. School leaders have <a href="https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/saskatoon-catholic-students-to-avoid-childrens-fest-rainbow-tent-superintendent">prevented children from attending events that discuss sexual and gender identity</a>. In New Brunswick, where the provincial government is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/nb-education-gender-policy-1.6836059">reviewing gender identity policy in schools due to public pressure</a>, Premier Blaine Higgs <a href="https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/n-b-premier-holds-firm-on-sexual-orientation-policy-review-1.6403193">put the question plainly</a>: “Should [there] be drag story time for young kindergarten, grade 1, grade 2?” </p>
<p>Through our research and clinical practice working with children, parents and schools, we believe parents and kids deserve a better understanding of what events like drag story times are about. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a megaphone in the middle of a chaotic crowd of people. Rainbow flags are seen in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529440/original/file-20230531-23-ekz9p0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People protesting against a drag story time event clash with counter-protesters outside the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on Feb. 8, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Contrary to misconceptions, <a href="https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.19.2.14">exposing children to diverse gender identities and expressions supports their natural development</a>. Further, it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2021.1892557">fosters inclusive and accepting communities and school environments</a>, which is fundamental for developing well-adjusted adults. </p>
<p>Parents play a critical role in providing nurturing environments for their children. This can be best accomplished when parents are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2018.1536914">well-informed on topics that dominate mainstream media</a>.</p>
<h2>What is drag?</h2>
<p>Drag is an art form that has been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/comedy/the-history-of-drag-on-screen-strutting-from-ancient-times-to-cbc-s-queens-1.5699542">around for centuries</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/arts/drag-queens-in-world-war-one-ross-hamilton-marjorie-1.6802140">including during the First World War</a>. Drag has evolved within gay culture, can be performed by all genders and is generally an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2015.1116345">exaggeration of gender expression</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://glbtqarchive.com/arts/drag_queens_A.pdf">drag performance</a> combines elements of fashion, makeup, dance, lip-syncing, music and comedy. It is important to remember that, like other forms of art, it is available on a wide spectrum: from mature themes at a night club, to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.2020.1864621">child-friendly performances that would be appropriate for schools</a>, libraries and community centres.</p>
<h2>What happens at a Drag Queen Story Time?</h2>
<p>Drag Queen Story Time began in <a href="https://www.dragstoryhour.org/">San Francisco in 2015</a>. The events generally <a href="https://doi.org/10.21083/partnership.v15i2.6219">occur in public spaces</a> like libraries, schools or community centres, with a drag queen host. Children most often attend with their families, parents and teachers. While the host adheres to the flamboyant art form in terms of colours and fashion, it is not a mature performance with sexualized overtones. Neither is it <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00220183221086455">an opportunity for the host to groom children</a>. </p>
<p>The host will read a story book to the children, <a href="https://www.journals.ala.org/index.php/cal/article/view/6589/8789">often one promoting themes of acceptance</a>, diversity and self-expression, presenting characters and families from diverse backgrounds. The host will also often interact with the participants, answering questions the children may have, playing games, making crafts or posing for photographs with the children. The overall aim of the event is to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5860/cal.16.4.12">provide a positive message to children about the diversity of gender expression</a>.</p>
<h2>How do children develop their gender identities?</h2>
<p>The development of gender identities in children is a complex process. It is influenced by a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418811129">combination of factors</a>, including biological, social, cognitive, environment and personal exploration. Children eventually develop a relative clarity of their gender and feel a sense of harmony between the complex factors that contribute to gender identity development. </p>
<p>In some children, these factors may conflict, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2018-314992">most commonly when children do not conform to societal expectations of their assigned sex at birth</a>. This can result in negative emotions and lead to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3109/09540261.2015.1115753">behavioural or mental health issues</a>. These issues are often remediated when <a href="https://theconversation.com/cuts-to-telehealth-in-ontario-mean-fewer-trans-and-non-binary-people-will-have-access-to-life-saving-health-care-198502">gender-affirming care</a> is provided. </p>
<p>Introducing children to diverse gender expressions <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2020.1792194">does not encourage gender dysphoria or confusion</a>. On the contrary, diverse experiences throughout life have been shown to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00110000221124274">foster self and collective understandings of gender and gender differences</a>. Furthermore, it’s important for a child’s development that parents, schools and communities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2018-2162">support children in their exploration and expression of gender identity in a safe and affirming environment</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A drag queen in a multi-coloured dress with bright yellow hair reads from a children's book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529442/original/file-20230531-21-t64zjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A drag queen reading children’s stories during an event in Saint John, N.B.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The importance of positive role models</h2>
<p>Children and youth who identify as 2SLGBTQI+ usually have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2011.08.006">little-to-no access to positive role models that can relate to their own experiences</a>. Having access to positive role models and having positive experiences with people who have diverse gender identities can foster a better sense of belonging and promote self-acceptance. </p>
<p>People who are successful and positive role models are characterized as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12517">being competent and easily relatable</a>. Such role models provide context for children to gain a better understanding of themselves and others. Further, adolescents whose gender or sexual identity is accepted by their parents <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12404">experience fewer psychological problems</a> compared to those whose parents are less accepting.</p>
<h2>How can parents engage with Drag Queen Story Time?</h2>
<p>Engaging with drag performers is an opportunity for parents to show their children that diversity is beautiful and worthy of celebration. Parents can foster engagement through communication and understanding of their own emotions and their child’s emotions. Being in tune with these emotional components helps ensure children are in an environment that supports <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/0193945911411494">positive development and growth</a>. </p>
<p>Attending family-friendly drag events with children creates opportunities for discussion and reflection. Parents can think about and reflect on their own development of gender identity and expression, what influenced the choices they’ve made, and how this may impact the choices that their children may make. After Drag Queen Story Time, parents are sure to have important conversations with their children that will not only increase their understanding of self-identity, but of identities of others as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206547/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drag Queen Story Time events have faced backlash and protests recently. But contrary to misconceptions, these events can support child development and promote acceptance.Conor Barker, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology & Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityDaniel G. Seguin, Full Professor, Department of Psychology, Mount Saint Vincent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056502023-05-24T20:10:00Z2023-05-24T20:10:00ZHow drag as an art form sashayed from the underground and strutted into the mainstream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527905/original/file-20230524-20-o6df50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=16%2C1%2C1182%2C626&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Jean Malin was one of the first openly gay performers in the Prohibition era during the "pansy craze" of the early 1930s.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent protests against <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/11/im-just-trying-to-make-the-world-a-little-brighter-how-the-culture-wars-hijacked-drag-queen-story-hour">drag queen story hours</a> are the latest in a series of actions targeting the increased prominence of displays of LGBTIQ+ culture in the public arena. </p>
<p>But drag artists have been strutting their stuff in speakeasies, cabarets and films for a long time now.</p>
<h2>The long history of cross-dressing</h2>
<p>There is a long global history of cross-gendered performance. In the West, this included <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803105532521;jsessionid=B8A5B8C5FE0EBAEDAB763E0AC1405EEA">“travesty” roles</a>, “<a href="https://www.planethugill.com/2013/08/en-travestie-curious-tradition-of.html">breeches parts</a>”, pantomime dames and their cousins in <a href="https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1429&context=gradreports">blackface – “wench” – parts</a>, variety halls and Shakespearean performances. </p>
<p>There’s also <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnjxz">Japanese kabuki (onnagata)</a>, Beijing opera, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124189">Samoan fale aitu and fa’afafine performances</a> and more. All share something with drag – cross-dressing and various forms of gender play and/or reversal – but none is quite the same as what we know today.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/calling-drag-queens-groomers-and-pedophiles-is-the-latest-in-a-long-history-of-weaponising-those-terms-against-the-lgbtiqa-community-205648">Calling drag queens 'groomers' and 'pedophiles' is the latest in a long history of weaponising those terms against the LGBTIQA community</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Legal restrictions on gendered clothing have existed in places like Europe, China and Japan through to modern times – though the focus was more on class than gender. The wearing of men’s pants by women was <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/at-last-women-of-paris-can-wear-the-trousers-legally-after-200yearold-law-is-declared-null-and-void-8480666.html">technically illegal in France</a> until 2013. Centuries earlier, it contributed to the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-BYbasO034">prosecution of Joan of Arc by church courts</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p-BYbasO034?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>The emergence of drag</h2>
<p>Something like contemporary drag <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780203411070/changing-room-laurence-senelick">appeared in the West from the late 18th century</a>, blending early burlesque (disrespectful comedy, not necessarily bawdy) with nascent queer culture (clubs, speakeasies and other semi-underground meeting places where same-sex-attracted individuals socialised). </p>
<p>By the time the 20th century rolled around, drag artists, particularly in the US, offered beauty tips, attempted to engage in sponsorships or sold stylishly posed <a href="https://wislgbthistory.com/people/peo-l/leon_francis.htm">postcards</a> and <a href="https://ourcommunityroots.com/?p=13079">souvenirs</a>, closely recalling advertisements aimed at female consumers. Since much early drag made fun of women in general, and women of colour in particular, the form has hardly been a consistent force for good. </p>
<p>Drawing on blackface minstrelsy, British panto and college revues, drag from the 1950s increasingly featured female impersonators offering hyperbolic, over-the-top and often disrespectful portraits of feminine characteristics. </p>
<p>So called “glamour drag” was designed, in the words of artist Jimmy James, “to take people totally away from the ugly realities … and transport them to the realm of the magical” through fabulous dresses, hair and sequins. This became the dominant form of drag in the West, particularly in Australia – although there was also a vibrant counter-culture. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9dOrfO2gVs">Danny La Rue</a> camped it up on the stages of Britain and the US, touring Australia in the late 1970s, while <a href="https://dangerousminds.net/comments/ridiculous_a_little-known_drag_tv_role_by_charles_ludlam_1983">Charles Ludlam</a> made the difficult transition from outrageous drag to main stage theatre and back, losing none of his style.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e9dOrfO2gVs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>From the queer underground to the straight mainstream</h2>
<p>Key to the crossover of drag from an underground principally LGBTIQ+ phenomena to the cis mainstream was the increasingly flamboyant manifestation of popular music – such as glam, hair metal, disco and new wave. </p>
<p>The exultant 1978 video for disco star Sylvester’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD6cPE2BHic">You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)</a>, for example, introduced audiences to the concept of “<a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/does-realness-actually-mean-surprising-heartbreaking-history/">realness</a>” as she inhabited different costumed personas. Sylvester was a former member of the avant-drag troupe the Cockettes and her clip was shot at London’s gay disco The Embassy.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gD6cPE2BHic?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>“Rock camp” performance found its perfect expression in <a href="https://youtu.be/4plqh6obZW4">The Rocky Horror Picture Show</a> stage show in 1973, directed by Australian queer theatre legend Jim Sharman. Its comedic celebration of gender fluid performance and sexuality helped make drag and related forms mainstream.</p>
<p>Also crucial was Jennie Livingston’s 1990 film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/24/burning-down-the-house-debate-paris-is-burning">Paris is Burning</a>, documenting the competitive balls (drag races) mounted by working class LGBTIQ+ African-Americans and Latinos in New York, some of whom (but not all) identified as trans. Performers at the balls competed to exhibit “realness” – not only in gender terms, but employment and social position: “executive realness”, “butch queer”, “banjee girl” and “military”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4plqh6obZW4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Madonna famously recruited performers from Paris is Burning (Jose Gutierez and Luis Camacho from House Xtravaganza) to assist in the choreography for her video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI">Vogue</a> and then her Blond Ambition tour, skyrocketing the international renown of these practices.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9SqvD1-0odY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Drag landmarks</h2>
<p>Prior to The Rocky Horror Picture Show gracing the stages of London and Sydney, Kings Cross had seen the foundation of legendary drag revue <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G6aDpxhWlg">Les Girls</a>, running from 1963-93. This show was led by Carlotta, who took her girls on tour, and became the inspiration for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgFDIinCeYI">Priscilla Queen of the Desert</a>.</p>
<p>“Alternative cabaret” also thrived. Notables included Australia’s truly outrageous Reg Livermore, the bizarre fantasies of Lindsay Kemp or the incredible Moira Finucane. Finucane’s brilliant early “gender fuck” performance as <a href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-765293824/view?sectionId=nla.obj-769278625&partId=nla.obj-765310182#page/n6/mode/1up">Romeo</a> involved an arrogant, moustachioed and convincingly male performer who undressed to reveal Finucane, who then pleasured herself with a feather boa. </p>
<p>Australians might also remember the wonderful Pauline Pantsdown’s drag satire <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4tZRZSGxcE">I Don’t Like It</a> in 1998.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0G6aDpxhWlg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Topping it off was the huge success of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1353056/">RuPaul’s Drag Race reality TV show</a> in 2009. Producers were onto a winner: fabulous clothes, the highs and lows of competition and a scintillating array of would-be stars, presided over RuPaul, looking never less than fabulous.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PDe8zJvyF54?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Lessons from the history of drag</h2>
<p>The glamorous, hyper-feminine artist remains the most popular model of drag. Perhaps unsurprisingly it was these paragons of camp femininity who were chosen to read to children in libraries, first in <a href="https://www.dragstoryhour.org/about">San Francisco in 2015</a> and then internationally. These glitter, glam and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340774905_Balirano_G_2020_Of_Rainbow_Unicorns_The_Role_of_Bonding_Queer_Icons_in_Contemporary_LGBTIQ_Re-Positionings">rainbow unicorns</a> seemingly conquered the globe. </p>
<p>But more outré drag queens, drag kings and “genderfuck” performers never ceased toiling away in the underground. <a href="https://canadianart.ca/features/the-showstoppers/">Drag is changing</a>.</p>
<p>If we are to look to history for lessons, I’d like to see story time presented by the successors to Divine (one of John Waters’ collaborators, whose <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfirqQJC3I0">1984 appearance on Countdown</a> marks one of the strangest moments in Australian television) or transgender superstar <a href="https://revolverwarholgallery.com/superstars/warhol-superstar-candy-darling/">Candy Darling</a>. Now that would be a story time education to remember.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan W. Marshall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drag is an ever-evolving art form, which has emerged from underground clubs to the spotlight.Jonathan W. Marshall, Associate Professor & Postgraduate Research Coordinator, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2056482023-05-16T20:09:47Z2023-05-16T20:09:47ZCalling drag queens ‘groomers’ and ‘pedophiles’ is the latest in a long history of weaponising those terms against the LGBTIQA community<p>Drag queens around the world are currently being accused of “grooming children” through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_Queen_Story_Hour">drag storytime events</a>. These accusations curiously associate public book reading with child sex offending. </p>
<p>We know from <a href="https://publishing.monash.edu/product/the-sexual-abuse-of-children/">decades of research and inquiries</a> the places that young people are most at risk of sexual victimisation are their home or an institution of care (such as a school, orphanage or church). The people that most often offend against children are family members and care providers.</p>
<p>However, this recent panic about drag queens reading in public libraries is actually typical in the history of child sexual abuse. This history has involved repeated moral panics that distract from the alarming data regarding child sexual abuse in the home. Instead, these narratives locate the threat to children outside of the home - to gay men, “stranger danger” and even satanic ritual abuse - rather than confronting the situations and protecting children where they are most at risk.</p>
<h2>Moral panic</h2>
<p>In the 1970s, feminist attention to domestic violence, sexual assault and the patriarchy created the conditions that enabled the sexual assault of children in the home to be put in the spotlight. </p>
<p>It wasn’t long, however, before attention was shifted elsewhere. In the 1980s, fears about a new form of abuse spread. <a href="https://theconversation.com/satanic-worship-sodomy-and-even-murder-how-stranger-things-revived-the-american-satanic-panic-of-the-80s-186292">Satanic ritual abuse</a> was thought to involve large numbers of victims and perpetrators, but was <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/jscp.1997.16.2.112">“so cloaked in secrecy and involve such precise concealment of evidence that almost no one knew about it”</a>. </p>
<p>Satanic ritual abuse captured headlines and people’s imaginations with tales of particularly painful, depraved and degrading practices. Research has shown that reports of abuse initially came from adults who “regained memories” of experiences of satanic abuse in their childhoods. Additional reports clustered in the periods after media attention on initial cases. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/satanic-worship-sodomy-and-even-murder-how-stranger-things-revived-the-american-satanic-panic-of-the-80s-186292">'Satanic worship, sodomy and even murder': how Stranger Things revived the American satanic panic of the 80s</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The consensus in medical literature that emerged in the 1990s was there was a tendency of some individuals, especially clients of particular psychotherapists, to manufacture memories of abuse which never occurred. Corroborating evidence of abuse was not found, leading sceptics to account for these <a href="https://journals-sagepub-com.ez.library.latrobe.edu.au/doi/epdf/10.2466/pms.1994.78.3c.1376">“pseudomemories” through “misdiagnosis, and the misapplication of hypnosis, dreamwork, or regressive therapies”</a>. </p>
<p>Subsequently, the <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Organised-Sexual-Abuse/Salter/p/book/9781138789159?gclid=CjwKCAjwjYKjBhB5EiwAiFdSflzGRpk-QL7yO8HrAOZbbtD-okQbGIOYC47WI3m-obre71DXVhs7_hoCfwcQAvD_BwE">satanic ritual abuse controversy</a> and “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924933816020824">false memory syndrome</a>” have been used to discredit hard-fought feminist recognition of the gravity of child sex offending.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/526373/original/file-20230516-15-hvo9ru.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">At McMartin Preschool in California, it was alleged that hundreds of children had been sexually abused at underground rituals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A deviant lifestyle</h2>
<p>There is also a long history of using paedophilia and ideas about child grooming in homophobic and transphobic ways to oppose the recognition of the civil rights of LGBTIQA people. </p>
<p>Campaigns to decriminalise homosexuality often struggled against attempts to impose unequal ages of consent in reform legislation. In 1967, for example, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_Offences_Act_1967">homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales</a>, but men had to wait until they were 21 to legally consummate their love, five years longer than straight lovers. </p>
<p>In Tasmania, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Pink_Triangle.html?id=Wp6cPAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">the last Australian state to decriminalise sex between men</a> (in 1997), a heated public debate frequently raised issues of child protection. Letters to newspapers claimed that decriminalisation “would only open the floodgates and allow the very young to become prey to those who have chosen to lead this deviant lifestyle”. </p>
<p>The idea was that young people are vulnerable to becoming homosexual and shouldn’t be allowed to consent to sexual activity until they were much older than their heterosexual peers. </p>
<p>Sitting behind this notion of the vulnerability of young queer people is the <a href="https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbtq/orientation">false idea</a> that LGBTIQA status is a sign of moral failing, illness or perversion. </p>
<p>Further, it perpetuates the myth that queerness or transness is somehow transmissible. This is the somewhat fantastical idea that everybody has the latent potential to become queer or trans, and all that is needed to convert is exposure to a queer or trans person. </p>
<p>These fears have fuelled repressive legislation, such as the notorious <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/27/section-28-protesters-30-years-on-we-were-arrested-and-put-in-a-cell-up-by-big-ben">Section 28</a> in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/graphics/UGANDA-LGBT/movakykrjva/">Ugandan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_gay_propaganda_law">Russian</a> laws banning the promotion of homosexuality, and the “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/17/florida-advances-dont-say-gay-bill?gclid=Cj0KCQjwsIejBhDOARIsANYqkD1-IyOtYIl1WefomHHCyNZ0t88GRQTVciS7iJFoUslPSu4In5ayS3IaAqadEALw_wcB">don’t say gay</a>” laws in the United States.</p>
<p>Ironically, these strange and harmful ideas are also behind the ineffective, discredited and dangerous attempts to change or suppress LGBTIQA people’s sexuality or gender identity. </p>
<p>In these instances of so-called “conversion therapy”, it is <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/IESOGI/Academics/Equality_Australia_LGBTconversiontherapyinAustraliav2.pdf">often religious conservatives</a> who <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/1201588/Healing-spiritual-harms-Supporting-recovery-from-LGBTQA-change-and-suppression-practices.pdf">“groom” young LGBTIQA people</a> in attempts to make them straight and cisgendered. </p>
<p>Such change and suppression practices are now thankfully <a href="https://www.humanrights.vic.gov.au/change-or-suppression-practices/about-the-csp-act/#:%7E:text=Practices%20that%20seek%20to%20change,preventing%20and%20responding%20to%20them.">against the law</a> in many jurisdictions around the world. </p>
<h2>A kinder and gentler future</h2>
<p>Despite periodic moral panics, the history of gender and sexuality since 1970 tends towards a kinder, gentler future. People have generally become more accepting of LGBTIQA people’s human rights, and are more welcoming and celebrating of sexual and gender diversity. </p>
<p>The pace of change has been fast, however, and some groups of people haven’t gotten used to contemporary community standards of acceptance, such as the move towards marriage equality around the world.</p>
<p>Because of this history of growing acceptance, young people are feeling more comfortable and safer to explore their identities at younger ages. They are thus more visible than they used to be in the past. </p>
<p>However, they’re also more vulnerable as they explore sensitive aspects of their inner selves at younger and potentially less resilient ages. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13178-021-00615-5">Research shows</a> the impacts that homophobic and transphobic messaging can have on young people, proving they need to be protected from this harmful rhetoric – not from drag queens.</p>
<p>Drag storytime events are an age-appropriate way to celebrate diversity. They benefit all children – gay, straight, transgender and cisgender – with education about consent, human dignity, self determination and human rights. </p>
<p>This <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14681811.2021.1978964">knowledge is one of the best protective factors</a> against child victimisation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205648/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy W. Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Victorian Government, and has provided consultancy services to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales, and the United Nations Human Rights Council. He serves as President of the Australian Queer Archives.</span></em></p>There is also a long history of using paedophilia and ideas about child grooming in homophobic and transphobic ways to oppose the recognition of the civil rights of LGBTIQA people.Timothy W. Jones, Associate Professor in History, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2055242023-05-12T13:55:14Z2023-05-12T13:55:14ZThe ‘gay world cup’: why LGBTQ+ audiences love Eurovision<p>In 1956, seven European countries – Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany – gathered in Lugano, Switzerland for the first ever Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was only broadcast in select countries, meaning only a small number of viewers watched Swiss entry Lys Assia win the grand prize with the song Refrain.</p>
<p>Over the years, the contest has become a glitzy, kitschy spectacle of both the beautiful and the bizarre, drawing in <a href="https://eurovision.tv/story/eurovision-2022-161-million-viewers">over 160 million viewers</a> at last year’s event. In 2023, Eurovision returns to the UK (last year’s runners up) on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine for the first time since 1998, a day few anticipated after years of zero success. </p>
<p>As well as the contest’s overall transition from small show to huge spectacle, Eurovision has also developed a dedicated and passionate fandom over the years, many of whom are members of the LGBTQ+ community. </p>
<p>I have always been a huge follower of the contest. Eurovision is a perfect unity of my own fanhood and my research interests surrounding contemporary LGBTQ+ representation and visibility. An international media event that places LGBTQ+ people centre stage deserves celebrating.</p>
<p>In a recent BBC article, journalist Jamie McLoughlin labelled Eurovision a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65485540">“safe space” for LGBTQ+ communities</a>, noting how Eurovision consistently lays a “thoroughly supportive hand” on LGBTQ+ people in Europe. LGBTQ+ fans have affectionately likened Eurovision to other major events, with descriptions such as “Gay Christmas”, “the Gay World Cup” and “the Gay Olympics”.</p>
<p>In the BBC TV special <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001ltd3">Eurovision Calling</a>, Jason Manford interviewed several LGBTQ+ Eurovision fans, including Lewis Thorp, who described how Eurovision helped him come to terms with his sexuality.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XcB3gEKI4nw?wmode=transparent&start=3" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Camping it up</h2>
<p>But why is Eurovision so popular amongst LGBTQ+ communities? Many have related LGBTQ+ (particularly gay male) admiration for Eurovision in its “camp” nature and reliance on excess. In Susan Sontag’s seminal piece <a href="https://monoskop.org/images/5/59/Sontag_Susan_1964_Notes_on_Camp.pdf">Notes on Camp</a>, she describes camp as more than just the effeminacy of gay men – it is a sensibility that represents the “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration”.</p>
<p>The performativity and extravagance of Eurovision undeniably represents this notion of camp, with vibrant performances and over-the-top presentations. This contrasts with Eurovision’s early days when there was very little LGBTQ+ visibility in music or on television.</p>
<p>Camp can represent the sense of subcultural community through the “gaying” of straight culture. Although there was no actual representation in the beginnings of Eurovision, LGBTQ+ communities adapted for their own purposes and needs, using the joy of the song contest as a <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/music/2023/05/eurovision-is-beloved-lgbtq-community-liverpool-diversity">means to celebrate</a> diversity. </p>
<p>In recent years we have been introduced to many LGBTQ+ participants in an age of increased visibility in both music and television. In 1998, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8ZfreUQfvc">Dana International</a> made history as the first transgender winner for Israel – an incredible achievement considering the lack of trans representation at the time.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hfjHJneVonE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In 2007, Ukranian drag queen <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjHJneVonE">Verka Serduchka</a> impressed audiences with the catchy Dancing Lasha Tumbai, placing second in the grand final. In fact, the art of drag would continue to be popular with Eurovision audiences, when <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaolVEJEjV4">Conchita Wurst</a> won the contest for Austria with Bond-like ballad Rise Like a Phoenix in 2014. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8fvLtTRzdHw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>There have also been a number of memorable moments of LGBTQ+ representation during the event. In 2013, Finland’s entry <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlBXOveVh7c">Krista Siegfrids</a> kissed a female dancer during her grand final performance of Marry Me, a protest against her government’s rejection of same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>In an <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/eurovision-2013-to-feature-first-lesbian-kiss-in-protest-against-lack-of-gay-marriage-legislation-8621231.html">interview</a> afterwards, Siegfrids declared that the performance was structured to promote “love and tolerance”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dlBXOveVh7c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Drive for change</h2>
<p>Although politics is mostly banned at Eurovision (Ukraine’s President Zelensky has been <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/zelensky-eurovision-2023-speech-ukraine-kf3rn5m25">barred from addressing the event</a> this year), Siegfrid’s performance demonstrated how Eurovision could represent a platform of protest, and how it can be used as a potential drive for political and cultural change.</p>
<p>It is evident that LGBTQ+ people have taken centre stage at Eurovision. It is not just an extravagant spectacle of camp, but a place to be seen, a place where LGBTQ+ performers can be successful, accepted and supported by an array of fans.</p>
<p>This is particularly notable when there are still anti-LGBTQ+ policies in existence in many European countries (including Russia, Belarus, Turkey and Hungary) and some countries are becoming increasingly hostile environments for transgender people (including the UK). Turkey departed the contest in 2012, with Turkish broadcaster TRT stating LGBTQ+ prevalence as a <a href="https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-return-eurovision-if-no-more-bearded-divas-135427">key cause of their withdrawal</a>.</p>
<p>In 2014 drag artist Conchita Wurst was heavily criticised for taking part, with Russian politician Vladimir Zhiriovsky labelling her win as “<a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2014/05/11/russian-mp-conchita-wurst-winning-eurovision-is-the-end-of-europe/">the end of Europe</a>”. Wurst has since been hailed by Eurovision fans as an LGBTQ+ icon, whereas Russia is now banned from entering the competition following its invasion of Ukraine. </p>
<p>Eurovision producers are clearly aware of their prominent LGBTQ+ fandom, and are actively working to ensure it is a safe and welcoming place. And this will be no different during Liverpool’s turn as host this year.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XAEjQXzW4Uc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The Eurovision committee have planned a number of <a href="https://www.timeout.com/uk/news/liverpool-has-announced-its-eurovision-programme-and-its-just-as-extra-as-youd-expect-032823">events</a>, such as <a href="https://theguideliverpool.com/upcoming_events/eurofestival-queerovision/#:%7E:text=Queerovision%20will%20be%20sharing%20visual,world's%20largest%20multicultural%20music%20festival.">Queerovision</a>, an online event showcasing the best of Liverpool’s Queer fringe, as well as a number of gay club events and after parties.</p>
<p>This year’s slogan, “United by Music”, predominantly refers to the UK hosting on behalf of Ukraine, but it can possess wider connotations: the unity of Europe and LGBTQ+ people. Whether Eurovision exists as a camp and glitzy spectacle, a major platform of LGBTQ+ visibility and representation, or a beacon of self-expression amongst fans, the contest’s impact on LGBTQ+ communities around the world is abundantly clear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Weaver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Offering an inclusive and diverse space for self-expression, Eurovision has found an appreciative audience in the LGBTQ+ community over the years.Matt Weaver, PhD Candidate in Film, Media & Communication, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2029102023-03-30T12:04:31Z2023-03-30T12:04:31ZLily Savage: how Paul O'Grady helped embed drag in the British mainstream<p>Many among the British public will mourn Paul O’Grady, the beloved television host, philanthropist and drag queen, who has died at the age of 67.</p>
<p>He brightened up the stage and screen over the years with hilarious one-liners, quick wit and loveable charm, and heightened LGBTQ+ awareness through appearances as his catty but captivating alter ego, Lily Savage.</p>
<p>Numerous celebrities and public figures have paid tribute to O’Grady, including <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1640997462176419840?cxt=HHwWgMC-peuf_8UtAAAA">Camilla the Queen Consort</a>, who stated that O'Grady’s “warm heart and infectious humour lit up the lives of so many”. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-65062542">Others</a> remembered his “fearlessness”, evident in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnMUA1mCMYo">public criticisms</a> of Conservative MPs and government legislation.</p>
<p>O’Grady was also greatly remembered by an array of prominent LGBTQ+ figures and British drag talent. LGBTQ+ rights campaigner <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterTatchell/status/1640992687254806530?cxt=HHwWhICxrfOJ_cUtAAAA">Peter Tatchell</a> recognised O’Grady’s “admirable” campaigns for equality, while RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/rupauls-drag-race-star-chokes-29575858">Danny Beard</a> said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It goes unsaid the work that Paul’s done for the queer community, for me personally, and for many other little gay boys who want to put a dress on.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gyk5EvxGrb8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>Loud, proud and brave</h2>
<p>O’Grady began his career at London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern as <a href="https://www.oocities.org/lilysavage_uk/biography.html">Lily Savage</a> in the early 1980s, where he became popular with queer locals. Lily demonstrated drag’s entertainment factor at times of uncertainty and <a href="https://theconversation.com/aids-homophobic-and-moralistic-images-of-1980s-still-haunt-our-view-of-hiv-that-must-change-106580">rampant homophobia</a>, and fans have spoken of a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/paul-ogrady-little-known-facts-from-a-rubber-gloves-raid-to-trying-his-hand-as-a-mortician-12844667">memorable instance</a> when the tavern was raided during the Aids crisis.</p>
<p>Police entered with gloves, to which Lily hilariously responded: “Look, they’ve come to help with the washing up!” Lily would soon be making appearances at other club and theatre venues, such as the Bloomsbury Theatre and gay nightclub Heaven. However, she would gain major recognition through her regular appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe and on TV.</p>
<p>In 1997 she was given her own talk show on the BBC – The Lily Savage Show – with its popularity leading to arguably her biggest career break hosting the popular longstanding game show Blankety Blank (1997-2002). After this successful run, O’Grady began to step back from Lily and appear more as himself, with a number of popular programmes such as The Paul O’Grady Show and For the Love of Dogs.</p>
<h2>A brief history of British drag</h2>
<p>Lily Savage was often hailed as an inspirational artist within drag’s rich and cultural history in the UK. In his book <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520393325/drag">Drag: A British History</a>, Jacob Bloomfield notes its impact, and how drag artists have consistently asserted themselves as some of the most “renowned and significant entertainers of their day”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zbkmkmn#:%7E:text=Shakespeare's%20As%20You%20Like%20It,would%20drag%20along%20the%20floor.">term “drag” dates back to Shakespeare</a> with men playing women’s roles. From the 18th to the 20th centuries, drag was primarily confined to underground bars and vaudeville houses due to the criminalisation of homosexuality, with performers such as <a href="https://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/seraphin.htm">Princess Seraphina</a> and <a href="https://legacyprojectchicago.org/person/julian-eltinge">Julian Eltinge</a> demonstrating drag’s entertainment value.</p>
<p>In later years, drag would become more popular due to comedic queens such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/jun/01/danny-la-rue-obituary">Danny La Rue</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/dameednaeverage?lang=en-GB">Dame Edna Everage</a> and Lily Savage, who would often be seen on mainstream television programmes. Today, prominent drag figures such as RuPaul, creator of the TV show <a href="https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a43145366/rupauls-drag-race-legacy/">RuPaul’s Drag Race</a> and its numerous global spin-offs, demonstrate drag’s mainstream appeal. However, it is important to acknowledge the cultural history of drag and those artists, such as O’Grady, who paved the way for a wider social acceptance.</p>
<h2>Drag under attack</h2>
<p>It is also important to recognise O’Grady’s legacy at a time when drag is being attacked by far-right critics. They argue that the “sexualisation and inappropriateness” of drag represent a threat to children.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/11/im-just-trying-to-make-the-world-a-little-brighter-how-the-culture-wars-hijacked-drag-queen-story-hour">Numerous protests</a> have occurred recently at <a href="https://www.dragqueenstoryhour.co.uk/">Drag Queen Story Hour</a> events at libraries across the UK. This led to users on internet forum Mumsnet, <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/society/953619/what-are-gender-critical-beliefs">gender-critical feminists</a> (women who believe that sex is biological and immutable and cannot be conflated with gender identity) and anti-drag critics <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2020/06/23/drag-queen-story-hour-uk-aida-h-dee-sab-samuel-leeds-city-council-sarah-field-mumsnet/?fbclid=IwAR1kts2g7Z30tlIC1waptxwEX0C0bD5_ccjDTXeUvLkRiL6fJmW5z0ipen8">calling for them to be cancelled</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a series of UK drag shows organised by cabaret company <a href="https://vaultfestival.com/caba-baba-rave/">Cababarave</a>, aimed at mothers with young babies was cancelled after being targeted for its “<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/graphic-drag-show-babies-featuring-nearly-naked-men-bondage-outrages-twitter-absolutely-abhorrent">abhorrence</a>”. In the US, criticism of drag has escalated even further, with a <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/tennessee-becomes-first-us-state-to-ban-public-drag-performances-12824159">recent law</a> passed in Tennessee that bans drag and female impersonation in public.</p>
<p>These shifts represent the threats currently posed to drag performers, so it’s worth remembering drag’s origins through performers such as Lily Savage. Drag is not only a unique display of artistry and a political standpoint; one of its primary functions has always been that of entertainment. Lily represented this profoundly, and it is important that the wider British public acknowledge drag performance’s popular past, particularly in uncertain times of shifting cultural attitudes towards drag artists and LGBTQ+ communities.</p>
<p>O’Grady’s dedication to media and charity work, as well as his contribution to the mainstream representation of LGBTQ+ people and drag artists will undoubtedly affect both heterosexual audiences and those who attended his shows, sharing a drink with Lily at a gay bar. Crucially he will be remembered by those who saw themselves represented on mainstream television at a time when queerness was still demonised.</p>
<p>My own memory of O’Grady is when he starred in Snow White at the Bristol Hippodrome in 2003. I was only eight years old, mostly unaware of my own queerness at the time. I was asked to go on stage for an interactive segment of the show, and Lily was just as charismatic and captivating in person as she was from the back of the theatre. This moment will always hold a special place in my memory.</p>
<p>The LGBTQ+ community have lost a powerful force and groundbreaking icon, one that has undoubtedly changed the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the UK. RIP “Lily of the Scally”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Weaver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>O'Grady’s camp creation built on the legacy of drag artists that came before him and helped change the visibility of LGBTQ+ people in the UK.Matt Weaver, PhD Candidate in Film, Media & Communication, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2016232023-03-16T12:30:57Z2023-03-16T12:30:57ZTennessee’s drag ban rehashes old culture war narratives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515517/original/file-20230315-26-vndw56.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C10%2C3484%2C2315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A drag queen reads to a group of parents and kids at a library in Los Angeles in July 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protest-against-the-drag-queen-story-hour-event-at-welling-news-photo/1411832510?phrase=drag story hour&adppopup=true">Guy Smallman/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tennessee recently <a href="https://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/113/Amend/HA0011.pdf">passed legislation</a> that bans drag from being performed in public spaces, as well as in the view of children. Although Tennessee is the first state to enact such a ban, it is unlikely to be the last, as others with conservative legislatures are <a href="https://apnews.com/article/drag-queens-tennessee-bill-legislation-3ed2ddd0e8231819ade5d0c8b9f4c30a">currently considering similar action</a>. Some states proposing bans have <a href="https://time.com/6260421/tennessee-limiting-drag-shows-status-of-anti-drag-bills-u-s/">explicitly targeted Drag Story Hour</a>, which involves drag performers reading books to children in public spaces such as libraries. </p>
<p>So why does the American public suddenly need to be protected from drag? </p>
<p>The answer to this question has deep roots in modern U.S. history. </p>
<p>Tennessee’s ban on drag is not an isolated event. Rather, it is only the latest volley in the broader culture war between American conservatives and progressives to define the values of the country. </p>
<h2>A centurylong war</h2>
<p>In 1991, sociologist <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KTiTxl-rY9AC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=hunter+culture+wars&ots=JugnjdouL-&sig=kjjT85c8xRa2dA78R71MPjWaJYY#v=onepage&q=hunter%20culture%20wars&f=false">James Davison Hunter</a> alerted Americans that the nation was in the midst of a perpetual culture war that would “continue to have reverberations not only within public policy but within the lives of ordinary Americans everywhere.” </p>
<p>Examples of early culture war battles include the 1925 <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/scopes-trial">Scopes Monkey Trial</a>, in which a Tennessee high school science teacher was prosecuted for violating anti-evolution laws, and the 1962 <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/engel-v-vitale/">Supreme Court ruling</a> that deemed school-sponsored prayer unconstitutional. </p>
<p>Culture war conflict came to a head in the 1980s and 1990s, with Senate hearings over the perceived dangers of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/dee-snider-on-pmrc-hearing-i-was-a-public-enemy-71205/">heavy metal music</a> and obscenity in <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/05/10/pop-culture-takes-the-rap-as-congress-battles-violence/96d62842-7f04-415e-8a40-e21e17e80750/">rap music</a>.</p>
<p>Social scientists largely thought the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IByIDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=hartman+a+war+for+the+soul+of+america&ots=wjK0iJJIc7&sig=gIobLQ_e0OfU-LMrWo77TSZ0p_0#v=onepage&q=hartman%20a%20war%20for%20the%20soul%20of%20america&f=false">culture wars had receded</a> at the turn of the 21st century. Then former President Donald Trump’s battle cry to “Make America Great Again” rallied troops back into action.</p>
<p>As Hunter noted in his monumental tome, culture war disputes <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IByIDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=hartman+A+War+for+the+Soul+of+America:+A+History+of+the+Culture+Wars&ots=wjK0gGLQ38&sig=WCz2um1_8hAYro0UDcTjYpQz5Ms#v=onepage&q=hartman%20A%20War%20for%20the%20Soul%20of%20America%3A%20A%20History%20of%20the%20Culture%20Wars&f=false">usually intensify during times of upheaval</a>, such as changes in the country’s demographics and shifts in the distribution of political power. These shifts lead people to wonder exactly whose values, languages, religions and opportunities are respected or promoted by the government, law and popular culture.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, cultural conflict tends to emerge within institutions that have practical implications for Americans’ lives: family, public schools, popular media, public art and law. </p>
<h2>Ripe conditions for a new battle</h2>
<p>The first Drag Story Hour <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/12/first-edition-drag-queen-story-hour">took place in 2015</a>. It was organized by author and queer activist Michelle Tea and the San Francisco-based literacy nonprofit RADAR Productions. The <a href="https://www.dragstoryhour.org/about">official mission</a> of Drag Story Hour is to celebrate “reading through the glamorous art of drag” and create “diverse, accessible, and culturally-inclusive family programming where kids can express their authentic selves.”</p>
<p>Because these performances take place in public spaces and in front of children, they hit upon a couple of important culture war triggers. </p>
<p>First, public performances can spark cultural conflict because they can signify exactly whose values are prioritized over others. Second, art and performances that reach audiences of children are often perceived as a threat to the family as an institution. </p>
<p>For example, in the 1980s, some activists and politicians viewed profane music as a threat to the family. This led to the introduction of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/09/oral-history-tipper-gores-war-explicit-rock-lyrics-dee-snider-373103.html">parental advisory labels</a> to identify music deemed inappropriate for children.</p>
<h2>‘When librarians were nice Christian ladies’</h2>
<p>As social scientists who study gender and culture, we recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/23294965211050019">analyzed reactions to Drag Story Hour</a> that were posted on social media forums. </p>
<p>In our analysis, we found that many grievances centered on institutions and values crucial to the culture wars. </p>
<p>We found that conservatives reminisced about a time when their values were dominant in American society and rehashed old culture war narratives about “<a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Threatened_Children/8VIg9STL-wUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=best+threatened+children&printsec=frontcover">threatened children</a>.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Group of protesters hold signs with text reading 'groomer.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515519/original/file-20230315-22-4l4pl1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many opponents of Drag Story Hour claim that the events endanger kids by ‘grooming’ them to be sexually exploited.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protest-against-the-drag-queen-story-hour-event-at-welling-news-photo/1411832510?phrase=drag%20story%20hour&adppopup=true">Guy Smallman/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They specifically expressed nostalgia for a time when American culture was anchored by conservative values, and progressive views existed on the periphery of public life. As one forum member lamented, “When I was a kid, the librarians were nice Christian ladies and there was an American flag outside. My current public library [has] scary levels of liberal posters and talks.”</p>
<p>Some conservatives also used rhetoric reminiscent of the “<a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Satanic_Panic.html?id=abJqF8csPrQC">Satanic Panic</a>” of the 1980s and 1990s by claiming that drag performers were satanic pedophiles who sought to recruit, groom and sexually abuse children. Others argued that parents who take their children to Drag Story Hour should be jailed or lose their parental rights.</p>
<h2>The safety of children as political fodder</h2>
<p>In our view, it’s no accident that Tennessee’s ban on drag specifically targets drag performed in front of children. </p>
<p>Emphasizing threats to children is a well-established strategy for conveying the decline of American culture and values. As sociologists Joel Best and Kathleen Bogle have noted, adults often <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Kids_Gone_Wild/91YTCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=best+bogle+kids+gone+wild&printsec=frontcover">project their anxieties and fears</a> concerning a perceived disintegration of traditional norms onto younger generations, whom they believe need to be shielded.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, anti-gay activist Anita Bryant launched her “Save our Children” campaign. Claiming that gays and lesbians were “recruiting children” to their cause, <a href="https://theconversation.com/anti-transgender-bills-are-latest-version-of-conservatives-longtime-strategy-to-rally-their-base-158296">she successfully pressed voters to oppose</a> anti-discrimination statutes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Black and white photo of woman speaking at a microphone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515542/original/file-20230315-2388-69ahd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In today’s opposition to Drag Story Hour, there are echoes of the rhetoric of anti-gay activist Anita Bryant.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anita-bryant-is-near-tears-as-several-hundred-demonstrators-news-photo/515123282?phrase=anita%20bryant&adppopup=true">Bettmann/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And in the 1980s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00169.x">fears over changing family structures</a>, such as rising divorce rates and an influx of working mothers, fueled a moral panic that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-modern-witch-hunt/2015/07/31/057effd8-2f1a-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html">day care staffers were ritualistically abusing children</a>.</p>
<p>Almost half a century later, fears regarding advancements in LGBTQ+ rights have <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-dont-say-gay-law-signed-56aee61f075a12663f25990c7b31624d">produced legislation restricting discussions of gender identity</a> in schools and stoked claims that drag performers are satanists who terrorize children.</p>
<p>The deployment of these well-worn narratives is unlikely to end with legislation such as Tennessee’s drag ban. Rather, it will continue as long as conservatives and progressives battle to define American values.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201623/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Emphasizing threats to children is a well-worn refrain among those worried about the decline of American culture and values.Heather Hensman Kettrey, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Clemson UniversityAlyssa J. Davis, PhD Student in Sociology, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1996272023-02-16T17:21:34Z2023-02-16T17:21:34ZRuPaul’s Drag Race: our research shows how it helps destigmatise the LGBTQ+ community<p>Pressures on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/23/scotlands-trans-rights-campaigners-react-to-gender-recognition-reform-bill">gender recognition</a> laws, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/21/anti-drag-show-laws-bans-republican-states">strong opposition</a> to drag shows and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs_nightclub_shooting">increasing incidents of violence</a> show that stigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people still exists, especially for those who do not conform to societal expectations around gender and sexuality.</p>
<p>A 2021 report by <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/system/files/take_pride_-_june_2022.pdf">Stonewall</a> highlighted how people in the UK still experience feelings of “fear, resentment, pity and disgust” towards those who identify as LGBTQ+, especially transgender men and women.</p>
<p>Amid such social turmoil, drag culture has become even more important for representation. </p>
<p>The most visible elements of drag are the <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/06/rupauls-drag-race-100-best-looks.html">fabulous outfits</a>, the drama of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2s4AJW7cMo">lip-synchs</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WKyuVMDT5U">iconic catchphrases</a>. However, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/drag-culture-may-be-mainstream-but-its-forms-are-constantly-evolving-125347">rich cultural history</a> of drag for breaking social conventions and challenging gender stereotypes must not be forgotten. </p>
<p>From the <a href="https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/5320237/00380385211008387.pdf">theatres of 16th century England</a> to the height of <a href="https://ezratemko.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/A-history-of-drag-balls-houses-and-the-culture-of-voguing.pdf">ball culture in 1980s New York</a>, drag has provoked conversations and questioned social norms.</p>
<p>Drag has always been, and still is, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230131-historys-most-incredible-drag-queens-and-kings">a powerful tool</a> to advance acceptance and raise social consciousness around inclusion within society. Above all, drag’s power is its contribution to the destigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people, which is needed to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19392397.2020.1765080?needAccess=true">enhance their self-worth and wellbeing.</a></p>
<h2>The impact of RuPaul’s Drag Race</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joms.12848">research</a> focused on the reality TV show, RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality TV competition for drag queens. The participants are given different challenges every week and their performances are assessed by a panel of judges. These days, it is almost impossible to think of drag without also thinking of the global influence of the show and its creator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/RuPaul">RuPaul Charles</a>. </p>
<p>Now in its 15th season in the US, with several worldwide spin-offs and a <a href="https://twitter.com/RuPaulsDragRace">strong social media presence</a>, the show has made important inroads in bringing themes traditionally considered taboo to prime time television. This spotlight has allowed the wider public to become more familiar with the struggles of this community.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joms.12848">our research</a>, we argue that drag has helped in two main ways: positive representation and humanisation. We also argue that there is much more scope for harnessing Drag Race’s positive momentum and disrupting the backlash against drag.</p>
<h2>Positive representation</h2>
<p>In their performances, drag queens represent the bending of gender norms (expectations of how men and women should act) in the form of entertainment. Contestants play with gender norms and make it acceptable for their audiences to do the same.</p>
<p>In doing this, they enhance the representation of minorities that have been historically hidden from the public eye. Cisgender men might dress up as divas of the 1950s, gender non-conforming people can play with different gender conventions, transgender men or women explore different domains of gender performances and women can play with both masculinity and femininity.</p>
<p>This provides LGBTQ+ viewers with a rich register of visible identities. Audiences can see themselves represented in the multitude of different performances of drag. Drag has helped the public to become more aware that gender can be a shifting concept and be more open towards the this community.</p>
<h2>Drag and humanisation</h2>
<p>Drag also has the power to “humanise” LGBTQ+ people by making them more relatable. One of the key features of RuPaul’s Drag Race is showcasing the struggles of gay, lesbian, gender-nonconforming and transgender people.</p>
<p>In the show, contestants tell stories of being stranded when they came out, affected by HIV/AIDS, rejected by their families, or attacked in the streets. These stories allow audiences to understand that other people might have experienced similar struggles.</p>
<p>In a world characterised by episodes of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/93akz3/lgbtq-hate-crimes">stigmatisation and increased difficulty</a>, brands like RuPaul’s Drag Race can leverage positive representation and humanisation to spread acceptance and awareness.</p>
<p>Different types of organisations (reality TV shows and advertising agencies) can follow the example of drag queens in sharing their stigmatisation experiences and so contribute to shifting public opinion of stigmatised groups.</p>
<p>While the reach of drag as entertainment allows people to be visible and spread important messages, this does not come without sanctions. RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants are often insulted, threatened, and trolled <a href="https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/06/28/divina-de-campo-mural-manchester-gay-village-graffiti/">offline and online</a>. However, the representations on the show remain unapologetic, speaking to many LGBTQ+ people who are still finding their feet and need encouragement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199627/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drag’s power is its contribution to the de-stigmatisation of LGBTQ+ people, which is needed to enhance their self-worth and wellbeing.Mario Campana, Lecturer in Marketing, University of BristolKatherine Duffy, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, University of GlasgowMaria Rita Micheli, Assistant Professor, IÉSEG School of ManagementLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872602022-08-03T20:04:15Z2022-08-03T20:04:15ZWould Carlotta, Australia’s most celebrated drag queen, have made it on RuPaul’s Drag Race?<p>After the first season last year wobbled on its heels, the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under began last weekend. </p>
<p>In becoming the global beacon of drag, Drag Race has set new ideals for what it means to do drag. But while Drag Race may have brought drag into the global media centre, in Australia drag has long been celebrated in the mainstream.</p>
<p>Australia’s most enduring and adored drag celebrity has been a stalwart of Australian show business for almost 60 years: Carlotta.</p>
<p>Long before Drag Race, Carlotta (the stage name of Carol Byron) was foundational in establishing a specifically Aussie mode of drag that both queer and straight Australians embrace – one that is outlandish, flamboyant, irreverent and “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocker">ocker</a>”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rupauls-drag-race-is-still-figuring-out-how-to-handle-gender-and-race-96711">RuPaul's Drag Race is still figuring out how to handle gender and race</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Disappointment down under</h2>
<p>Earlier this year, RuPaul made headlines describing Australian drag queens as “<a href="https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/rupaul-calls-new-zealand-and-australian-drag-ratchet/211207">more ratchet</a>” – meaning Australian drag is cruder and bawdier than US or UK drag. </p>
<p>Perhaps accidentally, RuPaul astutely identified a point of tension between Drag Race expectations and the localised relationship Australia has with drag culture. </p>
<p>Australia has its own drag aesthetics, histories and celebrities, often associated with a certain Aussie sense of humour. </p>
<p>In many ways, Carlotta epitomises typical characteristics of Aussie drag. She is glamorous, extravagant and charming – but also forthright and down to earth.</p>
<p>As Carlotta has told us of Australian drag’s mainstream popularity: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think if [Australian] drag queens weren’t so ‘ocker-ish’ then it never would have worked, actually, in this country […] It’s a kind of sense of humour. They understand that sense of humour, straight Australians do. And if they don’t then they have a plum in their mouth!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>An Australian drag icon, over many decades Carlotta helped foster middle Australia’s longstanding affection for drag, while always maintaining her connection to queer communities.</p>
<h2>The queen of Kings Cross</h2>
<p>Queer drag began its sashay into mainstream Australian culture in the 1960s via the widespread fame of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANNS3Ps1BLg">queer cabaret troupe Les Girls</a>. </p>
<p>Based in Sydney’s then-notorious red light district, Kings Cross, Les Girls was a glamorous cabaret with sequins and feather boas abounding. The alluring “twist” was that all the beautiful, bedazzled showgirls onstage were “actually” queer men. </p>
<p>Les Girls garnered an international following and became a trendy Sydney attraction popular with straight Australians. This queer spectacle gave Carlotta the platform that would see her become one of Australia’s most treasured national celebrities.</p>
<hr>
<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ANNS3Ps1BLg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<h2>Carlotta also became Australia’s first transgender celebrity. In the early 1970s, her gender confirmation surgery became fodder for the Australian press. </h2>
<p>With her striking looks and engaging manner, she soon found her way onscreen. </p>
<p>Carlotta featured in a selection of documentaries about Sydney’s drag scene, notably <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4TEuXZ0FrQ">The Glittering Mile</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNNym1VDgb8">The Naked Bunyip</a>. </p>
<p>She made history in 1973 as the first “out” trans person in the world to play a trans character on television, causing a stir when she appeared in six episodes of the risqué Australian serial <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k8EupTg3bQ">Number 96</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-k8EupTg3bQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>By the 1990s, Carlotta was a household name in Australia. </p>
<p>Although initial media interest may have treated her as a curiosity because of her gender, Carlotta as a cultural presence became something much more than that.</p>
<h2>Priscilla, queen of Aussie drag</h2>
<p>When the three drag queens of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert flounced onto screens and into the hearts of Australians in 1994, Carlotta’s place in Australian drag history was solidified. She was the <a href="https://qnews.com.au/vonni-to-play-bernadette-in-gold-coast-season-of-priscilla/">direct inspiration</a> for the beloved character Bernadette, a showgirl drag performer and trans woman. </p>
<p>Coming full circle, Carlotta has paid <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID_7uIV5U3E">homage to Priscilla</a> with her own outback touring cabaret shows. </p>
<p>As her drag legacy matured, Carlotta became a mainstream media darling. </p>
<p>In the 1990s and 2000s, she was a panellist on the daytime chat show Beauty and the Beast. From 2013, she was a regular guest panellist on Studio 10. She has been a special guest on A Current Affair, This is Your Life, Come Dine with Me and One Plus One.</p>
<p>The biopic Carlotta was released by the ABC in 2014, tracing her life from childhood in Balmain and mapping how Carlotta the showgirl rose to fame. The project extended Carlotta’s cultural impact, supported by extensive marketing and airing in a family-friendly timeslot on a Sunday night. </p>
<hr>
<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a4UG4dpAYq0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<hr>
<p>Carlotta’s acceptance as a mainstream celebrity in line with her unwavering alliance with queer culture was exemplified in 2020 when she was named a Member of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List for significant service to the performing arts and the LGBTIQ+ community.</p>
<h2>Diversifying the future of Australian drag</h2>
<p>Carlotta’s influence on queer drag representations in the Australian mainstream is clear – from the sequined showgirls who are a mainstay of the Sydney Mardi Gras, to the warm reception <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-16/behind-drag-queen-courtney-act-is-a-man-struggling-with-identity/11989426">genderqueer</a> reality star <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKiZ5GRogIk">Courtney Act</a> has received.</p>
<p>It is impossible to say how Carlotta would have fared on Drag Race, as she was such a singular sensation in her youth.</p>
<p>Despite the powerful impacts Carlotta’s influence has had on promoting inclusivity, this now default mode of Aussie drag remains limited. Australian drag is more dynamic and diverse than we see in mainstream representations. Absent from much mainstream drag imagery are the many drag kings and gender diverse drag performers.</p>
<p>Drag Race Down Under faces a challenge of marrying the ideals of the governing reality television franchise with those of Australia’s own drag culture. </p>
<p>Perhaps in the same way Carlotta has influenced Australian culture, it is time for Drag Race to think about its role in expanding how Australians understand drag beyond our mainstream exposure.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thanking-carlotta-a-pioneer-for-sex-and-gender-diversity-28191">Thanking Carlotta – a pioneer for sex and gender diversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna McIntyre receives funding from the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien O'Meara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Long before Drag Race, Carlotta was foundational in establishing a specifically Aussie mode of drag: outlandish, flamboyant, irreverent and ocker.Joanna McIntyre, Senior Lecturer in Media Studies, Swinburne University of TechnologyDamien O'Meara, PhD Candidate, Media and Communications, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1664732021-08-31T19:46:04Z2021-08-31T19:46:04Z‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and lip-syncing: A once controversial practice is no longer taboo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417261/original/file-20210820-13-t9y9uy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5044%2C3055&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars attend Meet the Queens event at TRL Studios in Dec. 2018</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 175px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/-rupaul-s-drag-race--and-lip-syncing--a-once-controversial-practice-is-no-longer-taboo" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><em>RuPaul’s Drag Race</em>, a reality TV drag competition, was first broadcast in 2009 to a niche audience — but the show’s unceremonious start is a distant memory. Drag Race is currently filming its 14th season and <a href="https://rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/Drag_Race_(Franchise)">has yielded several spinoffs</a>. On Sept. 2, <em>RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars</em> Season 6 will crown its sixth all-star.</p>
<p><em>Drag Race’s</em> climb to cultural relevance has brought many controversies. RuPaul <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/21/rupaul-fracking-wyoming-ranch-land-oil">revealed his ranch in Wyoming is used for fracking</a> and <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/6/17085244/rupaul-trans-women-drag-queens-interview-controversy">has been accused of transphobic hiring practices</a> — though <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/6/17085244/rupaul-trans-women-drag-queens-interview-controversy">quickly apologized</a>. Former contestants have revealed <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dmav/what-does-it-cost-to-go-on-rupauls-drag-race">how expensive it is to take part</a>, while others have made the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=700Nvfa4wHk">show’s contract public</a> — including how much the contestants are paid as well as financial penalties.</p>
<p>Lip-syncing plays an important role in building a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttt85v">collective identity</a> for the queer community. The meaning attached to certain songs when lip-synced at a drag show can create solidarity within the queer community and also educate heterosexual outsiders about queer life. Even though the lip-sync is a critical part of the <em>Drag Race</em> competition, many fans are unaware of how recently it was introduced into drag culture — a feminist history, or “herstory,” of drag performance and recorded sound reveals how controversial lip-syncing once was.</p>
<h2>Drag “herstory”</h2>
<p><em>Drag Race’s</em> version of drag performance is highly specific. It is taken mostly from <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/striking-a-pose-a-brief-history-of-ball-culture-629280/">New York City’s ball culture of the late 1980s</a>. In ball culture, contestants walk the runway in categories like “butch queen” and “femme realness,” <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/23416354">showcasing their most authentic and innovative outfits</a>. Most of RuPaul’s catchphrases are references to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SRoFxHSRl4">famous ball participants (Xtravaganza!)</a> and ball-specific slang (Work!).</p>
<p>But the art of drag has been around for decades, even centuries. For some, it traces back to <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814712535/drag/">male cross-dressing during 16th century British Renaissance theatre</a>. For others, drag comes from American variety entertainment in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, alongside vaudeville and minstrel shows. </p>
<p>Julian Eltinge was the <a href="https://vaudeville.sites.arizona.edu/node/83">reigning female impersonator of the vaudeville stage</a>. His act included a transformation from male to female and a dance number complete with chorus line and elegant costumes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/L4e-n_BI8os?wmode=transparent&start=107" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Julian Eltinge on The Voice of Hollywood in 1929.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>“Lip-sync for your life”</h2>
<p>Drag’s evolution into its modern form did not stop there. Today, drag is synonymous with lip-syncing. In no small part, this is thanks to <em>Drag Race’s</em> catch phrase: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2iGQZeKtGA">lip-sync for your life!</a>” </p>
<p>Viewers may not realize how recently lip-syncing became a drag staple. </p>
<p>It is unclear who was first to lip-sync. Some suggest the first lip-syncs were in <a href="https://observer.com/2017/01/playing-it-safe-a-brief-history-of-lip-syncing/">short music videos</a> produced for video jukeboxes in the 1940s, while art forms similar to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/431511">lip-syncing like ventriloquism</a> have centuries of history. How we define lip-syncing is important when narrowing this history.</p>
<p>The modern understanding of lip-syncing is tied to recorded sound, amplification and live performance. Drag performers could not lip-sync before the cultural takeover of recorded sound. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/judy-grammy-nomination-beyond-this-films-rainbow-is-a-wider-complexity-of-queer-musical-theatre-fans-145275">'Judy' Grammy nomination: Beyond this film's rainbow is a wider complexity of queer musical theatre fans</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The early days of recorded sound came at the end of the American variety show, with cheap movie tickets and the rise of broadcast radio drawing audiences away from live performance. It was not until the 1930s and the rise of talking pictures when theatres began to be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/27672712">wired for sound</a>.</p>
<p>Before theatres had their electronic revolution, the most skilled female impersonators, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/ON_WITH_THE_SHOW.html?id=fBqJhjy3UkEC&redir_esc=y">like Herbert Clifton and Francis Leon</a>, would sing to a live band.</p>
<p>Recorded sound caused commotion from the moment it was introduced into American popular culture. Gesturing as a form of enhanced listening (like lip-syncing, air guitar, head-banging) has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2018.0064">long been treated as evidence of hysteria or insanity</a>. Listeners to early phonographs were ridiculed for conducting along with orchestras, and for men, being moved by “domestic technologies” — like the phonograph — was controversial because they <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25172853">had always been seen as feminine</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1428521798430339080"}"></div></p>
<p>In the 1960s, rock music developed a phobia of commercialism <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/853649">and anything that disrupted direct communication to an audience</a> — lip-syncing did just that. To be called commercial was especially damning for <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/853649">pop groups with mostly female audiences</a>, like The Monkees. The band was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/853721">often ridiculed for their lack of artistic freedom</a> because they lip-synced during their televised programs. </p>
<p>Then there are artists like <a href="https://variety.com/2020/music/news/milli-vanilli-grammy-scandal-fab-morvan-1234865697/">Milli Vanilli</a>, who had their 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist rescinded after it was revealed hired performers sang on their record. </p>
<h2>The ‘record act’</h2>
<p>Drag communities have always hosted a diversity of gender identities and the <a href="https://www.them.us/story/how-drag-queens-turned-against-the-trans-community">relationship between them has often been tense</a>.</p>
<p>American anthropologist Esther Newton <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3634939.html">details the complicated reception of the first drag “record acts”</a> — an older term for a lip-sync. At first, the record act was considered the laziest and most unprofessional thing a performer could do. Many senior performers criticized younger ones, especially those who might be transgender, if they didn’t come up with a more traditional act.</p>
<p>As we wait for the finalists of <em>Drag Race All Stars</em> Season 6 to “lip-sync for their legacy!” what can we learn from the herstory of lip-syncing in drag? Since lip-syncing is no longer taboo, do modern drag audiences have a different idea of what makes a performer a professional? Maybe. </p>
<p>There are other possibilities to explain this change. Elizabeth Eva Leach suggests the <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/853649">Spice Girls avoided some backlash from lip-syncing because of their “ordinariness.”</a> In being ordinary, they connected directly to their audience, who too were lip-syncing and dancing at home. Another possibility, apps like TikTok have normalized mimed performance to prerecorded sound. </p>
<p>What is certain is that we are living in a new era of drag and <em>Drag Race</em> is leading the way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sadie Hochman-Ruiz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As we wait for the finalists of Drag Race All Stars Season 6 to “lip-sync for their legacy!” what can we learn from the “herstory” of lip-syncing in drag?Sadie Hochman-Ruiz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Trans+ People in Forced Labour Project, University of VictoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1449672020-10-09T12:27:47Z2020-10-09T12:27:47ZRuPaul’s Drag Race: how social media made drag’s subversive art form into a capitalist money maker<p>RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a behemoth with seemingly unstoppable forward motion. First aired in 2009 and created by production company World of Wonder, the reality show sees drag queens compete to become “America’s Next Drag Superstar”. Since premiering, the show has spawned a business empire with a legion of spinoffs, smartphone apps, thrice-yearly fan conventions and franchised versions in Thailand, Canada, the UK <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/reality-tv/a33949636/drag-race-holland-season-one-line-up/">and now</a> Holland.</p>
<p>RuPaul’s Drag Race represents the high watermark of mainstream success for global drag culture. It has had a massive hand in normalising the idea of the drag queen (at least in the American mediascape) and, as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19392397.2020.1765080">our analysis of the show’s media empire found</a>, made the art form extremely lucrative. However, that drag could be financially successful and culturally acceptable has not always been the case. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A1bIcvL7zAs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Traditionally, drag has been an unrecognised art form outside of LGBTQ+ spaces, with <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3634939.html">most drag queens living on the fringes of society</a>. In the United States, for example, “stage queens” who managed to find paying work earned incomes <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19392397.2020.1765080">far below the national poverty line</a>. But today, drag is enjoying mainstream success, thanks in large part to the relationship it has developed with commercial social media. </p>
<h2>On the fringes</h2>
<p>Before the early 2000s, drag culture and the internet developed away from mainstream capitalism. However, both have since been professionalised, giving rise to drag career YouTubers and social media influencers. Their parallel evolution towards highly-polished, branded professionalism has provided the conditions for drag culture’s mainstream visibility. But at what cost?</p>
<p>A major reason for Drag Race’s success is that World of Wonder funnelled core aspects of drag culture into the reality TV format – a format entirely dependent on the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118599594.ch24">low production costs and self-branding affordances</a> of today’s commercialised social media infrastructure.</p>
<p>But historically, drag in America had an ambivalent relationship to capitalism. The radical drag troupe <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzJd4unMd4I&ab_channel=DavidWeissman">The Cockettes</a>, for example, lived on a commune in San Francisco, put on free performances (some of which explicitly critiqued capitalism), shoplifted costumes and props and collected state welfare. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bhV3sbhvW9A?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Other queens – like those in the arthouse documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/">Paris Is Burning</a> (1990) and Ryan Murphy’s television series <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/aug/25/pose-ryan-murphy-new-show-about-voguing-is-tv-at-its-most-fearless">Pose</a> (2018-19) – similarly operated on capitalism’s margins. The <a href="https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultures-and-scenes/underground-ball-culture/">drag balls</a> (a competition scene where people, often drag queens, perform different drag genres and categories) portrayed in these productions offered temporary respite from the cultural and economic exclusion queens faced outside queer spaces.</p>
<p>Like drag, the early world wide web was not initially regarded as a means to a career. Instead, it offered vibrant spaces for self-expression and information sharing, from <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=fr8bdUDisqAC">early bulletin board systems</a> to the eclecticism of <a href="https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/11859">personal webpages</a>. </p>
<p>But the turn of the 21st century saw the emergence of now-familiar brand names like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, and the extractive economic models that turned these sites into big money-makers. With this, drag and internet culture became dominated by entrepreneurialism.</p>
<h2>Queens of business</h2>
<p>It is in this space that Drag Race emerged. A professionalised social media presence is all but compulsory for Drag Race contestants. RuPaul routinely directs viewers to “participate” in the programme through hashtags, and audiences are encouraged to support their favourite finalist similarly. In more recent seasons, the size of online followings is a constant topic of discussion. There are also frequent debates about whether contestants are “social media queens”, who exist solely online, or are “stage queens”. </p>
<p>Moreover, Drag Race contestants frame their social media participation through the discourse of entrepreneurial self-branding. For instance, <a href="https://rupaulsdragrace.fandom.com/wiki/Jasmine_Masters">Jasmine Masters</a> (S7 and All Stars S3) <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0245q9h9">has said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Once you’re on [social media], you are a reality celebrity. You are a brand from that point, you know, so you have to treat yourself as a market, as a business.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Masters has in fact mastered the use of social media to self-brand. Despite performing poorly on both of her seasons, she remains a fan favourite largely through the virality of memes produced from her YouTube channel. </p>
<p>Other Drag Race alumni have spun their social media popularity into offline success. Many have prolific careers that include touring, YouTube series, film and television roles, book publishing and even music.</p>
<p>In a Drag Con (the Drag Race fan convention) panel titled <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LatriceRoyaleInc/videos/business-of-drag-panel-at-dragcon-with-merle-ginsberg-fan-page-mimi-imfurst/1013066035397333/">“The Business of Drag”</a>, Latrice Royale makes clear that, today, “Drag is not a hobby, it’s a career.” This claim marks a radical departure from the pre-internet drag and highlights the imperative of “work” – or, as they say in LGBTQ+ culture, “werq” – in today’s drag culture. </p>
<p>The significance of the term is vividly captured in fan favourite Shangela’s song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hArTHxRpKmM">Werqin’ Girl</a>, a braggadocio track in which she boasts about her status as a paid professional. The song fetishes hard work and tenacity. And like Jasmine Masters, Shangela foregrounds entrepreneurialism in a way that’s a world away from pre-internet drag in its explicitly anti-capitalist and marginal modes.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hArTHxRpKmM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>While social media has created careers for many Drag Race alumni, as an art form, drag is at its most powerful when it questions dominant arrangements of power. Performers such as The Cockettes and those in Paris is Burning are prime examples.</p>
<p>What our analysis of Drag Race’s media empire – from episode transcripts and contestant interviews to spin-off podcasts, panels and YouTube series – demonstrates is that drag has been girdled by the logic of competitive individualism and the free market. As such, the show’s mainstreaming of drag, as cultural analyst <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=blQ3ro8qxb0C">Lisa Duggan notes</a>, perpetuates “a privatized, depoliticized gay culture anchored in… consumption”. A culture that positions drag as an economic vehicle rather as a means of mocking, querying or dismantling dominant power structures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144967/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How Ru Paul’s Drag Race turned an underground anti-capitalist art form into a lucrative multifaceted mainstream industryZeena Feldman, Lecturer in Digital Culture, King's College LondonJamie Hakim, Lecturer in Media Studies, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1306822020-02-28T14:06:15Z2020-02-28T14:06:15ZLibrarians could be jailed and fined under a proposed censorship law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317637/original/file-20200227-24651-1uz26vf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sign of the times</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/right-only-rebecca-breksa-27-of-fullerton-protests-the-news-photo/569150145">Geraldine Wilkins/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A bill pending in Missouri’s legislature takes aim at libraries and librarians who are making “<a href="https://house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills201/hlrbillspdf/4634H.01I.pdf">age-inappropriate sexual material</a>” available to children.</p>
<p>The measure, championed by <a href="https://www.therolladailynews.com/news/20200118/interview-ben-baker-speaks-about-his-now-controversial-library-bill">Ben Baker</a>, a Republican lawmaker, calls for establishing review boards who would determine whether materials in libraries contain or promote “nudity, sexuality, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse.” In addition, the boards, which would be comprised of parents, would root out materials lacking “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”</p>
<p>Librarians who defy the review boards by buying and lending such materials would be subject to misdemeanor charges, fines upward of US$500, and a potential jail sentence up to one year.</p>
<p>As a librarian, and now as an educator who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=iPhNa4EAAAAJ">teaches aspiring librarians</a>, I see this bill as the latest chapter in a <a href="https://lithub.com/the-history-and-present-of-banning-books-in-america/">long history of books being banned</a> from <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/some-northern-virginia-parents-wanted-two-books-with-lgbtq-characters-removed-from-schools-officials-said-no/2020/01/15/06f8be0e-36df-11ea-bb7b-265f4554af6d_story.html">public and school libraries</a>.</p>
<h2>Censorship and book banning</h2>
<p>Often, efforts to censor and muzzle libraries originate with members of the public rather than public officials or school leaders. </p>
<p>Censoring and banning library materials and programs <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/10/a-short-history-of-book-banning/">is nothing new</a>. <a href="https://libguides.butler.edu/c.php?g=34189&p=217684">Many classic books have been challenged and banned</a>, including classroom favorites like “<a href="http://www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/2016/12/28/nineteen-eighty-four-1984-by-george-orwell">1984</a>” by George Orwell, “<a href="https://sites.psu.edu/bannedbookscmlit130/2016/02/18/catcher-in-the-rye/">The Catcher in the Rye</a>” by J. D. Salinger, “<a href="https://www.history.com/news/why-to-kill-a-mockingbird-keeps-getting-banned">To Kill a Mockingbird</a>” by Harper Lee, “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/02/texas-prisons-ban-books-mein-kampf-color-purple">The Color Purple</a>” by Alice Walker, and “<a href="https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=1495">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</a>” by Maya Angelou.</p>
<p>The children’s book “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/And-Tango-Makes-Three/Justin-Richardson/9781481446952">And Tango Makes Three</a>,” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and illustrated by Henry Cole, was <a href="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/09/23/banned-books-week-and-tango-makes-three">challenged and banned</a> from libraries around the country for many years after its publication in 2005. The picture book is based on a true story of two male penguins in New York City’s Central Park Zoo who adopt and care for an egg and then keep caring for their daughter, Tango, after she hatched.</p>
<p>J.K. Rowling’s <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/harry-potter-and-other-banned-books-you-didnt-know-face-censorship-threat-669682">Harry Potter series</a> is also regularly challenged and banned. </p>
<p>Separately, opponents of the storytime program known as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/07/protest-seeks-to-stop-us-libraries-supporting-drag-queen-story-hour">Drag Queen Story Hour</a>” at libraries and other community venues, have held protests to ban and condemn such events aimed at children. The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/aug/07/protest-seeks-to-stop-us-libraries-supporting-drag-queen-story-hour">objections voiced by protesters</a> stem from their belief that drag performers are evil and amoral and that exposure to drag queens will, in their view, cause children to become gay.</p>
<p>The Missouri bill is not the first of its kind. State lawmakers in <a href="https://www.billtrack50.com/BillDetail/1004882">Colorado</a> and <a href="http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/bills_129th/billtexts/HP008001.asp">Maine</a> both tried to pass similar legislation in 2019. Both efforts failed. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C3500%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C3500%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/316667/original/file-20200221-92502-sioc7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The drag queens who read to kids in libraries are attracting protesters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/drag-queen-pickle-reads-from-a-book-during-the-drag-queen-news-photo/1157847779?adppopup=true">David McNew/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A profession</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2020/01/oif-responds-missouri-legislation-proposes-policies-and-procedures-threaten">American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom</a>, the <a href="http://molib.org/">Missouri Library Association</a>, and
<a href="https://pen.org/press-release/proposed-book-banning-bill-in-missouri-could-imprison-librarians/">PEN America</a> – a nonprofit that defends free expression – are among the literary and library groups that have voiced their objections.</p>
<p>Many of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VS6ZLk4JwQ">drag queens</a> who <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/drag-queens-plan-protest-state-capitol-against-bill-that-would-jail-librarians-displaying-1483982">read to kids</a> are planning a protest against the measure on March 7. Baker has said his concerns about these readings were a factor in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/us/missouri-libraries-sexual-books.html">inspiring him to draft the bill</a>.</p>
<p>Librarians are professionals. Librarians working in K-12 school libraries also earn certification as <a href="https://www.teachercertificationdegrees.com/careers/school-librarian/">school library media specialists</a>. Librarians have expertise in children’s literature, collection development, child development, psychology, readers’ advisory, reference services and other specialized skills needed to serve <a href="http://www.ala.org/alsc/edcareeers/alsccorecomps">children</a> and <a href="http://www.ala.org/yalsa/guidelines">young adults</a> in a variety of settings.</p>
<p>In short, librarians are more than capable of selecting and purchasing quality books and other materials for people of all ages.</p>
<p>To imply otherwise, as I believe the proposed Missouri measure would, is to insult these skilled educators. If it should be enacted, I would consider it a potential threat to information access, intellectual freedom and the freedom to read.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Cooke works for the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina.
I belong to professional library associations that advocate for librarians and free speech, several of which are mentioned in the article.</span></em></p>There’s a long history of books being banned from public and school libraries.Nicole A. Cooke, Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1208382019-11-07T13:51:10Z2019-11-07T13:51:10ZThe history of drag in South Africa still plays out at modern pageants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291534/original/file-20190909-109919-o5ttvx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Participants strut their stuff at Miss Gay Western Cape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">André-Pierre du Plessis/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The wearing of clothing of the opposite sex, or drag, is very popular in the South African context. A Google search for the term ‘South African drag queens’ yields approximately half-a-million results. These range from upcoming drag performances, drag artists for hire and drag queen accessories to drag queen support groups. Despite the popular cultural manifestations of drag in the media, online and in pageants and performances in gay and lesbian clubs, bars and shebeens, the same academic interest in theorising drag in South Africa is limited. </p>
<p>In a recent article I address this scarcity by attempting to ignite academic interest in theorising about drag in the South African context. Drag is worthy of academic study in that it is a performance of the feminine gender which shows that gender does not belong to women or men, it can be easily imitated either in a theatrical way (dragging) or in a mundane way (women who wear pants). </p>
<p>By far the oldest and most popular drag queen contest in South Africa is the annual Miss Gay Western Cape, which became official in 1996 but which has been held clandestinely since the 1950s as homosexuality was only legalised in 1998. </p>
<p>In 2018 teacher Wendy La Rosa lifted <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/pics-queens-with-class-at-miss-gay-western-cape-17778915">the title of Miss Gay Western Cape</a> in front of a packed house at the Joseph Stone auditorium in Athlone, a coloured working class suburb on the Cape Flats. Her victory was lauded by the oldest and most popular newspaper in the Western Cape, The Cape Argus.</p>
<p>However during its secretive, hidden era, reporting on the Miss Gay Western Cape pageant didn’t feature in mainstream newspapers. Instead, it was found in the tabloid magazines Drum and the Golden City Post, which specifically targeted black urban readers. However, Drum in the 1950s was <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/drum-magazine">not a ‘typical’ tabloid</a> as it had deeply political undertones and also included realistic expositions of black urban experiences during apartheid.</p>
<p>So insatiable was the appetite for stories about drag queens that Drum and the Golden City Post started sponsoring a <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=8RzeAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=Moffie+Queen+Competition+golden+city+post&source=bl&ots=Xea1KahelF&sig=ACfU3U1qfO40iGefF4gK1vY0V7aQIPEXow&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3kuHN2J3lAhXimFwKHa8YBawQ6AEwAHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Moffie%20Queen%20Competition%20golden%20city%20post&f=false">Moffie Queen Competition</a>. “Moffie” was a derogatory name for a homosexual but one that the gay community has re-appropriated with pride. This allowed the publication to generate its own news about drag queens. </p>
<p>Its reportage was far from benign. Reporters highlighted the “grotesqueness” of homosexual men dressed up as women and used tabloid rhetoric and scoop style photographs to portray the subculture as amusing but ultimately depraved. One such description, from a chapter by Dhianaraj Chetty in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defiant-Desire-Lesbian-Lives-Africa-ebook/dp/B00FDR4DTY">Defiant Desire: Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa</a>, was found in the January 1956 issue of the Golden City Post:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They lead a lonely and bitter life. Their only constant companions, their own kind – their only solace, what they find at the bottom of a bottle. Too often they face the danger of becoming drink sodden wrecks who burst into tears at the slightest provocation. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But there were also spaces during this time where drag queens took control of their own images. I <a href="https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/GL/article/view/25741">have explored</a> this hidden but robust moffie scene in my own research. And it was from spaces like this that modern South African drag pageants, particularly Miss Gay Western Cape, have been able to blossom and grow.</p>
<h2>Intimate moments</h2>
<p>In 1958 Drum magazine gave British photojournalist Ian Berry a chance to show a different, less sensational side of drag culture. Berry published a photo essay in the magazine titled A Drag at Madame Costello’s. </p>
<p>Madame Costello, also called Joey, was a well-known older queen who often allowed her house to be used for moffies and their boyfriends to meet up, have a few drinks and dance. These “home drags” were quite the opposite of the Moffie Queen competitions of the day that were portrayed in melodramatic and pitying ways by Drum and the Golden City Post. </p>
<p>These photographs have been made public only once, in the book Defiant Desire, which was published in 1994. They are strictly copyrighted by <a href="https://www.baha.co.za/">Bailey’s African Photo Archives</a>. </p>
<p>In the 13 photographs that made up his essay, Berry introduced readers to the doyennes of drag at Madame Costello. Madame Joey Costello herself is in a black velvet one-shouldered ball gown with empire-style brooches cascading from her left shoulder down to her derriere, and matching dainty watch, rings and earrings. She is pictured opening a bottle of gin on a tray laid out with fine glassware in ascending order from sherry glasses to champagne flutes. </p>
<p>Pictured alongside her is Linda Darnell (in a swing dress with a back bow) delicately forking a piece of cake on a fine china plate. There’s also Kay Kendall (wearing a posh evening gown with sheer fabric covering the upper chest and arms, fingerless long gloves, pearls and a tiny fascinator hat) and Piper Laurie (diamante halter neck ball gown, cascading ponytail with bangs affixed with a marcasite headband). </p>
<p>Berry showed remarkable empathy for these drag queens at a time when most media portrayed them as oddities. Some are shown in the photos dancing cheek to cheek with their straight-looking boyfriends, posing powerfully for the camera or just having a chat and a cup of tea. There’s also a glimpse of the relationships between married Muslim men and drag queens, which was tacitly accepted by some parts of the Muslim community. Some of these relationships <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Defiant-Desire-Lesbian-Lives-Africa-ebook/dp/B00FDR4DTY/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=defiant+desire&qid=1571903842&s=books&sr=1-1">persisted</a> for more than ten years and often existed side by side with traditional marriages.</p>
<p>Berry offered a poignant look at everyday lives that could be elegant and sophisticated, and operating with their own codes of intimacy. Home drags, then, were a space for drag queens to be themselves – not to perform or compete. </p>
<h2>Homegrown stories</h2>
<p>Looking at these photographs today is a reminder of everyday lived moffie life in the 1950s; a far cry from the pageants that were staged once a year, sponsored by the tabloid press and whose images were used to titillate a homophobic audience. Once this pageant went independent from the dictating and belittling hold of tabloid magazines in 1996 it grew from strength to strength. </p>
<p>In 2010 the robustness, endurance and popularity of the Miss Gay Western Cape pageant was captured by author Lauren Beukes in her documentary <a href="https://africa.film/glitterboys-ganglands-a-lauren-beukes-documentary/">Glitterboys and Ganglands</a>, which follows the preparations for the pageant by three drag queens from the Cape Flats a predominantly working class coloured suburb in Cape Town. </p>
<p>But this was a rare moment in the popular culture spotlight for South African drag culture. While viewers in the country are enchanted by programmes from the US like <a href="https://www.netflix.com/za/title/80241986">POSE</a> or <a href="http://www.vh1.com/shows/rupauls-drag-race">Ru Paul’s Drag Race</a>, there seems to be little interest in the enduring drag scene in South Africa’s own back yard. </p>
<p>Perhaps one day soon there’ll be a homegrown TV drama that tells the story of how Miss Gay Western Cape pageant’s contestants have carved out a defiant space within their often violent and homophobic communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>TL McCormick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There were secretive, intimate spaces in South Africa during the 1950s that paved the way for modern drag pageants.TL McCormick, Lecturer of Applied Linguistics, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1253472019-10-23T09:42:05Z2019-10-23T09:42:05ZDrag culture may be mainstream but its forms are constantly evolving<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298094/original/file-20191022-28108-13mjv4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Scaredy Kat</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bbcpictures.co.uk/image/18681312?collection=18681312+18874356+18680733+18874161+18874109+18874174+18874187+18874057+18874070+18843010+18874395+18874408+18852522+18843036+18844920+18680668&back=L3NlYXJjaC9zaW1wbGU%2Fc2VhcmNoJTVCZ2xvYmFsJTVEPVNDQVJFRFkrS0FUJmFtcDtzZWFyY2glNUJzdWJtaXQlNUQ9U2VhcmNo">BBC/ Leigh Keily / Matt Burlem</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drag performance is enjoying a sparkling moment under the international spotlight and its new found popularity is leading to new hybrid forms. Drag has peaked because of TV series <a href="https://theconversation.com/rupauls-drag-race-is-inventing-a-whole-new-internet-subculture-and-language-123213">RuPaul’s Drag Race</a>, which boasts 11 seasons in the US, two in Thailand and has recently crossed the Atlantic with a UK version. </p>
<p>The journey from the US to the UK has exposed some of the geographical and regional differences between the forms. And it has also highlighted some polarised thinking in drag culture that need further disruption.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/298097/original/file-20191022-28120-1snfr5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gale Force, the drag persona of author Mark Edward who merges ‘old school’ with guerrilla drag practices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stuart Rayner</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the rise of Drag Race, there has emerged two positions of drag, often referred to as “old school” and “new school”. Old school drag points to drag and artistry in traditional venues such as bars and clubs. It emphasises the traditions of drag as a performance form.</p>
<p>On the other hand, new school drag highlights the turn to social media as “the arena” in which performance is tried and tested. New school emphasises make-up tutorials and homemade videos.</p>
<p>The dichotomy of drag is often (though not always) mapped across generational differences, between those who grew up without the internet and those who are digital natives. In episode two of Drag Race UK, <a href="https://twitter.com/the_scaredy_kat">Scaredy Kat</a> (one of the new school queens) performs live for the first time. Scaredy Kat’s lack of live performance experience is demonstrated in a lip-synch challenge and, when losing their place on the programme and sashaying away, Kat comments: “Not bad for a first gig.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OjkQXc437CM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Our research into <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19443927.2017.1317657?tokenDomain=eprints&tokenAccess=id7exHsbbiB57U8TTjfG&forwardService=showFullText&doi=10.1080%2F19443927.2017.1317657&journalCode=rtdp20">drag cultures</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/contemporary-drag-practices-and-performers-9781350082960/">drag performances</a> found that despite this common idea of two schools, drag is much more diverse, particularly when looked at from outside the frame of international television.</p>
<p>Drag is, and should remain, hybrid. Rather than being formulaic, drag continues to self-create and self-fashion, combining and scavenging elements from performance, life, digital culture and comedy. </p>
<h2>Mainstreaming and merchandising</h2>
<p>Drag now occupies a newly visible position in the mainstream. It has grown in popularity, with American drag phrases such as “shade” and “read” becoming popular, as are dance and body movements culled from the US <a href="https://haenfler.sites.grinnell.edu/subcultures-and-scenes/underground-ball-culture/">ball scene</a> (most famously recorded in Jennie Livingstone’s film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100332/">Paris is Burning</a>) often with little reference to its gender and race politics.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o47CwiJLpes?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But to become part of the culture, indigenous forms of drag must play a part. These forms are rooted and belong to their local contexts, settings, histories, and queer communities. The current mainstreaming of drag often uproots these connections in the pursuit of money.</p>
<p>The growth in drag merchandise, popular books, clothing, stationery and accessories all serve to generate revenue and profile. For some performers, this is a vital source of income – with more drag performance comes more competition. Much of the merchandising is necessary for helping performers make ends meet. But for publishers, managers and manufacturers, drag is a moneymaker, and these profits do not always filter back to LGBTQ+ communities.</p>
<p>It may be that the mainstreaming of drag is inevitable given the access to the codes and secrets of drag made possible through social media and video sharing sites. But we do not consider those, often younger, artists apparently in the new school as zombies passively accepting whatever is thrown at them through a computer screen. Rather, performers transform what they see, resulting in local performances that still have a flavour of their own histories. There are also new forms of performers emerging who combine elements. There are performers resisting the easy polarisation of old/new school. </p>
<p>For example, in the UK, a performer like London-based <a href="https://twitter.com/Do_Meth?">Meth</a> is just this kind of new hybrid. Meth embraces new school elements in her <a href="https://www.instagram.com/methedragqueen/?hl=en">look</a> and performance (lip-synching is particularly noticeable). But at the same time, she maintains some of the local traditions in the form of her one liners and MC style. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Raln03ufhGc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In particular, her act is strikingly similar to another London queen, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Raln03ufhGc">Regina Fong</a>, who died in 2003 and whose work in Camden, London is legendary. Although Meth did not see Regina perform live, they share an approach to the performance by making much of intercut recorded audio from popular TV and films. </p>
<p>Of course, with the exponential growth of drag performance, there is a lot more to see – and a lot more to miss. There is so much diversity in drag forms but it is easy to end up talking about the ones we are used to seeing in our respective locations. </p>
<p>The challenge is to enjoy the range that drag has to offer and to engage not only with the local forms, but also with those that are international, non-Western and not mainly occupied by cisgender white gay men. Inevitably, this is a similar challenge felt by any forming field, one that must be met if we are to deal with it in a critical and historically informed way.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Our research into drag cultures and performances found that despite the common idea of two schools of drag, it is much more diverse.Mark Edward, Reader in Dance and Performance, Edge Hill UniversityChris Greenough, Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion, Edge Hill UniversityStephen Farrier, Reader in Theatre and Performance, Royal Central School of Speech & DramaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1173362019-05-21T13:41:01Z2019-05-21T13:41:01ZHow Cape Town’s “Gayle” has endured – and been adopted by straight people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275393/original/file-20190520-69186-10bk3ay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gayle started life as a language spoken by gay men. But its use has shifted over time.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/KIM LUDBROOK</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past two decades there’s been a greater acceptance of gay men in many societies. This can be seen, for instance, by the number of overtly gay men who occupy centre stage on prime time TV. Drag queen <a href="https://www.biography.com/personality/rupaul">Ru Paul</a>, UK talk show host <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xnzc">Graham Norton</a>, and South African presenter <a href="https://www.channel24.co.za/The-Juice/News/somizi-shares-how-he-met-mohale-and-its-adorable-20190404">Somizi Mhlongo</a> are just a few examples.</p>
<p>Part of this trio’s appeal is they are insightful, glamorous – and downright likeable. They also speak in a particularly appealing way, using a campish banter which is easily recognisable, often deliciously funny and even cutting. What many viewers may not realise is that the way these men speak and the
language they use draws from a long history. </p>
<p>Ru Paul draws from the US-born “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Lavender-Lexicon-Authenticity-Appropriation/dp/2884491805">Lavender Lexicon</a>”. Norton’s language use is influenced by “<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-brief-history-of-polari-the-curious-after-life-of-the-dead-language-for-gay-men-72599">Polari</a>” which, in its time, was used primarily in the UK. And Somizi’s speech is influenced by the South African lexicon known as “<a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-11-02-00-gayle-the-language-of-laughter-and-of-safety">Gayle</a>” which is still in use today in the country. Ken Cage extensively explored the language’s history and development in his 2003 book “<a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Gayle.html?id=KXi5PzXLF98C&redir_esc=y">Gayle: the language of kinks and queens: a history and dictionary of gay language in South Africa”</a>.</p>
<p>All of these varieties of language were developed historically by gay men (and to a lesser extent lesbians) who needed their own way of speaking to avoid detection and persecution. Some are barely spoken any more. Polari has completely died out. Gayle remains as popular as ever – but it has evolved, shifted and become a language spoken by more than just gay men. </p>
<p>It has been adopted by others, and is used often by those who want to show allegiance with gay people. There is a growing amount of research about Gayle, and it’s even been the subject of <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/26535/Lauren%20Mulligan%20The%20gayle%20I%20know_final%20edited.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y">a short documentary</a>, “Visiting Gayle” by filmmaker Lauren Mulligan.</p>
<p>As I have argued in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/SALALS.2009.27.2.3.866">my own research</a>, the popularity and longevity of Gayle in South Africa shows how linguistic resources can be mobilised by anyone. The camp constructions of the language are not reserved for those who identify as “queer”. This also turns on its head the notion that speaking in a particular way, with certain intonations or phrases, “makes” a person gay. </p>
<h2>The origins of Gayle</h2>
<p>“Gayle” morphed from what was called “Moffietaal”. The word “moffie” describes not only gay men but also effeminate men and transvestites. Its origination can be <a href="https://wiser.wits.ac.za/system/files/seminar/Pieterse2012.pdf">loosely traced</a>, writes author Bart Luirink, to the slang that sailors used and brought to the port city of Cape Town in the early part of the 20th century: a “morphy” was used as a “term of contempt among seamen for a delicate, well-groomed youngster”. </p>
<p>“Moffietaal” can be traced to coloured gay communities in Cape Town which have a long tradition of queer subcultures dating back to the late 19th century (the word “coloured” is used to describe people of mixed racial lineage in South Africa). From the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/cape-minstrels-origins-and-evolution-tweede-nuwe-jaar-second-new-year-cape">Kaapse Klopse</a> (minstrel concerts), first held in 1887, to the 1970s hairdressing salons of coloured working class suburbs in Cape Town, “moffies” developed and spoke a variety of language designed to avoid detection and persecution. </p>
<p>What makes “Gayle” different to gay varieties used in other parts of the world is that it uses a combination of women’s names and Afrikaans slang to describe other gay people or gay experiences. For example a “Polly Papagaai” is a gay man who gossips (“papagaai” means “parrot” in Afrikaans); an “Adele adder” is a vindictive gay man (“adder” being a kind of snake).</p>
<p>The word “queen” is also often suffixed to another word, frequently on the spot, to create a biting construction such as “Canderel queen” – Canderel is an artificial sweetener, so the name denotes an insincere person.</p>
<p>In my research published in 2009, I argued that linguistic resources can be mobilised by anyone. A person doesn’t need to be queer to use the camp constructions of Gayle. </p>
<p>This is a point that academics such as Esther Newton and Judith Butler make when they argue that camp generally – and camp with specific reference to drag queens – shows the very instability of femininity. Anyone can imitate and elevate to a level of parody the way that women are compelled to dress and talk. </p>
<p>Yet there seems to be a lingering perception by the populace at large that when a man speaks or acts camp that they must be a homosexual and a failed man.</p>
<p>Why do these perceptions linger?</p>
<h2>Heterosexuality still rules</h2>
<p>Despite the rise of queer subcultures worldwide, and the seepage of camp into mainstream cultures – think Beyonce, Joan Rivers and South Africa’s Evita Bezhuidenhout – conventional heterosexuality still rules. Conventional heterosexuality is based on the binaries of “man/woman”, “masculine/feminine” and “heterosexual/homosexual”. </p>
<p>There is a logic about how it is enacted: a masculine heterosexual man marries a feminine heterosexual woman and when a person veers from this recipe they could be punished, ostracised, gossiped about, bullied or in the worst case scenario killed. </p>
<p>Conventional heterosexuality is so powerful and encompassing that we are not even aware that it is a thing. It operates seamlessly in all aspects of our lives. So although Gayle endures and has developed a wider appeal, this does not mean that it is completely mainstream. It is used in specific sub-cultures and among those aligned with these sub-cultures. In other contexts, speaking Gayle could have terrible repercussions – for example at a barbecue with conventionally-minded South African men. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to reflect that the South African contribution to this discipline was penned by Ken Cage in his 2003 book Gayle: the language of kinks and queens: a history and dictionary of gay language in South Africa.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>TL McCormick does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gayle remains as popular as ever – but it has evolved, shifted and become a language spoken by more than just gay men.TL McCormick, Lecturer of Applied Linguistics, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005212018-07-26T19:56:49Z2018-07-26T19:56:49ZExplainer: the difference between being transgender and doing drag<p>Australian icon Barry Humphries has been <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/shut-up-and-retire-barry-humphries-slammed-for-transphobic-comments-20180723-p4zt0h.html">widely criticised</a> for again making anti-trans statements. In an <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/barry-humphries-on-trump-transgender-rat-baggery-and-causing-maximum-offence/">interview</a>, Humphries said that being transgender is “a fashion — how many different kinds of lavatory can you have? And it’s pretty evil when it’s preached to children by crazy teachers.”</p>
<p>Many people find Humphries’ transphobia confusing because he is most famous for playing drag character Dame Edna Everage. His comments are indeed harmful, but Humphries portraying a female character is completely separate from matters of transgender identification.</p>
<p>Recently Hollywood star Scarlett Johannson <a href="https://www.out.com/out-exclusives/2018/7/13/exclusive-scarlett-johansson-withdraws-rub-tug">withdrew from a film</a> in which she was to play a trans man due to backlash against the role not being given to a transgender actor. Transgender celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner have helped bring the subject of transgender into everyday discussions. Nevertheless, there is still a lot of misunderstanding about what being transgender means and how it relates to drag. </p>
<p>For instance in Celebrity Big Brother UK this year, which featured Australian drag queen Courtney Act and British journalist and trans woman India Willoughby, the latter said she <a href="https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/902076/Celebrity-Big-Brother-2018-viewers-slam-India-Willoughby-compares-drag-to-blackface">dislikes drag queens</a>. This led to many vexed conversations about the relationship between transgender people and drag. </p>
<p>Put simply, “transgender” refers to a personal gender identity and an authentic, lasting sense of self. In contrast, “drag” is a temporary and deliberate performance of gender.</p>
<h2>Being transgender</h2>
<p>Transgender people exist across cultures and continents, and have appeared throughout human history - though the words we currently use to describe them are relatively new.</p>
<p>Transgender is a term used to indicate a person has a gender identity other than the one they were assigned at birth. It is an umbrella term that covers numerous possible gender identities. Some transgender people identify as the sex “opposite” to their birth sex. Others have a gender identity that includes both masculinity and femininity (for instance, those who are genderqueer or gender fluid) and some identify as neither (those who are <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is-agender">agender</a>).</p>
<p>Being transgender is not linked to a certain sexuality. Like cisgender people (people who do identify with the gender they were assigned at birth), transgender people can be straight, gay or bisexual. </p>
<p>Some transgender people choose to undergo surgery and/or hormone therapy, and some do not. Like everyone else, transgender people express their gender in various and individual ways. </p>
<h2>Doing drag</h2>
<p>Although drag shows onstage have long been a popular form of entertainment, drag has recently become more prominent. This increased awareness is largely due to the worldwide success of the US reality TV show Rupaul’s Drag Race in which drag queens compete to be crowned a “drag superstar”. This show has infiltrated popular culture and raised drag’s public profile.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rupauls-drag-race-is-still-figuring-out-how-to-handle-gender-and-race-96711">RuPaul's Drag Race is still figuring out how to handle gender and race</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Drag is most commonly associated with gay men dressing up and embodying a “larger-than-life” female persona. Drag queens are flamboyant and this form of drag often involves sequins and feathers but it can also be sleek and edgy. </p>
<p>For drag queens, their drag persona can be an important part of their own identity as a gay man (this does not mean they are transgender). Similarly, women also perform drag as <a href="https://theconversation.com/strapped-packed-and-taking-the-stage-australias-new-drag-kings-79747">drag kings</a>. Drag kings dress as men and take on male personas, often wearing facial hair, adopting masculine mannerisms and a deep voice.</p>
<p>Drag shows have a lengthy history and are a lively and important part of gay culture. In LGBTQ+ contexts, drag is used as a way to explore gender. It is often understood as a breaking down of the limitations of masculinity and femininity.</p>
<p>The term drag is also used to describe straight men donning women’s clothing for the sake of comedy. Barry Humphries undertakes this form of drag when playing Dame Edna. Often this type of drag is a satire of women rather than an exploration of gender itself. It therefore stands apart from LGBTQ+ drag. Nevertheless, the cultural effects of drag always depend on its context.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/strapped-packed-and-taking-the-stage-australias-new-drag-kings-79747">Strapped, packed and taking the stage: Australia's new drag kings</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Transgender people and drag culture</h2>
<p>Many transgender people have no interest in drag whatsoever. Some transgender people - such as India Willoughby - even dislike drag because they feel it wrongly implies being transgender is just about “dressing up” when really it is about living an authentic gender identity.</p>
<p>However, there are still connections between transgender lives and LGBTQ+ drag. Many transgender people love drag and some perform it regularly. Taking on a drag persona can also be a stage in a transgender person’s gender transition. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://attitude.co.uk/article/carmen-carrera-opens-up-about-feuding-with-rupaul-and-life-after-drag-race/14111/">transgender celebrity Carmen Carerra</a> identified as a gay man and was a popular drag queen contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race. After appearing on the show she began a gender transition and now identifies as a woman - she is a trans woman.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ggjnh13FBL0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Trans drag performer Peppermint.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>All transgender people are individuals. Being transgender and doing drag will remain distinct. Yet as awareness of transgender identities and drag culture continues to grow, so will the acceptance and understanding of LGBTQ+ people in our society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanna McIntyre does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is still a lot of misunderstanding about what being transgender means and how it relates to drag.Joanna McIntyre, Lecturer in Screen and Media Studies, University of the Sunshine CoastLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/967112018-06-27T19:56:24Z2018-06-27T19:56:24ZRuPaul’s Drag Race is still figuring out how to handle gender and race<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225035/original/file-20180627-112620-sfs2qw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The cast of RuPaul's Drag Race season ten. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">VH1</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For a reality TV show about a queer subculture, RuPaul’s Drag Race has achieved extraordinary success. In the show, which winds up another series this Friday, drag queens compete to be named “America’s Next Drag Superstar”. Across 13 seasons (including three of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars) it has graduated from niche programming on the LGBT cable station Logo to a mainstream, award-winning hit on the widely viewed VH1. In Australia, the show streams on Stan and is often highlighted as a drawcard in its ad campaigns.</p>
<p>The show’s wit and glamour go some way to explaining this success. Just as important, however, is the way in which Drag Race acts as a small-screen reflection of big issues happening in the wider world. </p>
<p>Race, sex and religion are all front and centre. And the show is a real-time representation of current struggles over gender performance and identity. Yet paradoxically, Drag Race is both an agent and subject of this disruptive gender moment. Gender discourse has changed greatly even since the show’s first episode screened in 2009, with words and phrases like “<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-genderqueer-48596">genderqueer</a>”, “non-binary”, “genderfluid” and “post-gender” gaining currency as ways to describe lives unconstrained by strict definitions of male and female.</p>
<p>Drag Race greets these changes as both the cool, queer kid, gloriously messing with the very idea of gender, and an old fogey, somewhat startled and just trying to keep up. It offers both celebratory affirmation of lives beyond the binary and a somewhat reticent clinging to old norms.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wdKjADotu4I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The queens of season ten.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What gender should a drag queen be?</h2>
<p>In recent months, Drag Race’s difficulties negotiating the gender binary have been revealed in fresh controversies. In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/03/rupaul-drag-race-big-f-you-to-male-dominated-culture">an interview earlier this year</a>, the show’s host RuPaul Charles suggested that transgender queens who have undergone gender affirming surgery might not be welcome as competitors. He later tweeted, “You can take performance enhancing drugs and still be an athlete, just not in the Olympics.”</p>
<p>I am tempted to write that this position represents a “traditional” view of drag in which a man pretends to be a woman (or vice versa, in the case of drag kings), but links between drag and trans cultures have their own long history. Drag Race often references the iconic documentary Paris is Burning, which explored the African-American and Latinx drag balls of 1980s New York featuring many queens who were trans women. In Australia some of our greatest drag stars – most famously, Carlotta – are also trans.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rupauls-tranny-debate-the-limits-and-power-of-language-27220">RuPaul's 'tranny' debate: the limits and power of language</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Indeed, two Drag Race competitors – Peppermint and Monica Beverly Hillz – have come out as transgender while on the show and have been supported for doing so. More have come out as trans, genderqueer or gender non-binary since competing. In this light, RuPaul’s uncertainty about transgender queens is surprising. But much like the broader society it satirises, Drag Race isn’t yet sure how to make sense of a world that isn’t structured around male and female.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ucytS4GZfEY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Peppermint, from season nine, discusses coming out as trans as a drag queen.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Celebrating the feminine, embracing the masculine</h2>
<p>Drag Race exposes the homophobia and transphobia that are a part of the queens’ daily life. Family rejection, HIV diagnoses, violent abuse, poor mental health and addiction are among the many challenges described by the show’s stars in moments of personal disclosure. </p>
<p>For all its success in advocating for visibility, safety and equality for gender non-conforming people, however, Drag Race also valorises a specific form of masculinity.</p>
<p>If the queens are worshipped for their “charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent”, the objects of sexual desire on the show are the “pit crew” – a group of handsome, muscular and six-packed men only ever seen wearing skimpy underwear, who serve as stage hands and occasional participants in the queens’ competitive challenges. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/225033/original/file-20180627-112604-2ibmvn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pit crew on RuPaul’s Drag Race.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We might find some feminist victory in the positioning of men as the near-naked objects on display, but there is also a suggestion that the queens are more likely to desire these particular masculine figures than they are each other.</p>
<p>In other words, the queens are positioned as effeminate men who desire the masculine, rather than as queer individuals whose sexual desires may well include their femme peers.</p>
<h2>Ru’s legacy</h2>
<p>RuPaul has been the world’s most famous drag queen since his song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw9LOrHU8JI">Supermodel (You Better Work)</a> became an unlikely global hit in 1993. After beginning his career in a 1980s subculture of parties, performance and punk, the self-described “motherfucking marketing genius” now in his fifties is a recording artist, podcaster, shoe designer, author and two-time Emmy winning TV show host.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vw9LOrHU8JI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>RuPaul labels Drag Race his “legacy” and an admirable part of his project is ensuring that queens who normally struggle to get by on tips from nightclub gigs can now make a very good living indeed. Everything on Drag Race is branded and the show’s host urges his queens to develop brands of their own. They need something to sell at merchandise stands and RuPaul’s Drag Con™ festivals.</p>
<p>Still, in Drag Race, RuPaul combines activist and capitalist purposes that don’t always fit neatly together. This season, contestant The Vixen has powerfully ignited a discussion about the impacts of racism within the gay community, the broader society and on Drag Race itself. In the words of American writer <a href="https://www.them.us/story/the-vixen-racism-drag-race">John Paul Brammer</a>, “Ru’s American ‘by your bootstraps’ ethic paired with his Buddhist passivity to earthly affairs kept him from fully engaging with The Vixen’s argument, which included a vital analysis of race.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4G2CUQdgllg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Vixen on being portrayed as an “angry black woman”</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>RuPaul has created a show that joyfully reveals queer lives with humour, wit and a political eye. Drag Race celebrates the idea of breaking gender boundaries and offers welcome representation for every sissy kid growing up with no desire to act like a proper bloke.</p>
<p>But having launched the careers of many younger queens, RuPaul and his show are now confronted with how to adapt to, represent or confront new ideas about race and gender the kids are bringing to his show.</p>
<p>Drag Race hasn’t yet worked out what to do if the man in the dress reveals she has always been a woman; or is both male and female; or doesn’t have a gender at all. For now, in the Drag Race world, once the frock comes off and the make-up remover is applied, everything returns to “normal”.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>RuPaul’s Drag Race streams in Australia on Stan.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott McKinnon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>RuPaul’s Drag Race, now in its tenth season, is an extraordinary success. But the show valorises a specific form of masculinity and is still grappling with a rapidly changing discourse around gender.Scott McKinnon, Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797472017-07-17T20:05:13Z2017-07-17T20:05:13ZStrapped, packed and taking the stage: Australia’s new drag kings<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176501/original/file-20170702-8514-1b657h4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some drag kings draw on facial hair to perform masculinity. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Sneakers</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Those with only a passing interest in gay culture will no doubt have heard of drag queens, aided by the meteoric rise of US reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race, which recently finished its ninth season. But perhaps fewer have heard of their corollary, drag kings. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=972&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177803/original/file-20170712-13828-1sf5vjd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1222&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drag kings often get political.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fancy Piece</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A “drag queen” refers to a man, usually gay, dressed as a woman for the purposes of entertainment. Likewise a “drag king” can be loosely described as an individual (usually a woman, but also people who identify as other genders) who consciously performs masculinity.</p>
<p>Drag kings became a significant part of lesbian and queer women’s lives globally from the late 1980s. Events featuring drag king performances were an important part of queer culture: the performances often were seen as ways to explore gender and sexuality, and they commonly took place in gay- and lesbian-friendly venues. This meant that drag king events were often associated with “safe spaces” and formed the basis of thriving social scenes. </p>
<p>In recent years drag king performances globally have declined in popularity and were in danger of fading from our cultural view. The reasons behind this are many, including the fact that the debate around gender is evolving, and drag is seen by some as increasingly problematic. But recently, there’s been a resurgence of more inclusive forms of drag culture in Australia, and new kings are taking the stage. </p>
<h2>Games of thrones</h2>
<p>While both performance styles come under the umbrella term of “drag”, kings and queens have different origins and have evolved in different ways. The word “drag” most like comes from 19th century theatrical cross-dressing, and is now commonly associated with gay or camp comedy.</p>
<p>Traditionally, drag queens are seen as parodying the characteristics associated with women. We immediately think of drag queens with big hair and overdone make-up, and body language that conforms to stereotypical “female” behaviour (though not all drag queens do perform this type of exaggerated femininity). This in effect draws attention to what the 18th century French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau referred to as the “artifice of femininity”, or the excessive ornamentation and self-display of women. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177799/original/file-20170712-14421-1ttvgpp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=649&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fancy Piece ‘packs’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leo deLush</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Performing masculinity, as drag kings do, is arguably more difficult. Masculinity is perceived as more natural or ingrained than femininity, so drag kings can’t simply dress up but have to rely on other performance techniques.</p>
<p>Some drag kings “strap and pack” (binding their breasts to give the appearance of a flat chest and wearing a dildo or other similarly shaped object to give the impression of male genitalia). Others draw on or glue hair to indicate facial growth, manly eyebrows or chest hair.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177801/original/file-20170712-14488-xo3o8r.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Performer Leo DeLush.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Debbie Draper</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some drag kings are known for their sexy, smooth dancing style, some for their realistic impressions of masculine walk, posture and gesture, and yet others for their comic renditions. Some drag kings provide for more politically-motivated critique in their performance, while others just want to get up on stage and have a good time. </p>
<p>Just as drag queens are associated with gay culture, drag kings are associated with lesbians, but not all performers are gay or lesbian. Likewise, king performers see themselves as distinct from other male impersonators, such as British music hall star, <a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/v/vesta-tilley/">Vesta Tilley</a>, lesbians who dress or act in “butch” manner, and other reasons women might try to pass as men. Though, in practice these distinctions are more difficult to make.</p>
<p>Drag queens have achieved a ubiquitous presence at pride festivals and as a form of entertainment in theatre, music and movie industries for both gay and straight audiences - consider the ongoing appeal of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/stage/melbourne-stage/priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-musical-to-return-to-australian-stages-a-decade-after-premiere-20170626-gwylcb.html">Priscilla, Queen of the Desert</a>. Drag kings haven’t yet made it into the mainstream, and remain somewhat of a subcultural phenomenon.</p>
<h2>Golden age</h2>
<p>Globally, drag king culture took root almost simultaneously from the 1990s onwards in lesbian nights, bars and clubs in major cities. Many attribute the origins of a distinctive drag king scene in Australia to performer D-Vinyl’s earlier ground-breaking shows from 1999 and the drag king competition, DKSY, held between 1999 and 2000 where experimental drag artists, <a href="http://scanlines.net/person/kingpins">The Kingpins</a>, performed. </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/28850610" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>In 2002, drag king legend <a href="http://www.sexygalexy.com">Sexy Galexy</a> created a weekly event called Kingki Kingdom (renamed Queer Central in 2005) that quickly became an institution within Sydney’s lesbian social circuit. For over a decade, many of Australia’s drag king royalty mounted the stage at such events, including Melbourne-based <a href="https://www.facebook.com/roccodamore.dragking/">Rocco D'Amore</a>, burlesque performer Lillian Starr as drag king <a href="https://www.facebook.com/lillian.starr">John Dark</a>, queer performance duo <a href="https://www.facebook.com/fancypieceproductions">Fancy Piece</a>, and debonair gender illusionist <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Jayvante-Swing-119938238140466">Jayvante Swing</a>. Local drag king scenes developed in other capital cities within Australia owing to the passion and commitment of a large and rotating cast of amateur and professional performers, producers and promoters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177800/original/file-20170712-3087-9uek2q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hans Sparrow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ann-Marie Calilhanna</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the drag king has faded from the thriving scenes he supported in Australia in the <a href="https://clockinoff.com/2017/06/11/fading-out-sydneys-drag-kings/">first decade of the 2000s</a>. It’s difficult to pinpoint a single explanation or common source behind the scene’s demise, though it is clear that a number of factors are at work. </p>
<p><a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/death-of-the-gayborhood-queer-aging-in-the-time-of-gentrification">Gentrification</a>, and the economic instability of <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/20/why_do_lesbian_spaces_have_such_a_hard_time_staying_in_business.html">commercial ventures for women</a>, has seen a number of formerly iconic <a href="https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/opinion/sunday/i-want-my-lesbian-bars-back.html">lesbian clubs and bars close worldwide</a> or be co-opted into <a href="http://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/the-death-of-australias-lesbian-party-culture?utm_source=vicefbanz">mainstream party scenes</a>. </p>
<p>There are also important questions about <a href="http://www.wweek.com/culture/2016/11/30/who-crushed-the-lesbian-bars-a-new-minefield-of-sexual-politics/">language and identity</a>. For example, the word “queer” is increasingly replacing the word “lesbian, as it is seen as <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/20/why_curve_lesbian_magazine_will_not_drop_the_l_word_from_its_tagline.html">more inclusive</a> to other forms of female desire. Drag also sits uneasily with the emerging presence of <a href="http://heapsgay.com/the-complex-conflict-between-drag-culture-and-trans-women/">trans and gender-diverse people</a>, which may conflict with the performance of gender for comedy. </p>
<p>It may also simply be that those who attended drag king performances a decade ago are now of an age where going out mid-week to late night events has lost its appeal. </p>
<h2>New kings</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177807/original/file-20170712-14428-dreyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1182&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sexy Galexy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographer Belinda Roland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But there’s recently been a resurgence in drag king culture. New events have started in <a href="http://heapsgay.com/">Sydney</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ladydragmelbourne/">Melbourne</a>. Sydney Heaps Gay organiser Kat Dopper feels there was a demand from younger queer women for a specific platform to try out drag. In Melbourne, well-known drag performer <a href="http://www.facebook.com/sexygalexydragking/">Lexi Leigh</a> bills <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ladydragmelbourne/">Lady Drag</a> as "drag disco” that celebrates a diversifying drag community. </p>
<p>Combining drag queens and kings, Leigh has been a vocal advocate for evolving drag performance art. Even <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-05/darwin-bio-queen-prawn-cracker-spice-emerges/7901406?WT.ac=statenews_nt">Darwin</a> has seen an emerging bio-queen scene —where people who identify as female and “biological women” perform as drag queens — in its established drag culture.</p>
<p>Drag culture more generally seems to be becoming more experimental and inclusive. It’s not just <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_au/article/meet-5-drag-kings-challenging-gender-expectations">drag kings who must change with the times</a>. Drag queen culture is experimenting with <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/drag-queen-series-rupaul-drag-race-20-photos-style-clothes-fashion-fernando-cysneiros-experiment-a7584316.html">new forms</a> that don’t rely on <a href="https://theestablishment.co/why-faux-queens-deserve-a-place-in-drag-culture-ab0d6204734c">rigid gender identification and expression</a>. Even drag’s more mainstream counterparts are responding to this call: RuPaul’s Drag Race’s ninth season marked the first time an openly trans woman performed as a drag queen contestant.</p>
<p>The success of these new events in Australia perhaps heralds a more permanent king fixture on the party scene. In becoming more inclusive, Australia may soon see a return of the king.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79747/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerryn Drysdale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Drags kings have recently been declining in popularity, partly due to the evolving debate around gender and identity. But now a new and more inclusive drag culture is taking the stage.Kerryn Drysdale, Research associate, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/696832016-12-16T15:11:08Z2016-12-16T15:11:08ZA brief history of the pantomime – and why it’s about so much more than ‘blokes in dresses’<p>It’s the time of year when drag collides with family entertainment. Yes, the British pantomime season is upon us, complete with all its bizarre conventions and creative casting. Among the ex-soap stars, reality TV veterans and retired sporting heroes will be a small band of middle-aged men who have cornered the market in that pantomime staple, the Dame. They will portray grotesque caricatures of women and deliver lines filled with sexual innuendo – all for the amusement of children (and, sometimes, their parents).</p>
<p>In her <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3925808/Having-male-panto-dame-sexist-claims-Caroline-Quentin-Christopher-Biggins-says-Oh-no-isn-t.html">latest Prima magazine column</a>, actress Caroline Quentin has questioned this practice. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I wonder why, in progressive 2016, we still like to see men dress in drag for entertainment… Is it appropriate, in this age of inclusion, for middle-age women to be ridiculed by blokes in skirts and too much make-up? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>A reasonable question to ask, though one whose implications might not be welcomed on the drag circuit – where blokes putting on skirts is rather the point. And besides, the “tradition” of the pantomime dame is about much more than just cross-dressing. </p>
<h2>‘Oh no he didn’t’</h2>
<p>The role came about in the early 19th century, developing from the “travesti” tradition of theatrical cross-dressing. Early masters (mistresses) of the role, included <a href="http://www.its-behind-you.com/danlenonotes.html">Dan Leno</a> who, like many of his successors, came more from a music-hall tradition, rather than a dramatic one.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=655&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149096/original/image-20161207-18046-54l6rd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=823&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell in Babes in the Wood, 1897, at the Drury Lane Theatre.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24589369">Photographer unknown</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By Leno’s time, pantomime –in one form or another – had already been established for at least a century – first as a performance known as a “harlequinade” using stock characters drawn from the Italian “commedia dell’arte” <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/comm/hd_comm.htm">a tradition of masked, slapstick comedy</a>. These performances were wordless, as the theatres where they were played were unlicensed to stage spoken drama. And it is this silence that put the “mime” into “pantomime”. </p>
<p>Of course, over the years some conventions of the traditional pantomime have faded – such as the casting of the “principal boy as a girl” – having proved about as useful as a pantomime horse.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=855&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149095/original/image-20161207-18063-1xtz0pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1074&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Christmas Pantomime colour lithograph bookcover, 1890, showing the harlequinade characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1244537">Wetman on en.wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This faded tradition came about in part because of the novelty that came from <a href="https://restorationtheater.wordpress.com/category/articles/">seeing the legs of a girl in tights</a> – a “breeches” role – rather than in the modest skirts that women were normally restricted to at the time. And as times have changed – with people more used to the sight of legs – the principal boy became less relevant to a world of panto. Modern conventions of pantomime, such as the inclusion of fairy tales, audience participation and comic use of cross-gender casting have all become staple parts of what many see as the traditional family panto. </p>
<h2>‘Oh yes he did’</h2>
<p>But while Quentin may well be right when she says the casting of a cross-dressing pantomime dame is less relevant in a world that has begun to accept that women can be funny in their own right, the idea of cross-dressing and transgressive gender portrayals on stage are much longer traditions – as old as theatre itself.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149097/original/image-20161207-18042-1m0a9ry.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1668&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Playbill of an English circus and pantomime performance, 1803.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4266730">Public Domain</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the ancient Greeks, through to Shakespeare and into the 17th century, <a href="http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-women.html">men or boys played all the female roles</a>. And until today, drag has remained a staple of comedy – from burlesque to mainstream entertainment. </p>
<p>While most of that has seen men dressing as women, the tradition of the drag king – <a href="http://www.glbtqarchive.com/arts/drag_kings_A.pdf">women dressed as men</a> – also dates back to the 18th century and was commonplace at the time in music halls. This has been a key component of the contemporary burlesque revival, which has seen drag king groups formed and performing across the UK.</p>
<p>Ultimately, theatre has always been a space where gender roles and sexual identity are questioned, mocked or unsettled –the stage offers a safe space to view fluid gender identities. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/149098/original/image-20161207-18063-f7rac9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Publicity photograph of Vesta Tilley as a man, late 19th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Victoria and Albert Museum, London</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In contemporary theatre, important progress is being made in casting for women. That most traditional of Christmas shows, <a href="https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/peter-pan">Peter Pan</a> has transferred from Bristol Old Vic to the National Theatre in London. Director Sally Cookson presides over a cast with a male Peter Pan (no breeches casting here), a male Tinkerbell and a female Hook. And, just down the road at The Old Vic theatre, Glenda Jackson has achieved a triumphant return to the stage as <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37876137">King Lear</a>. </p>
<p>So perhaps the future casting possibilities for women are not quite as bleak as they once were. And with an increase in “gender-blind” casting, it might well mean that when it comes to sexism on stage: “It’s behind you!”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Ward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Claims have been made that having a male panto dame in this day and age is sexist (Oh no it isn’t!)Nigel Ward, Deputy Head of Department and Course Leader for Perfoming Arts, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/281912014-06-20T07:13:51Z2014-06-20T07:13:51ZThanking Carlotta – a pioneer for sex and gender diversity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51752/original/k4rb37yw-1403245181.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eamon Farren as Ava and Jessica Marais as Carlotta.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Simon Cardwell. ABC</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2005 the road film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407265/">Transamerica</a>, directed by Duncan Tucker was released. It was a controversial film for its time simply for telling a trans story on the big screen. A complex transsexual character featured at the centre of the story rather than providing a titillating shimmer at the periphery. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51753/original/x4jn3jy4-1403245618.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carol Byron/ Carlotta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/ Peter Carrette</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005031/">Felicity Huffman</a>’s casting as pre-op transsexual woman Bree was not at all controversial then by any means. Huffman was not hailed by commentators as heroic, taking the role on was not deemed “risky” as it is for hetero-identified male actors portraying gay characters on screen. Instead Huffman was praised for an empathetic and tactful performance. In fact, she was praised for bringing the qualities of her gender to the performance, qualities that made that portrayal possible.</p>
<p>I recall sitting in the movie theatre afterwards wondering how long it would be until we began to see trans actors playing trans characters. Why in 2005 was that such a risky proposition, a dangerous idea? The first of these questions now seems hopelessly naïve. </p>
<p>And now, to 2014. </p>
<p>Last night the telemovie <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/programs/carlotta/">Carlotta</a> screened on ABC 1. The film is based on the life of Carol Byron, better known as gender illusionist and lead performer at Les Girls nightclub for over two decades, Carlotta. The film documents an important slice of local history, of Sydney’s bohemia during the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s. </p>
<p>How does the film feed into popular discourses and understandings about gender and sexuality? What kinds of conversations does it invite now that sex and gender diversity issues are increasing on the agenda?</p>
<h2>Who gets to play Carlotta in 2014?</h2>
<p>Today it is the casting of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2847302/">Jessica Marais</a> as Carlotta that is attracting controversy.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51695/original/jdyxtwnd-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jessica Marais as Carlotta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The question being asked is why a (female) woman rather than a trans woman is playing the lead. Well, in short Carol/Carlotta, identifies as a woman, not a trans woman. She is said to be one of the few Les Girls performers to have undergone sex reassignment surgery, as it was then known. Herein lies the first clue and important context for Marais’ casting. </p>
<p>In the film Carlotta’s determination to be the woman she knew herself to be is emphasised by counterpoint with her dear friend Ava’s uncertainty and fear of “vag surgery”, a still relatively experimental procedure in those days and certainly not for the fainthearted. Herein lies the second clue.</p>
<h2>The new trans activism</h2>
<p>The last decade and a half has seen a flourishing of trans activism internationally together with the emergence of the field of transgender studies. </p>
<p>In an academic context the development and penetration of queer theory propelled a raft of transgender scholarship. In its contemporary form transactivism is part of a broader movement for social and legal recognition of sex and gender diverse people albeit one with a twist.</p>
<p>Unlike most of the social movements of the past half century, this latest one confounds some of the hallmarks of identity politics. That is evidenced by the fact that its constituents traverse gender identity and sexuality categories. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51696/original/3ptrmhkw-1403223876.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Cardwell, ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The success of any social movement can be measured by the degree to which its goals and aspirations become embedded in the everyday, woven into the social fabric of a culture or society. In other words, shifts can be tracked by the extent to which a phenomena becomes normalised. Changes to passport rules in 2011 and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/norries-gender-win-brings-us-closer-to-knowing-who-we-are-25250">recent High Court ruling in the case of Norrie</a> suggest the process is well underway. </p>
<p>Carlotta reminds us that its been a long time in the making. Social change is rarely abrupt in the making. </p>
<p>To return to the controversy. Following sex reassignment surgery Carlotta is no longer transsexual she is a woman – who was once a boy. This is the premise upon which director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0485904/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1">Samantha Lang</a> based her film. Under these terms, there is in fact nothing very provocative about casting an actor who is a woman; in fact it makes sense.</p>
<p>In an ideal world roles would go to the best person for the job, irrespective of gender or sexuality. That requires an acting pool that reflects the sex and gender diversity evident out in the “real world” and so would include some kind of critical mass of actors who were trans and actors who were intersex for example.</p>
<h2>Shifting gender norms</h2>
<p>But does it work to shore up gender norms – or reproduce normative gender – in its portrayal of gender difference? Perhaps not when one considers that the role requires, in fact demands, Marais undertake a series of gender illusions in order to portray Richard, Carol and Carlotta. </p>
<p>Lang has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/thelist/2014-06-13/5478684">described</a> the work as having a “twist worthy of Shakespeare”. A woman plays a boy who becomes a transsexual and then a woman who performs on a stage with transsexuals and drag artists (who are played by contemporary Sydney drag artists). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51699/original/g5v4jp54-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eamon Farren as Ava and Jessica Marais as Carlotta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Simon Cardwell, ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the end of the day Carol Byron/Carlotta sought recognition as a woman, the kind of recognition that speaks quite literally to <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/beauvoir/">Simone de Beauvoir</a>’s observation that one is not born a woman but becomes one. Of course it wasn’t just mainstream society that has historically taken issue with such demands, radical feminists have been fierce contestants of transwomen’s claims to womanhood.</p>
<p>Popular culture provides a barometer through which to gauge the successes of social movements. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=860&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/51698/original/fq6s9rxp-1403223903.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1081&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eamon Farren as Ava, Jessica Marais as Carlotta and Andrew Lees as Peggy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABC</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The world of entertainment provides a vehicle for bringing all sorts of trangressive phenomenon into visibility. At the same time it provides a safe context for those swimming in the mainstream to explore their curiosities, and indulge their fantasies at arms length thus containing their fears. </p>
<p>Among Carlotta’s list of groundbreaking achievements is her casting as a transwoman in the popular Australian “adult” soap opera <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068114/">Number 96</a>, back in the 1970s. </p>
<p>For those who preferred to walk a little closer to the wild side of Sydney’s bohemian enclaves during the 1960s and 1970s, Les Girls provided well-heeled hetero couples an opportunity to consume gender variance at relatively close distance. The venue and its stars were popular precisely because of their shock value and transgressive nature.</p>
<p>The fact that sex- and gender-diverse people are increasingly visible in popular culture and present in the public imagination is due in no small part to pioneering figures such as Carlotta who broke new ground through refusing to apologise for their particular difference. </p>
<p>Carlotta is a pioneer, an elder, and an ambassador for sex and gender diversity in Australia. It is thanks to Carlotta that we are able to have some of the kinds of conversations about gender that we have today. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28191/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Germon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In 2005 the road film Transamerica, directed by Duncan Tucker was released. It was a controversial film for its time simply for telling a trans story on the big screen. A complex transsexual character…Jennifer Germon, Lecturer in Gender Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.