What a Drag!

Men dressing as parodies of women: fun or offensive?

Drag Queens

As a young lesbian back in the 1980s I would occasionally enjoy the odd drag act at a gay club; we could dress up and behave outrageously if we felt like it. Rejected by mainstream society, we formed our own cultures. Some lesbians would dress up in men's suits (sometimes ironically, sometimes not) and many gay men would exaggerate their camp tendencies by, for instance, calling each other “she” and making up female names for their friends.

Drag acts reflected this gentle jibe at heterosexual society, where we subverted everything considered ‘normal’ about gender and had great fun doing so.

The occasional exception aside, these acts were not offensive to women, but clearly parodied strong, forceful, working-class women – often inspired by real-life characters such as the performer’s older female relative. In that context, where such a vibrant feminist movement sat alongside gay liberation campaigns, we would be sure to pick up on any homophobic stereotypes or misogynistic representations. In those days, gay men would, in response to the usual questions (“What are you, a boy or a girl?”), often use drag to make a bold statement about not conforming to macho stereotypes.

Back then, most drag was good, clean fun as well as edgy and challenging to heterosexuals and conformists.

Today, however, drag is part of porn culture and its messages are deeply misogynistic and regressive. Through drag, we are presented with the very clear message that women are obsolete when it comes to entertainment – especially within LGBT culture. Men make better women than women do. Feminists who dare to criticise this culture are labelled homophobic – as though drag itself were a sexual identity, rather than a deeply offensive parody of femaleness.

Drag is certainly big news at the moment. The first “Drag Queen Story Hour” events were in San Francisco in 2015. Such events are advertised as aiming to “inspire a love of reading, while teaching deeper lessons on diversity, self-love and an appreciation of others.” Many liberals seem to have bought this line, ignoring any concerns brought to the table by left-wing feminists and lesbians such as myself. The Guardian ran a piece by a male journalist who had taken his three-year-old to one such performance, saying he did so to “offer her the chance to learn something about difference and respect along the way.”

Respect is actually the last thing a child will learn at these events. They will see men mimic women in the most misogynistic fashion, and all it will teach them about gay culture is that some gays see women as gross misrepresentations.

Some bigots and homophobes have indeed capitalised on the disquiet about Drag Queen Story Hour being hypersexualised and misogynistic by turning up at events and accusing performers of being “paedophiles” and “groomers” – and feminists such as myself are being lumped in with these protesters. Yet our concerns are very different; they are rooted in the effects on kids of being fed offensive stereotypes that are based on pornographic imagery.

As a lesbian and long-time campaigner for gay rights, of course I find it offensive and troubling that accusations of “paedophile” are bandied about by protesters during drag performances. Supporters of Drag Queen Story Hour say that this is based entirely on dangerous tropes about gay men being sexual predators and unsafe to be around children. It is highly unlikely that children would be sexually harmed by drag performers in libraries, and these are not the safeguarding issues that feminists are speaking about. Children are, however, being fed dangerous messages about gay men, women, and sexuality.

Drag queens are increasingly visible across mainstream media. For example, Samsung used a drag queen to advertise its latest product, in a video that depicted a Muslim mother expressing support for her “drag queen” son. Why not her gay son without the drag? Since we don’t have acceptance of lesbian or gay offspring within many sections of society, it is beyond me why “drag” has come to denote “gay”. Samsung is based in Singapore, where same-sex activity between males is illegal – even when consensual and in private.

There is also a drag queen character in the popular soap opera EastEnders. According to Matthew Morrison, who plays Tara Misu, this character showcases “the creative art of drag” to viewers, and is a positive representation of the “LGBTQIA+ community”.

“It's important for people to feel reflected on screen,” says Morrison. How about including some well-rounded representations of lesbians and gay men, before leapfrogging into drag? Lesbians in soap operas remain few and far between, but now it would seem that drag queens on our screens outnumber any other representation of gender-non-conforming individuals. Drag is totally conformist, relying on sexist stereotypes of how women “should” dress and behave.

The idea that drag queens are representative of the lesbian and gay community is every bit as ridiculous as suggesting that Beryl Reid's character (a sadist sexual predator with a penchant for bowler hats) in “The Killing of Sister George” is a positive role model for lesbians.

Drag queens have even popped up in my favourite food programme (Celebrity MasterChef) in the guise of Kitty Scott-Claus. Kitty was a runner-up in Ru Paul's Drag Race UK.

Kitty completed the task wearing a full face of make-up and towering high heels – and for some reason, viewers thought this was something to celebrate. Yet women in the 1950s, under domestic and sexual servitude, were often expected to do exactly that. This is no cause for celebration – unless of course you are a man who thinks this is all a bit of a lark.

The history of drag is rooted in women's oppression. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, women were not allowed to perform on stage in theatres. The church commanded that only men could perform in public, and where Shakespeare had written female roles into a play, a couple of the men in the cast would dress as women. This is how it began – because women were confined to the home, whereas men were able to perform in public. Not a great legacy, in my opinion.

I don't dislike drag per se. It can occasionally have its place. I remain a big fan of Lily Savage, whose characterisation of an older, working-class northern woman was a treat. In my view, there was no misogyny in that depiction, and it was not based on a pornified parody of femaleness.

In comparison with those available to men, there are still relatively few decent roles for women on TV, in film and in the theatre – yet it currently seems that men make the best women.

Drag has even invaded my local pub – a gorgeous place ten minute’s walk from my house, which now hosts “drag queen bingo”. One of the drag acts is Cherry Liquor, described as “camp, ridiculous, and hilarious”. “Lock up your men cos she sucks better than any Dyson, but don't get to close cos she will glaze you like a donut,” reads the description of the act, concluding with, “Everyone is welcome into our home and we offer a zero tolerance to any sort of behaviour that may make people feel uncomfortable.”

As a feminist I feel very uncomfortable with this depiction of womanhood, which seems to me to be straight out of a porn movie.

I am not without humour, and can still find some drag acts funny, despite the current tendency to emphasise the sexual as opposed to the hilarity. Take Janet District Council, a drag queen who resides in Margate. Resplendent in massive shoulder pads, bright blue eyeshadow and what has to be the best drag name in a long time (a riff on Thanet District Council in case you missed it), Janet seems to be channelling Kenny Everett, rather than a sex doll.

Let me tell you what I would like to see on my TV screen, and in wider society. Representations of gender nonconforming men and women, whether they are gay or straight. Camp gay men, butch lesbians, and everything in between. Women who do not adhere to sexist stereotypes, and reject high heels and make-up. I want children to grow up learning that they can be whoever they want to be, and dress as they choose. I don't want sexualised imagery (corsets, comedy-sized breasts, and make-up you have to put on with a trowel) being peddled to kids. That look is not liberating for anyone, and were it not for misogynistic and outdated sexist attitudes as to how "real" women should look, drag queens would not exist.

Although I am appalled by some of the bigotry surrounding Drag Queen Story Hour that doesn't mean I am not allowed my own feminist critique of it. The performers parody lap dancers and strippers, sending a dangerous message to young people. Our children should be allowed to grow up in a world free of sexual exploitation and demeaning representations of women.

The normalisation and creeping respectability of drag is representative of the massive misogynistic backlash against feminism that is currently under way. Far from “celebrating diversity”, what we are seeing is adult men mocking a version of extreme femininity that only exists in a sexist world. Much drag culture today is hypersexualised, mimics strippers and presents a version of “women” that is no more than a male fantasy.

Earlier this year, footage from a Drag Queen Story Hour event in the US showed children handing out dollar bills to drag queens parading along a catwalk that was topped with a neon sign reading “It’s not gonna lick itself”. Similar things have happened in the UK: one local authority last year launched an investigation after a performer at a children’s event held at a library in east London was photographed wearing a rainbow monkey suit with exposed fake nipples, buttocks and penis.

Such depictions don’t do women – or the gay community – any good. And they certainly don’t help children grow up to respect women.