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AIBU?

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Original poster

Why so anti drag?

319 replies

nicetoseetgesunsout · 10/04/2023 16:44

I've just watched the Paul oGrady tribute programme and it brought me to tears.
He did so much for children and their families and for so so many animals, plus against social injustice for gay people and anti section 28, not being scared to raise its injustice on mainstream tv.
My 75yr old mum is very upset about his passing.
Why the hate for drag performers?
My children grew up with Boy George,Marilyn and Leigh Bowrie RIP as they are friends. My children (boy and girl, now a woman and a man) always knew that they were, and are, men and saw them without costume wigs and makeup.
I'm also friends with a married couple who were drag queens a long time ago. My children have always known that these guys are men, dressing up as women, as they liked to and it was entertainment.
No offence meant to women. They saw them dressed as their drag persona but also without costume and mostly as men.
One couple of ex drag queens I know are now a Director for a hospice and his husband is a social work manager. Reputable jobs, no desire to be women and have two cats who are their babies. Lovely men.
Pantos have always had men playing women but we all know that they're men. Shakespeare plays had men playing women - that's more offensive to me.
Female authors like SE Sinton wrote and published amazing books without her obviously female first names - as she couldn't get published otherwise. These upset me much more

OP posts:
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6
Original poster
nicetoseetgesunsout · 10/04/2023 16:45

Sorry, AIBU to not understand the hated of drag performers?

OP posts:
Yazo · 10/04/2023 16:46

Yeah I don't get it either but I think a lot of it is tied up in anti-trans hate and don't get that either.

FloatingRodger · 10/04/2023 16:46

Is this in response to a specific person or post? If so you should ask them. MN is made up of thousands of individuals.

JaninaDuszejko · 10/04/2023 16:47

Womanface. It's misogynistic and sexist.

aibutohavethisusername · 10/04/2023 16:47

I don’t have an issue with it.

GreenWhiteViolet · 10/04/2023 16:49

Disagreement isn't 'hate'. It's possible to disagree with something without hating the people who do it.

TeenDivided · 10/04/2023 16:49

POG's drag was very different from modern drag. There will no doubt be someone along in a while to explain it.

midgemadgemodge · 10/04/2023 16:49

Well I can't answer that totally - panto dames always seem to be to be taking the piss out of themselves but i think there is a new breed / substantial number today that is mocking towards women not themselves . And a branch that seems to think anything is ok as it's "just drag " ( rather like just banter - anything but harmless but dressed up as harmless )

AllOfThemWitches · 10/04/2023 16:50

I can't get worked up about drag, I've only ever heard of women getting offended about it on here. I don't think children and drag mix though. Don't see why you'd want to take your kids to see a drag artist reading stories or whatever.

MavisMcMinty · 10/04/2023 16:50

I don’t “hate” drag, but do think “Really? Is that how you see us? Is that how you think we look? Act? Behave? Talk? Think?”

I liked Paul O’Grady a lot more when he dropped the drag.

thecatsthecats · 10/04/2023 16:50

I personally don't like it because it's such a full on extrovert thing that my introvert self cringes into a ball.

Is there such a thing as an introverted drag act? Quiet, contemplative drag that likes reading and discussing books?

Kindofcrunchy · 10/04/2023 16:50

Not sure POG ever described himself as "fishy".

AllOfThemWitches · 10/04/2023 16:52

Kindofcrunchy · 10/04/2023 16:50

Not sure POG ever described himself as "fishy".

Is that what drag Queens do?

FactsAreNotMean · 10/04/2023 16:53

A lot of the issues people have with drag at the moment are to do with inappropriate performances being targeted at children. There have been a variety of drag queen story times with performers in highly sexualised outfits, then there was the cavababarave which had drag performers in bondage style clothing.

I'm not a fan of drag in general but performances for adults, fine, I just wouldn't choose to see it. The performances for children are far more concerning and often inappropriate. I'm sure other posters will have videos and images of some of the incidents I'm talking about.

AllOfThemWitches · 10/04/2023 16:53

Also 'drag Kings' are a thing too, admittedly less common.

Hoppinggreen · 10/04/2023 16:53

Yazo · 10/04/2023 16:46

Yeah I don't get it either but I think a lot of it is tied up in anti-trans hate and don't get that either.

You are wrong.

CurlewKate · 10/04/2023 16:53

Presumably the performers you are talking about don't make crude and offensive jokes about women? NADQ. Incidentally-it's nothing to do with the trans debate. Drag performers are men. Sometimes gay, sometimes straight, but men.

BMW6 · 10/04/2023 16:54

I hate drag in the same way that I hated the Black and White Minstrel Show back in the day.

And Danny La Rue.

Plus a lot of the drag stars names and remarks are derogatory against real women, in my opinion.

Sarahconnor1 · 10/04/2023 16:54

TeenDivided · 10/04/2023 16:49

POG's drag was very different from modern drag. There will no doubt be someone along in a while to explain it.

This.

Paul's drag was inspired by admiration of the women around him.

Current drag is not. Google some current drag performers, look at their names (Anna bortion etc) and their content, explicit and frequently misogynistic

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 10/04/2023 16:54

There is Drag Queen and just male actors playing the part of a woman on TV. Two separate things for me.

The guy who plays Mrs Brown, POG doing his act etc all just parts in TV shows. Not my cup of tea, but not what I would class as drag/drag Queens. Similar to when Rosie Ramsay plays "Barry Beef" etc.

IsThePopeCatholic · 10/04/2023 16:55

I like POG and never found his drag act offensive, but that could be because he was a man of principle and I trusted him. Generally though, I find drag acts just really boring. I don’t see the point of them. Also, the oversexualisation means they are not suitable for kids.

TheCentreSlide · 10/04/2023 16:55

Some drag is just pure misogyny. Repulsive ‘jokes’ about women’s bodies and sex acts. Also pushing these sorts of performers into children’s spaces - pushing boundaries in that way: there is an element of grooming.

Paul O Grady was wonderful - he was none of those things.

TidyDancer · 10/04/2023 16:55

There is a difference between the old school POG/LS style of drag and the overly sexualised fetish you get a lot these days. JMO obviously, but I do see a distinction.

Also while we're at it, when people plop down comments about 'anti-trans hate' they are generally referring to the subject of safeguarding women and girls, i.e. not hate nor anti-trans at all.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 10/04/2023 16:55

Older style drag such as Paul /Lily was very much taking the piss out of themselves and others but in a non offensive way to women.

Modern drag in my eyes is very offensive to women ie. Fishy and the names they call themselves are horrific ie Anna Bortion, Annie Rexic, Ginger Minge etc.........

Icedlatteplease · 10/04/2023 16:55

Ru Paul's drag race. Sit there and count the number of times a man on there states something that is outwardly misogynistic or perpetuates stereotypes about woman. If it was a drinking game you would be drunk very quickly indeed.

I haven't seen a single drag performer in panto or otherwise who doesn't do one of these things. no its not ok