What's the obsession with drag?

[allusernamesaretakennow]

Why the obsession with men in dresses? I don't find them entertaining so wouldn't go to a drag show but I have friends who think the shows are really entertaining and have been to them.

I think they are poor quality and had their day. To be popped in the box alongside thinks such as the B&W minstrels, Love They neighbour (racist shows of the past) since they are just IMO men in women's face. AIBU?

YANBU - they are a relic of the past and we don't need to have men in women's face now

YABU - they are great fun.

What made me start this thread is an email this morning as follows:

"he BBC is continuing its obsession with drag queens and is now featuring a male drag performer, La Voix, on its primetime family show Strictly Come Dancing.

La Voix, real name Chris Dennis, is a professional drag performer who came to fame as a contestant on Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK. Reviews of his act refer to his “saucy company” and “outrageously rude” jokes. While this may be acceptable for certain adults who enjoy this niche entertainment, it certainly isn't something that children should be exposed to.

Drag is a highly sexualised, adult-only entertainment that should not be normalised by the BBC as suitable for children, especially not using public money from licence payers. A man dressed as a grotesque version of a woman dancing with another man is not only deeply misogynistic, but confusing for children to see a man pretending to be a woman being referred to as “she/her.”

When we expose children to sexual material, we blur the boundaries between adults and children, exposing them to adult sexual concepts and risking the normalisation of the sexualisation of children.

In recent years, the BBC has increasingly featured drag performers on prominent shows in a continued effort to promote its LGBTQ+ agenda. This emphasis on drag entertainment is not suitable family programming or genuine education, but rather an attempt to advance transgender activism through mainstream media.

What makes this initiative particularly awful is its use of those involved in adult entertainment to indoctrinate children in the transgender agenda, while trying to present the whole affair as a wholesome, family-friendly event. One of the most disturbing things about the transgender agenda is the way that it tries to distort our perception of reality and deny something as fundamental as the distinction between male and female.

This deliberate attempt to confuse children’s understanding of the differences between men and women is a serious breach of responsibility. By allocating licence fee funding to these initiatives, the BBC is directly supporting the indoctrination of children."

It was asking me to join a petition. I haven't posted that since that's not what this thread is about.

Just I feel it's all a bit old/done/pathetic now/the laugh is over....

It's fun. End of.

It offends the blue meanies (some of you younger people may need to google that expression), but then they are offended by anything and everything that gives people pleasure IME.

I don't find it offensive in the slightest. I just don't find it entertaining, that's all. Although, I did used to chuckle at Edna Everage occasionally because he was a genuinely funny man.

I think sanitised drag is a very strange phenomenon.

Drag is boring.

No one has explained to me why it’s different from blacking up.

that was deemed ‘fun’ too in the past.

Lily savage and Dame Edna were on TV same time as strictly

And most people will alter their manner depending on the time and place so I doubt there will be much outrageously rude jokes being told during the tango

I have seen a few drag shows and like any live entertainers, some are better than others. I've seen some who have made me laugh loads and were really good fun.

Whether they're suitable for children entirely depends on their material. Lots use adult humour and sexual innuendo as part of their acts and that's obviously not appropriate for kids. But if they use age appropriate humour and / or they're simply dressed up and singing / lip syncing, I don't see the harm in kids watching them. It's pretty much the same as a pantomime dame imo - a man in a dress, with OTT make up and a wig, singing and telling jokes.

It’s exceptionally dull and largely unfunny. Mrs Browns Boys, Grayson Perry (the man himself not the art), Little Britain, yawn.

Reviews of his act refer to his “saucy company” and “outrageously rude” jokes. While this may be acceptable for certain adults who enjoy this niche entertainment, it certainly isn't something that children should be exposed to.

Do you think the BBC are going to have outrageously rude jokes at seven o'clock on a saturday? Really?

I'm not a massive drag fan, I've never been to a show, probably never will. But I don't think there's an obsession with drag. I think there's an obsession with people complaining about it.

I don’t go out my way to see a drag show, they are often presenters who are also comedians. It’s just part of a large persona which makes them more comical. There’s always a drag queen on at the theatre when we go each year with the kids, they tend to be funny, over exaggerated characters. I don’t feel really strongly one way or the other - but if I enjoy their humour yes I enjoy their show.

I feel more like this. Not particularly offended but don't find it interesting at all, quite boring and 'old' and 'done' it that makes any sense. Occasionally I might come across one that I feel is particularly offensive but mainly just 'whatever'.

I quite like it if done well, especially in the U.K. where it tends to be comical. We have a long standing tradition, it’s not new. Remains to be seen how he is dressed for strictly and the show has tight guidelines as a family show as to content

I quite like it if done well, especially in the U.K. where it tends to be comical. We have a long standing tradition, it’s not new. Remains to be seen how he is dressed for strictly and the show has tight guidelines as a family show as to content

I quite like it if done well, especially in the U.K. where it tends to be comical. We have a long standing tradition, it’s not new. Remains to be seen how he is dressed for strictly and the show has tight guidelines as a family show as to content

Never heard of the term and googled it and came across an American Wrestler with blue hair! No other meaning so no idea what you mean.

Absolutely adored Dick Emery as a (very) small child! Also saw Lily Savage live many years ago, also very funny.

But I honestly think it’s down to the person…Grayson Perry is an untalented, derivative old windbag and best avoided.

And the ‘new’ lot wear so much make-up I don’t know how they don’t fall over.

Drag goes back quite a long way though, so I don’t think it can be dismissed.

I’ve never understood it. Think it’s weird.

Seems so a achronistic and old fashioned to me now. Plus they've over expised themselves, people are sick of having men pretending to be woman shoved down their throats.

Drag should be bitchy camp gay men on the door in clubs arbitrarily deciding who can come in like in the 90s, not on every bloody tv show and news article the BBC produces.

I used to love Dick Emery.
"Ooh, you are awful, but I like you"
I used to find Julian Clary funny as well.

Is it an obsession? I watch tv, I go out (and live in central London, so not a village with one pub), and I can’t remember when I last saw a drag queen? Probably when I last watched tv with my parents as a child (Lily Savage, Les Dawson).

Where are they all?!

Lily Savage et all are not in the same league as the men dressed in fetish gear reading stories to reception children in public libraries. Parents worry about the latter, not the former.

It's yet another perversion.

https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2022/01/09/drag-queen-story-hour/

A lot of the modern cohort's acts are truly nasty and demeaning to women. It's yet another badge that gives men immunity from deeply misogynistic views and misogynistic stereotypes. They wouldn't be able parody or spout such bile about anyone else in the name of comedy but apparently we're fair game. So basically good riddance if most of them vanished off the face of the earth.