Drag, drag, drag....

[Yarboosucks]

I have never been a particularly sensitive or active feminist, but all this drag rubbish on TV is getting to me. How at a time when rightly you could not broadcast in black face or similar is it OK to mock or at best caricature women so ridiculously?

Gwen the fish smell thing was created by misogynists. That's the point.

@FluffyHippo has it spot on and has written all the wrongs with it far more eloquently than I ever could

I find it offensive now, it used to be more gentle and based around comedy. Now the mean- ness and highly sexualised nature has me cringing.

Drag is about makeup and clothes, which is a choice that anyone can make.

Is it really just that, though? Drag is an exaggeration of the most stereotypical ideas about womanhood. No black person looks like a white person wearing blackface. No woman looks, dresses, sounds or behaves like a makeup-masked, mincing, misogynistic drag queen.

It's become so ubiquitous now that it's getting really boring and annoying.

I have seen a few good drag acts in my time, where a performer has used their brain and creativity to build a character that's more than just a man mincing about in a dress, being a bitch. Proper character comedy. A lot of mainstream drag now is rubbish and it does have a misogynistic side.

DifficultPifcult

Men wearing dresses and make up is fine.
Men wearing dresses and make up and claiming that makes them a woman is not fine.

Its really not that hard to grasp.
Drag isnt pushing gender stereotypes, like the New Romantics did. Drag is enforcing the stereotypes.

I love it. Don't find it offensive in the slightest.

99.9% of queens are gay men and every gay man I know loves women.

End of, for me.

I thought I liked drag then watched an episode of Ru Paul's drag race and felt quite repulsed by some of attitudes. Not all the same - some great quirky performers - but I found I didn't want to watch any more.

I don't 'get' drag at all. How is a man suddenly funny or interesting if he puts on a dress? He is just the same bloke tarted up. Just don't get it.

Wouldnt claiming that they are a woman make them transgender?

Completely different to being a drag queen.

Every drag queen I have ever met has been totally comfortable being a man.

Once again - YOU ARE BASING YOUR NEGATIVE OPINION FOR A WHOLE AREA OF ENTERTAINMENT ON THE NEGATIVE ACTIONS OF A FEW.

There are so many different kinds of drag.

Men wearing dresses and make up and claiming that makes them a woman is not fine I think you have misunderstood drag, it's not the same as trans, and only a few drag performers are transgender.

you could not broadcast in black face or similar is it OK to mock or at best caricature women so ridiculously?

Not the same. Not remotely the same.

every gay man I know loves women

I've met some who do, some who don't.

I think the misogyny, inappropriateness of 'woman face' and general clash of rights is becoming clearer. Unfortunately, I think it is going to take a body of women loudly push back where things appear inappropriate, even if others then claim that is anti-trans. Until then, misogyny and mansplaining seem to have the lead and 'woman face' appears acceptable in the media.

I vaguely recall hearing an interview in the Guardian in the UK with a trans professor of philosophy for the Open University. I might have missed it (or it could have been edited provocatively) but they seemed dismissive of where rights might clash, just that it was fear of the other by women and things would be better if transwomen were just accepted (I realise others may have taken something different from this article). It seemed a limited take on the issues given their day job would seem to involve analysis, abstract reasoning and nuance.

Sure, drag queens aren't necessarily claiming to actually be female. But then, were Minstrels claiming to actually be black?

@JizzPigeon22mif your “depression” could be cured by watching Drag Race, I’m going to suggest it wasn’t particularly serious.

I find this push to normalise drag as family friendly entertainment extremely strange. I wonder what the agenda/ultimate goal is?

I used to love Lily Savage.

The minstrels and drag arent even remotely the same.

It's really offensive to compare.

It's also pretty bad to be commenting on someones mental health in that way HermioneWeasley you have no idea what the posters mental health was like at all.

Using fishy as a compliment is in itself so misogynistic. It's taking a truly vile insult, making it totally normal, and then throwing it around as a compliment.

I can't think of a word applied to men that works like that.

I really dislike it and don’t watch it. It’s an offensive, mocking caricature of women.

I really don’t know what people find funny about it. Baffling.

@AlsDiner yes, try and watch Drag Race if you can it may not be your cup of tea but definitely give it a go x

I honestly haven't seen any. I know there was a Ru Paul thing (only because of that person on Strictly), but haven't seen it. What else is there that is drag oriented?

There are different types of drag. I agree with some PPs I don't really get what's so entertaining about the Drag Race kind of drag where it's all about make up and costumes and calling each other "girl" and I don't like the "fishy" aspect and misogyny of it. And I do think it has something to do with the trans movement, even though most drag performers are NOT trans, because a lot of the aesthetic and demeanor is also adopted by some TWs. And I think that woke desperation to be pro-trans rubs off on drag, hence drag queen story time etc.

OTOH sometimes pantomime dames and comedy man-in-a-dress acts are very funny - Les Dawson was very funny doing it. I suppose I find it less offensive when the humour comes from the fact that we're all in agreement, including the performer, that a man makes a very unlikely woman IYSWIM.

Sadly, most of the comments were used about the Black and White Minstrels show back in the '70s. It's only a laugh. Can't you take a joke. I like it. I don't see a problem. Why can't I watch what I want without someone complaining.....