Drag Queen on Strictly

Hello enabler, misogyny is misogyny, whether it is 'camp' or 'threatrical' or not. It makes NO DIFFERENCE. It's still misogyny. And if you can't see how womanface is EXACTLY like blackface, you have issues recognising reality and how programmed and desensitised you are.

Strictly has had same sex partnerships in the last few years: Nicola and Katya, John and Johannes, Jayde and Karen, Richie and Gio, Layton and Nikita.
They did not have one last year.
Chris is gay. Whether you like it or not, drag is part of the gay subculture for some.
He isn't stealing someone's place.
He is representing for the gay community.
We have 15 couples.
Hopefully 7 women, 7 men and then Chris, who I think may dance with JoJo or Carlos, both of whom are proud to be out on a mainstream show.

La Voix is also bloody talented - more a female impersonator of the Danny La Rue/Dame Edna/Lily Savage style. They can do Shirley Bassey or Lisa Minelli and have a brilliant voice - reached the semis of BGT a few years ago.

I am happy to see Chris dance both in and out of drag. I suspect he will dance in drag for the main and a couple of routines as himself.

You don't need to watch but don't do the guy down just because you are not acquainted with his work or talent.

Hello, outraged denizens of Mumsnet. Strictly Come Dancing is a highly theatrical, camp, TV dance competition. Drag artists are highly theatrical, camp, gay men (but not always gay men) who dress up as parodies of women in order to entertain their audience.

Some people hate clowns. Some hate poetry and especially "performance poetry". And the outraged denizens of mumsnet hate anybody who disagrees with them. They are outraged, therefore they are right (username "ImoutragedthereforeIwin".)

I find it offensive (and annoying) when people make comparisons and parallels between blackface and womanface. They are completely different areas of disguise. So called "womanface" is about pretending to be a woman in everyday life. It's not confined to the theatre or to any other form of entertainment. "Blackface" is a highly discredited theatrical device making fun of black and brown people.

Theatre has been censored on and off for hundreds of years. Not wanting to see a drag performer performing in a dance competition full of sequins and high heels and make up and wig and cleavages and masculine stereotypes is fine - it's a theatrical show, not for everyone. As for misogyny, our entire culture is steeped in misogyny. We breathe it in with our first breath and continue to absorb it as we grow. I do not think we will get rid of misogyny by insisting that a drag queen can't perform in SCD.

Theatre is often outrageous and provocative, although I don't think you can actually say that about Strictly Come Dancing. It operates between very narrow and well defined parameters.

I will admit I don't care for SCD much. If I'm going to watch something formulaic and mildly thrilling I might watch drag race instead.

I assumed that the Strictly Christmas special was warming us up for a drag artist in the forthcoming series. I'm not a fan of drag, but I expect I'll watch and be interested.

Misogyny being part of 'British culture' 'for centuries' does not make it right. 'old school drag' is just as misogynistic as current drag. It's all womanface and hateful and misogynistic and offensive. That you are so desensitised to misogyny that you don't see the issue, is the issue.

Drag has been a part of British culture for centuries and the drag artist taking part in strictly is old school drag. I don’t see an issue.

I'm just wondering if the BBC has asked any drag queens what they think of the fact that a drag queen has been chosen for SCD this year (for their news front page)?

Everyone's aim should be to find someone who loves them as much as the bbc loves a drag queen.

But find someone with better humour than shite drag humour.

So sorry I never meant to type ‘a transgender’ that was 100% a typo, and sorry if that was offensive to you. I was meant to say I can only imagine the outrage there would be if there was a trans person on strictly, only because not from just MN I’ve seen a lot of comments about the fact they are having a drag queen on strictly this year. My point is it’s about the dancing and the fun it doesn’t matter who’s on the show.

There was a drag queen (Tayce) on the Christmas special of strictly last year. I googled as I thought it’d been done before too.

As the mother of three gay children I can assure you I am neither. Also a ballroom dancer and a SCD fan. May the best dance combination win. I am not massively keen on drag but some
of the performers are talented dancers

The fawning over him on radio 2 this morning was dreadful

Yes DOI. I don't think it was as successful as they hoped.

A transgender ?
What the fuck does that even mean? That's quite an offensive term despite your attempts to sound cool.

Ah fair enough

He's 5 foot 8, short for a man, and a woman could easily be the same height.

I would be equally of concerned about the back story segment to this and how much the BBC will go down the poor trans (whatever) route and just how much they will push highlight his issues.

Maybe they should shrink the field a bit then and make it a shorter show. I'd be fine with that personally.

No one said he is a man claiming to be an actual woman. Just as Al Jolson never claimed to be an actual black man.

It's the PERFORMANCE that is the issue. It's womanface and deeply offensive.

A drag artist is not a man claiming to be an actual woman...it's a performance.

I don't see the problem.

I doubt he will do his training in drag.

Just a gay man dancing with a male partner.

So he's taking a woman's place

How do you know this? Can you share the source?

It IS the same, both are deeply offensive and MOCK their target. You obviously haven't truly thought about it.

No they are comparing womanface to homosexuality. It's not about two men or two women. It's about drag, it's about womanface. They think womanface is ok because..... two men. It's not the same and it's not ok, it's never ok.