Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder if a lot of people are still against drag ?

743 replies

INXS998 · 12/02/2020 21:41

Shows like Drag Race have become incredibly popular. I have tickets to see the live show in May, and I think drag culture is amazing. It shows how far we have come that such a show is so popular on TV, and I think it should be celebrated.
I asked some friends if they wanted to come to the show with me and they very firmly and quickly told me that they were not fans of that sort of stuff.
When I was a teenager, I used to think Drag Queens were just some middle-aged men on Canal street with a blonde wig and high heels, and I was quite intimidated and scared of them in a way. I wonder if some people still feel that way, and don't judge them for it, just curious.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
6
Balkinfly · 13/02/2020 11:52

No I wouldn't go pootle

Zurina · 13/02/2020 11:53

Threads like these always remind me that I don't know one single woman who finds Mrs. Browns Boys funny.

That's odd. In my immeduate family there are at least 4 women who find it funny - me, my gran, my mum, my little sister. Confused

AngelsSins · 13/02/2020 11:53

Pootlepootlepootle are you going to actually answer my question as to why you think it’s completely different to blackface, or do you have no answer, but will continue to try to belittle the argument anyway?

GreatAuntE320 · 13/02/2020 11:54

But it all seems to be men dressing up as women and seeking attention.
I really don't care what anyone does in private, but I am beginning to get very irritated by all the public displays of "differentness".

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 11:55

I have to say tho, despite having no issue whatsoever about drag etc. I wouldn't go to the live Drag Race show as I think it's too mainstream, the audience will be too straight, and it wouldn't be the same at all as seeing a drag queen compere in a gay club or bar or at LGBT cabaret with a load of fellow queers.

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 11:56

Threads like these always remind me that I don't know one single woman who finds Mrs. Browns Boys funny.

I know a lot of Irish people who find it absolutely hilarious... including women

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 11:57

'are you going to actually answer my question ' sometimes the question is so ridiculous or the answer so obvious that it's too tedious to get in to.
Google is your friend here, my friend.

Thelnebriati · 13/02/2020 11:57

Pootlepootlepootle Stop misquoting me. I was not talking about gay clubs, just the opposite. Everyone can read my posts and yours and see that you are misquoting what I have said.

Drag has never been aimed at straight women, until very recently when we are being schooled into accepting what men want.

bellinisurge · 13/02/2020 11:59

Irish mum and Irish FIL. None of us likes Mrs Brown's boys. My mum watched a documentary done by the bloke who does Mrs Brown's boys on the Easter Rising. She was never a radical. She thought it was shit too.

toomuchtooold · 13/02/2020 12:03

As a woman I'm never really sure if I'm in on the joke, or the butt of it.

There are people like Paul O'Grady whose character was obviously based off a fairly affectionate recollection of the women in his life, and I love that.

AutumnRose1 · 13/02/2020 12:03

GreatAunt "I really don't care what anyone does in private, but I am beginning to get very irritated by all the public displays of "differentness".

the end result is that I stand out as highly unusual. lol.

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 12:04

'Drag has never been aimed at straight women, until very recently when we are being schooled into accepting what men want.'

i hate to break it to you, but gay men - in drag or otherwise - don't 'want' women. Some major confusion going on here if you think that drag queens are aimed at straight women in anyway.

Balkinfly · 13/02/2020 12:05

No drag has always been a negative attack on women even in the 90s it was grim. I can't see how it's become mainstream really.

LonginesPrime · 13/02/2020 12:16

Um, that's not sexual violence ffs

Well the way they put it didn't sound very consensual.

NekoShiro · 13/02/2020 12:17

I always get kinda sad reading through threads like these, personally i see it as an art form, but I see all clothes and makeup and all forms of self expression like that,

I'm a woman and I'm 'allowed' to wear make up and dresses and prance around delicately and put on shows of traditional femininity in my life cus I happened to end up female in the womb but a man isn't just because he became a male in the womb?

I can wear pants, no make-up and all mens clothing if I wanted and I would be a 'tom boy' and no one would care, I could be as traditionally masculine as I want but as soon as it's a man being feminine its disgusting and sexist and a parody of being a woman, I just don't get the thinking behind it.

Yeah the humour and culture might not mesh with your interests or humour but that doesn't mean they're any less deserving of living their lives freely however they choose to.

ooooohbetty · 13/02/2020 12:17

I love drag. I think it's really funny. My favourite shows to go to.

MimiLaRue · 13/02/2020 12:21

I'm a woman and I'm 'allowed' to wear make up and dresses and prance around delicately and put on shows of traditional femininity in my life cus I happened to end up female in the womb but a man isn't just because he became a male in the womb

Yes, thats exactly right. Of course men can choose to self identify as women if they want- thats fine and its not remotely the same as using female clothing and clown makeup to get a cheap laugh.

Would you think it acceptable to dress up as a gay man and adopt cliched stereotyped and highly exaggerated "gay male mannerisms" to get a laugh from others? surely thats just harmless "self expression" right?

AngelsSins · 13/02/2020 12:22

'are you going to actually answer my question ' sometimes the question is so ridiculous or the answer so obvious that it's too tedious to get in to
Google is your friend here, my friend

Got it, you don’t give a shit about the oppression of women and oppression of people of colour was far more serious - right?

You can’t back up anything you say, my question was stupid was it? Why? Please do explain why the history of abuse women have faced at the hands of men is not serious. Or you can just be honest and admit that you couldn’t care less about women’s history.

ChazsBrilliantAttitude · 13/02/2020 12:28

NekoShiro

There is a difference between a man who chooses to wear make up because he likes the way it looks and the over the top parodying of women.

I don’t wear jeans to imitate men I wear them because they are comfortable. I am perfectly happy to see the non gendering of clothing - nobody has an issue with a Scottish man wearing a kilt and accuses him of trying to dress like a woman. It’s when it moves stereotype and parody rather than simply being a clothing choice it crosses the line for me.

BobbyBlueCat · 13/02/2020 12:28

"......they very firmly and quickly told me that they were not fans of that sort of stuff."

In no way have they said they are 'against' drag. You've made them sound like some homophobic, transphobic, judgmental prudes when all they said was it wasn't their thing.

If I was invited to see The Chippendales, a Premier League football match, a rave or a period drama at the cinema I'd say "no thanks, I'm really not a fan of that kind of thing".
It wouldn't mean anything more than that.

Stop trying to find an issue where there isn't one.

Zurina · 13/02/2020 12:29

Got it, you don’t give a shit about the oppression of women and oppression of people of colour was far more serious - right? I actuallu Got it, you don’t give a shit about the oppression of women and oppression of people of colour was far more serious*

I actually think slavery of poc was worse than the oppression of women in the west such as uk, yes.

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 12:31

AngelsSins - I don't think that drag can be compared to 'blackface' ( which to be clear I think is racist and appalling). That is all.
And I think only very narrow minded, not that intelligent people would think them on par.

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 12:34

I don't like sexism, racism, sectarianism or homophobia. I have been the target/ victim of all 4.
I just don't think drag is comparable to any of these.

Pootlepootlepootle · 13/02/2020 12:44

HR told me I really up the 'diversity' quota for them... ( I think she was kidding -notkidding)

steppemum · 13/02/2020 12:44

I hate drag.
My daughter loves drag race, so we watched part of it. I have no problem in principle, eahc to their own, but it is truly awful.
This is what I hate.
-the fakeness of everything, that huge over exaggerated eyes/hair etc is supposed to look good, when the original men underneath look so much better.
-The bitchiness of it, it is like some terrible charicature of gay men, all bitchiness and rolling eyes.
-The serious lack of talent - the singing, miming, acting is all AWFUL and cringy.
-The crass ridiculous sex gestures all the time , grab your crotch, hip thrust OTT and so on, sorry, but you are not sexy in that ridiculous costume get up, and grabbing your crotch just looks ridiculous.
-The idea that these painted dolls are supposed to be women. Really? Do they walk around with eyes closed? Women don't look like that, pretend and dress up if you want to but don;t pretend you are being women, you don't look anything like.

Cannot understand why it is popular on TV, and would never ever go and watch a show, waste of an evening.