What is drag?

[picklemewalnuts]

Another thread was an interesting read, with reference to drag queens, drag kings, bio queens and bio kings. Various comedians who develop characters in their comedy came up, too- some same sex characters, others opposite sex characters.

It's not something I know much about- I'd never considered Alan Partridge as a drag act, for example.

What is drag? What counts? What makes drag, drag?

Lily Savage?

I've never heard the term Bio before, what does that entail?
I think Drag is just an act. Drag is not a trans woman it's a man who dresses as a woman, mostly as a stage act and very part time.
Trans is an identity. A drag act won't generally identify as a woman when they aren't wearing the outfit.

Yes, but what makes that a drag act? There were references to lots of different styles of drag, and I wondered what it is that makes something drag as opposed to impersonation/comedy etc.

Drag is a creating persona of opposite sex ie. panto dame

To me drag is like; let's create a really narrow standard of beauty and put loads of pressure on women to meet it in order for them to be allowed to have any value in society, and then let's dress up like them and take the piss out of them for it.

It's clearly very stylised- I wouldn't have thought characters like Al Murray and Alan Partridge would fit that description though.

There were lots and lots of drag fans on that thread- I'd love to hear them describe/define what drag is.

Drag is a Cabaret act and comes in different styles, from those who dress as realistic women to those who are full on caricatures with exaggerated feature and very ott make up. Mostly it's men dressing up as women but there are women who dress as men, and women who dress as ott women, most male drag performers are gay but not all, a few identify as trans but as far as I'm aware they are a minority.

U.K. drag tends to be comedy whereas American drag tends to be more music and polished routines.

Think it comes from music hall originally and it would be a mainstay of the holiday camps and working men's club circuits of yesteryear.

Alan partridge is not drag, it's just acting!

Well that's what I thought, Minnie!

I’d say it’s men dressing up as caricatured versions of women for comedy. I’d count panto dames in that. Not Alan Partridge though, that’s just playing a character. To be drag it has to be opposite sex or at a push same sex but in the OTT drag style.