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?

I find it deeply offensive and just can’t watch any “ artistes” . No talent whatsoever.

It somehow bothered me more than men wearing makeup and dresses, like it wasn't "expanding the bandwith" of male appearance anymore

Our local library ran a series of book readings for little kids, run by a group of drag queens. I thought it was an awful idea but people were falling over themselves to say how wonderfully inclusive it was.

@Paradiseinportugal that is your opinion, and I completely respect that. You have every right to be offended by it but I, as an individual, just do not get offended or upset by it. It does take a hell of lot of offend me to be honest. My view is that if you don't like it, don't watch.
I think I mentioned in a previous post about the "comedian" Roy Chubby Brown, a lot of people find him hilarious but I think he is downright disgusting.
To each their own I suppose.

drag is not offensive and many, many people enjoy it as an art form and entertainment

As they enjoyed black face, minstrel shows and all sorts of racist, sexist, homophobic humour.

Mocking women is the one indulgence they have left.

This article about the drag story hours in libraries is very worth a read.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/03/drag-queen-story-time-is-not-okay/amp/

I like drag, you need a sense of humour when you watch drag. sometimes it funny, and sometimes ridiculous, but not offensive.

I liked the black guy who did drag,in the film Kinky Boots, forgot his name now.

Drag is female impression. Pretending its men exploring the feminine side is ridiculous, men can and have done that perfectly well without using pretend names like "Anna Bortion" and calling themselves she and queens.

[quote ABingThing]**@zh91* you can even think of biker chic as a male parody*

You're going to have to elaborate on that one. I'm a female biker - I wear leathers or textiles (depending on the weather) because they protect me every bit as well as they protect men. It's not a parody, it's safety gear?

The roots may be in gay culture, but gay men can still be misogynistic, and they are still part of the oppressive class when it comes to women.[/quote]
I mean gay men adopting biker garb (think YMCA) as a parody of a straight man. As for misogyny of course that exists among gay males, but it's the presence of multiple systems of oppression, in different directions, that marks drag out as different from blackface. So yes, gay men are part of an oppressive class but they are also oppressed by a straight class, which is a key difference.

I don't think that I am having a humour by-pass. I do feel slightly compromised because I agree with Ricky Gervais about the issues that the so-called cancel culture presents. But then, considering the PC pontificating, I find it utterly contradictory that they see fit to broadcast Drag Race in all its tacky and tasteless manifestations.

I have hated it since the 90s.

Hate, hate, hate Womanface and will be glad when we see the back of it. I am sure it will be gone within a year or two max.

I've smiled at drag, I've laughed at drag, but the more I have thought about it the dodgier it seems. I've also found a lot of it unamusing, unhelpful to women and sometimes blatantly offensive.

Perhaps it is today's little Britain.

If you've bed watched Drag race you'll know that it contains interviews with the contestants . In nearly allergy is an escape from pretty awful lives, such as being unloved children or being bullied for being gsy, a lot of them are camp by nature so again targets for bullying. There's no way these people grow up think I know I'll become a drag queen. Some of the better ones, including Ru Paul are masters of the art and it can be difficult to tell they're actually men.

How are drag queens parodying women? I thought we were supposed to be moving away from gender stereotypes, so why is wearing make up and a dress a woman only thing?

Why don’t they wear ‘men’s’ clothes then?

@BullshitVivienne

How are drag queens parodying women? I thought we were supposed to be moving away from gender stereotypes, so why is wearing make up and a dress a woman only thing?

Who said we were moving away from gender stereotypes?

Sorry, hit send too soon. Last I checked women were the biggest losers in the covid childcare fallout, still earning less and being left behind in career progression. Not sure that Cheryl Hole (I mean!) Or Bag a Chips (classy) are fighting the good fight for equality.

As someone said above, removing gender stereotypes would mean all drag acts would be out of business.

They’re not helping.

Men can be traditionally feminine, men can wear make up and 'feminine' clothes

And white people may adopt numerous fashions and behaviours traditionally associated with blackness.

but white people cannot be black

And men cannot be women

@zh91 ah, the biker gear thing makes more sense now!

The other bit though, I understand there's heteronormative oppression of gay people. What I don't understand why this stops drag being an act of misogynistic oppression?

That some of the oppressive class are oppressed themselves for other reasons doesn't invalidate their actions to the group they're parodying.

Allergy, in every case

Because it’s ok if 3.5% of the population get treated better, it won’t make much difference to the establishment. If over 50% of the population are given a more powerful voice it becomes more problematic for the old boys. So they can hang their diversity hat by taking a knee whilst using their free hands to strangle women.

It didn't bother me until I was watching Celebrity Masterchef with Bagga Chipz.

Something about him/her, couldn't put my finger on it but I felt uncomfortable watching. Reading all your arguments above I'm starting to understand why. I was feeling mocked. And you're right, BBC are pushing the agenda - look at iPlayer, look at what they try to get you to watch next.

@lifeisgenerallyfun

Sounds about right.

And you're right, BBC are pushing the agenda - look at iPlayer, look at what they try to get you to watch next.

Yes totally agree. I was trying to find a nature documentary or something like that to watch with DD and pretty much all the documentaries are down this line. Nothing is really mainstream. Tbh BBC has had its day. I find it sinister now in fact.

Also to PP who mentioned Eddie Izzard. I have always thought he hates women and his take on drag is most aggressive same with Grayson Perry, who funnily enough seems to have toned his look down a lot of late.