Aibu to not like drag Queens?

[Draggedalong1]

And why don’t I? To me there is something intimidating and scary in the make up, and harsh glamour, parodied until it’s ugly and I think, aggressive. I remember going to drag shows long again in the 90s and they seemed to be a bit of fun and almost innocent compared to whatever it is about ru Paul et al. Nothing wrong with a bit of dame Edna from what I remember as a kid. What’s the reasoning behind this new style I wonder, and aibu?

Can't bear it. With the honourable exception of Lily Savage, who was a brilliant comic creation.

Interestingly, Paul O'Grady
has admitted he’s not a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race, saying in 2017: “I can’t bear it. No really I can’t. That’s not drag! It’s all about shading and contouring your face now and being like supermodels.
“In my day we had the likes of Phil Starr, who was a glorious comedian… we had Marc Fleming, Auntie Flo, Mrs Shufflewick. We had great comedians in drag. This new brigade who just parade around going, sashay, shantay – that’s not drag to me.”

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/rupauls-drag-race-paul-ogrady_uk_5c6686a1e4b01757c36a3843

I dont like it much. It feels like a piss take of women. they are either overtly glam and airheaded or bitchy and catty. Why is it funny for men to dress up as women and not funny for women to dress as men. Is that because to a man the worst thing they could possibly be is a woman, therefore its funny. Its the same as telling boys they run like a girl or throw like a girl or cry like a little girl or all the other insults thrown at men which basically says. The worst thing you could possibly be was a girl because they are just generally shit and have little value.
If it fell out of fashion I wouldnt mourn its loss as an 'art form'

@MaryAndHerNet

There was a time Al Jolson was popular for doing black face. Drag is woman face and one day I hope it'll be as offensive as black face is now.

WTF!

If RuPaul painted his face white and took the piss out of white people would that be ok?

Didn't that film white chicks do that ?

Personally as a white person, ru paul with a white face or the film white chicks doesn't/wouldn't offend me, I' but again I completely understand why its offensive to others.

But back to drag, It's not illegal to do drag. And I just really enjoy it.

Really dislike it.

@Maryandherhet: "If RuPaul painted his face white and took the piss out of white people would that be ok?"

No because there is no history of oppression with whiteface. Blackface comes with a host of negative connotations applied to keep black people "in their place" during slavery and demean and abuse them, strip them of their humanity etc.

Whiteface may seem offensive to some, but that would usually be in the context of "why is it ok for them to do it but not us" kind of thing. But it would not have the same impact in reality as the same history of long-term entrenched abuse is not there.

@Dontgetyerknicksinatwist

It’s basically a load of men taking the piss out of women for laughs and getting paid for it.

Predominantly gay men. Yet when we take the piss out of them it is rightly homophobia.

Why are they such blatant misogynists?

@Omicrone

I said it on another thread but the drag queens on the BBC NYE show last night really summed it up:

Mediocre, talentless blokes doing crappy dance moves and awkwardly lip syncing, whilst an actually talented woman sings off camera. Apparently this is hugely entertaining....

It was embarrassing and I really hope drag, at least in the mainstream form I have seen it, has soon had its day.

Yep. Shocking how all the Nye shows were clearly crowing about their diversity but had barely any women in them.(Kylie appeared as the token female on one, a very old clip of Lily Allen on another).

It’s an unpleasant pisstake. Don’t like it and I refuse to watch it.

It should have died with Divine, who I loved. Pure performance, designed to shock and of its time.

No because there is no history of oppression with whiteface

Kinda why picked it.. It shows we should be more sensitive to those who have been oppressed..
Like women.. oppressed by men for 1000s of years..

The surgence in drag popularity has sort of passed me by; never grabbed my interest. I saw a drag act on weakest link last night, and it struck me that the person looked quite grotesque, like a female stereotype meets pantomime dame. They were being acerbic. Its not my cup of tea, and I just dont get the point/purpose 😕

@reesewithoutaspoon

I dont like it much. It feels like a piss take of women. they are either overtly glam and airheaded or bitchy and catty. Why is it funny for men to dress up as women and not funny for women to dress as men. Is that because to a man the worst thing they could possibly be is a woman, therefore its funny. Its the same as telling boys they run like a girl or throw like a girl or cry like a little girl or all the other insults thrown at men which basically says. The worst thing you could possibly be was a girl because they are just generally shit and have little value. If it fell out of fashion I wouldnt mourn its loss as an 'art form'

I think you have a good point. It's the bitchiness that they put out in the form of humour that I find intimidating and off-putting. It's becausew women are always being portrayed as airheads with nothing useful to say, but actually a lot of men can be like this too. And I've noticed a lot of gay men I've known can be extremely catty, drag or not.

@Notimeforaname

As for drag kings, we all know it is women, who are the targets for rape, abuse, trafficking, prostitution and so forth. Therefore there is an imbalance between drag kings and queens. I don’t like the kings either. But no man is going to be at risk from one

Sorry, are we at risk from drag queens?

That is not what I said. Drag queens are men, are they not? Women are at risk from men. Men, for the most part, are not at risk from women.

I hate all drag, always have, years ago Danny la Rue, now Ru Paul. Just hate it all.
Now with all the trans focus, it's blended into trying to persuade us all it's the norm, but it's just not.

Agree.

It's offensive and grotesque.

Depends

I find some offensive and nasty others amusing

The Britney dance last night on TV was awful just looked like a group of desperate attention seeking men

It's a thing that exists in the world that you don't have to engage with, if you wish. So just... don't.

Surely many TV programmes are a parody of life - which in turn intrigues some & irritates others.

I dont like it much. It feels like a piss take of women. they are either overtly glam and airheaded or bitchy and catty.

Sounds like a typical episode of Eastenders to me.

@mildtomoderate

It's a thing that exists in the world that you don't have to engage with, if you wish. So just... don't.

Life isn't like that.

If we all turned the other way and didn't stand up and object to this kind of crap nothing would change.

Misogynistic gay men need to be educated.

If anyone reading this is so very naive to think it is just all for lolz then hopefully it will make them think twice.

Yeah it’s offensive and not funny on any level. And having them read stories to kids in libraries is disgusting and inappropriate.

It's a thing that exists in the world that you don't have to engage with, if you wish. So just... don't.

Why is that I don't have to engage with something that I find offensive? Is it because I have to "be kind'?

I detest drag, it's incredibly offensive to women and just as disgusting as blackface.

The fact drag shows are featured heavily on TV is astounding - I've never understood the popularity of Drag Race for example.

It’s offensive and if it was directed at any other demographic anyone partaking in it would be cancelled.
But even those who seem to think they are so progressive still think that women are fair game to cartiture and belittle.

I prefer drag acts to some others. You know exactly who, why and what drag artistes are and I feel comfortable with that.