Why is drag so popular now?

[Nothingcomesforfree]

Genuine question. I have seen lots of posts on a Facebook this morning about attending some drag queen event. Mostly women and several bringing their teens ( both sexes)

It seems really popular but I have no idea why or what people going get out of it? Is it comedic or fashion or something else.

Inform yourselves people

Inform yourselves people

Because we disagree with you, we're uninformed?

And yes, drag queens do mock women. Their very appearance mocks women. Who are they - or any man - to define female beauty then 'tear it apart'? And how are they doing that anyway, by looking like grotesque parodies of women?

I don't like drag. I think it's a horrible caricature of women. Is that OK? I've seen drag, all over the tv and in my local library and back in the day at Madame JoJos. I didn't like it then, but plenty of my female friends were desperate to be liked by the bitchy queens so they loved it allegedly

To add another angle/complication to this, there are also now "bio queens" - women who dress and perform in the drag queen style. Not even sure what to think about that! Appropriation or reclaimation or harmless fun or something else?!

". I've seen more drag queens mocking gay men, and even more mocking straight men,"
They sound adorable.

Because a woman mocking a gay man would be absolutely fine and dandy?

i do love the exclamation that because they no longer refer to women as fish it has somehow become an 'art form'.

In fact the majority of queens I've seen perform talk about how inspired by women they are and how much they love women and their drag is a tribute to that.

Wanna buy some magic beans? As if you believe that you'll believe anything.

So many queens have taken 'fish' out of their vocabulary recently, because it is offensive to women which is the opposite of what they're trying to achieve.

But if they are so in awe of women and are trying so desperately to celebrate us, why was 'fish' ever a thing in the first place?

Who are they - or any man - to define female beauty then 'tear it apart'?

Yes, exactly.

Drag is about a male defined view of femininity which is then exaggerated for entertainment.

Think about that happening with any other two classes of people with the history that the classes of males and females have, and think about how offensive that would be.

I don't know what fish is, other than the obvious, or the lead singer of marilion

Because that’s how us women talk all the time isn’t it? When we aren’t hoiking our pneumatic bosoms, scratching each other’s eyes out and bitching about our unfortunately less-glam sisters. No?

Catching up

Nice steteotyping re Essex.

Seems some are v keen on stereotypes what a surprise.

I work with loads of women from Essex they look nothing like drag Queens, yes even when done up for a night out. They look like attractive women who are dressing up in the prevailing idea of what 'nice' looks like for a woman.

This idea that every woman who dons a short skirt, styled hair and false eyelashes is deliberately being sexually provocative, or trying to send specific sexual messages etc is really damaging for women and girls and leads to all sorts of awfulness. Most women and girls who dress up for a night out are simply trying to fit in with their peers/ look fashionable / 'nice' etc. Not send explicit messages about sexual availability.

Jeez.

'
So many queens have taken 'fish' out of their vocabulary recently'

That's big of them.

Not seeing many women on this thread who reckon drag is a celebration of their femininity, to be honest. And frankly, I don’t need a bloke in a frock celebrating anything for me, thanks all the same.

And if it’s so important to create a space to celebrate differences, why do they limit themselves to 2 hours in a cabaret club, safe in the knowledge they can take off their costume and stop giving a fuck about “celebrating differences” in the time it takes to stop for a kebab on the way home?

And whilst we are at it: I give you Mrs Brown from Mrs Brown’s Boys. Why didn’t they cast an actual pension age woman for that role, I wonder?

SPB

Women are called fish because its what vaginas smell of (apparently)
I believe a drag queen who could get away with being a female done up in the same way, would be described as fishy (as a complimet)

No misogyny to see here at all.

You’ve jumped to that conclusion by yourself.I used people from Essex as an example of those that dress up with makeup, hair and low tops, you’ve decided this means I’m saying they look like drag queens. How strange. As for the second bit of your paragraph, again who said that? This is a really weird post.
I see drag as more of a pardody of gender than women anyway. And if a woman wanted to dress up similar to a drag queen, she can. If you find it offensive then ok then, sorry for you.

I've seen more drag queens mocking gay men, and even more mocking straight men, than I've ever seen mocking women

And that's OK how? Why is ridiculing anyone for their gender/sexuality acceptable if a man in a dress is doing it? If I went into work tomorrow and took the piss out of my gay colleagues because of their sexuality I'd be dismissed and quite rightly. How does dressing like a vile approximation of a 'woman' give you a free pass to do so?

Molto ‘They’ didn’t cast a woman to play Mrs. Brown because it’s the creation of Brendan O’Carroll. He had been playing the character for years before the show was picked up for TV.

Mrs Browns offensive to women now?!
Bloody hell.
So it's not drag queens at all and the hyper sexualization that's the problem for some, it's just men should never dress like women cos they're all just mocking women.
Ookay. That's a paranoid way of thinking in my opinion.

What was this comment, in the context of the thread, and the posts that lead up to it, supposed to mean then?

'Tons of women dress up, have you never been on a night out in Essex '

Read my post just before that one. You shouldn’t take things out of context. I’m even more confused now. I wouldn’t call Mrs brown overly sexualised

I've not watched mrs brown cos it looks shit. Have caught 5 mins here and there which didn't sway my opinion.

When it came in I said wtf dh are we back in the fucking 70s or something a man dressed as a woman so funny hahaha

Unless it has a lot of nuance that isn't apparent from the ads and catching a few mins here and there and it's actually a searing comment on sex inequality and entrenched gender roles in a patriarchal society, which would surprise me but anything is possible.

In other news I see bullseye reruns are on and had the sweeny in the background earlier. So, yes the 70s / 80s are back, shitty 'light entertainment' and all.

Can't wait for the 2000s benny Hill remodelling.

I haven't mentioned Mrs brown until after you say I called it over sexualised?

Are you getting posters mixed up.

And no, Essex women do not look like drag Queens. They look like women who are done up in the prevailing fashions. Drag Queens are dressed as a parody of women glammed up. Then they give themselves highly sexualised names and bitchy personad. It's not flattering to women, from Essex or otherwise.

It's not complicated.

A tuppence is slang for a vagina / vulva isn't it?

Tuppence Penny?

Is that name in tribute to the thread?

I mention Mrs Brown’s Boys because what do you think the chances of a woman of an appropriate age getting a show like Mrs Brown’s Boys made is? Either it’s funny, in and of itself, so cast a woman, or it’s funny because it’s a bloke sending up a woman. It’s whole USP is built upon a parody of a woman. Totes hilarious!