Do drag queens consider themselves feminists? Well, not really.
In a video shot at the Dupont High Heel Race by Amanda Hess over at TBD, costume-bedecked contestants answered the question ‘are you a feminist?’ with anything from “Yes, I carry power tools and drive a Subaru” to “I’m a Barbie, isn’t that enough?” There were also many who simply didn’t know the meaning of the word “feminist.”
Hess asserts,
You would think that these men would be natural feminists. They are intimately aware of the performance of femininity; their gimmick is based upon societal discomfort with gender nonconformity; they are forced to perform absurd tasks in ridiculous footwear … but an alarming number of men who dress in women’s clothing do not have an accompanying interest in women’s rights.
I am a feminist and lesbian, who has difficulty with the concept of drag queens. I have rarely seen one who projects positive images of femaleness, rather than the hyper stylized, over-the-top worst of female traits brought on by our oppression. They are not unlike the white minstrels who used to paint their faces black, shuck n jive, eat watermelons, and faint at the image of ghosts. They are not the same as transgendered persons who seek to become their true selves. I’ve never seen a drag queen support women or women’s causes (they won’t even stand on the side… Read more »
How disheartening 🙁
I’m a drag queen and also a sex positive feminist, my drag is an extension of my feminism. After all what is drag but the challenging of patricarchal norms of cissexist gender roles? x