AIBU to find drag on mainstream TV disrespectful to women?

[sanctuaryyi]

AIBU to think that drag is derogative woman face and unacceptable.

Women are oppressed by men, for example;

• 1 in 4 women will be raped by a man in their lifetime.
• Men generally hold most of the power and wealth, 90% of the ultra-wealthy in the world are men.
• Men are less likely to experience sexual harassment and often have more freedom of movement without fear of violence.
• Men are generally free from unpaid caring roles
• Women are more likely to be objectified by men and valued for their body and youth whereas men are not and this creates a power imbalance.

With this in mind AIBU to think drag on main stream TV such as this 'artist' is totally unacceptable.

He has made fun and a jokes about lactation in grotesque fashion, squeezing cream out of his huge fake tits into a cup and has made fun of pregnancy and wears comedy size 'tits' and 'arse'.

The portrayal of any group's body or bodily functions in a grotesque manner for humour should surely be considered unacceptable, particularly when it mirrors historical patterns of oppression. Shouldn't it?

The link is twitter
Drag Race

For those that don't have twitter I have added some screen shots.

Good question, I remember find it funny at the time. I seem to recall that he mainly interviewed well known celebs and I don't recall him making innuendo about women's bodies all the time BUT....I can't remember.

Why did you not like him?

@UnfortunatelySo

yes the bbc - state sponsored misogyny

Oh I was neither way but im
going to have a look now

I think just didn’t find him very funny

Skin color is an inherent part of a person. Makeup, painted nails, and dresses are associated with women, but aren’t part of women’s bodies. I agree that cartoonishly large fake breasts are disrespectful, although I can understand having smaller ones simply so your dress doesn’t gap and hang loose in front.

Unfortunately, I can’t find a relevant clip to post, but has anyone watched the series “Fellow Travelers”? There’s a drag queen character named Frankie who, in the 1950s, works as a singer/waiter in a secret gay bar, and wears drag on stage. He’s an effeminate gay man who’s always referred to as “he” and doesn’t act in a way that caricatures women. He just likes wearing makeup and glamorous dresses and singing songs that were written for female singers. And I don’t find that even remotely offensive. (There’s also a butch lesbian singer in a tuxedo.)

I agree that a lot of drag is tasteless, misogynistic, and gross. I just don’t think that any man wearing a dress and makeup is automatically mocking women.

Married 4 times!!

still drag it says but not along the lines of “gay drag queens”

are drag queens always gay?

No definitely not - men can certainly wear any clothes but it’s the parodying women that I’m questioning

Kenny Everett, Dick Emery, Les Dawson and Lily Savage all centred their act around talking about women's bodies from a stereotypical men's view.

However, Barry Humfrey's, I think he was really taking the piss out of his interviewees, and himself rather having his act centred around making innuendo about being a older woman gagging for it, women's bits etc..

He was just rude, generally to his guest and wasn't continually making stereotypical comments about women's bodies.

Thank you for all the voting.

I am pleasantly surprised that so many women have voted IANBU.
I thought more would have defended drag.

This seems to happen to so many things where boundaries are pushed further and further until it becomes obvious to everyone what the underlying sentiment is.

I have always hated drag/ female impersonating but this new extreme drag/female impersonating is peaking a lot more people because it's showing the whole world what the 'art' is really all about.

I don’t see it as art - the defence is men get a creative outlet (In a way that offends women) maybe they should just concentrate on expressing their feminine normally

I can’t ever see it getting banned because it’s men and they have the power - but I’d like to see the bbc stop investing and promoting it - I’m deeply offended

I don’t think it needs to be banned but hopefully enough people will see it for what it is and it can disappear under a rock so those with a fetish to dehumanize women’s bodily functions can find each other and no one else has to be exposed to it.

I used to love Paul O Grady as Lily Savage back in the day. I recently watched Drag Race for the first time and was appalled - once you see the misogyny you can't unsee it.

Ah. So, if a white man called himself 'Thuggy G', and dressed in stereotypical black gangsta apparel, loved fried chicken and watermelon, used stereotypical black vernacular, and played up other black stereotypes, it would be fine and not racist, as he hasn't changed his skin colour? Hmm...

Also, Harry Styles doesn't need to put on fake breasts to wear dresses. It's easy to choose dresses that won't gape, or get them altered.

I don't think any man wearing a dress or make up is automatically mocking women, no. But drag as it is currently and historically popularised is.

Les Dawson did make derogatory comments/stereotyped women etc, eg MIL jokes, and I'm more bothered about that than about how anyone dresses. I know it was a different time, and I respect you might say we would all have had those views if we'd lived at that time.

Yep!
Les Dawson definitely stereotyped and poked fun at women and older women especially

I think one day it will be deemed unacceptable but society hasn’t caught on yet.

It was comedy. Nobody thought they were women and they didnt pretend to be. Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough were utterly hilarious and hugely popular. The old ladies at my Grandma's weekly social club were exactly like them and each week the old ladies would discuss what Cissie and Ada had been talking about on the show, amid games of laughter.
That was back in the days when folk were actually allowed to have a sense of humour, and didnt get all huffy about a bit of mild teasing.
No wonder everyone looks so miserable these days 😣

I think it was funny at the time, but there are lots of comedy shows that haven't aged that well because the jokes were mostly told by white men poking fun or impersonating anyone but white men.

Black and white minstrels were popular at that time.
Benny Hill was adored by women and men alike
Even the early Bond films have not aged well at all.

It's all misogyny.

Yet modern day comedy seems to mostly swearing and toilet humour. Drama series constant swearing and graphic scenes of sex and violence. How is a bit of gentle micky taking worse than this?
At least the comedians were funny without the need for foul language and overt sexual innuendo.
It matters not one bit whether male or female, black or white, straight or gay. If you are funny you are funny. And I find most modern day comedians ( with one or 2 notable exceptions) about as funny as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick

The real difference was Les Dawson was funny, everyone knew someone like Effie and Ada and there was a real core of affection for women. The over the top drag acts don't love women, they must think their audiences are stupid paying money to be beliitled

It does matter if you are white and male when you are impersonating. It also matters hugely when the impersonator is using degrading stereotypes and vile and inaccurate imagery of body parts.

Benny Hill was not gentle micky taking was he, his whole act was pervy and grim. What’s funny about an old man chasing young women, sometimes dressed as school girls with barely any clothes on whilst hanging his tongue out of his mouth.

Made me feel extremely uncomfortable as a child.

This was family entertainment!

Only white men? because a little research will tell you that there are plenty of black drag artists.
Did you also know that the core audiences for drag cabaret shows are women, on hen nights, birthdays etc?
Perhaps try a little less infantilisation of a whole demographic because you dont like it?

Not too many females doing male drag are there?. That's because it's so easy for males to caricature women and their body parts. So drag is disgusting to me, and I will never watch it or like it. Ridiculous shite.

I think that post was in response the Black and White Minstrels and other white men like Lily Savage, Kenny Everett and Dick Emery doing female impersonations at that time. There were no black male impersonators doing comedy or shows about white men using exaggerated, inaccurate and stereotypical white male features was there? And that says it all quite frankly.

Also, this is not new news that some women support misogyny, often unintentionally but through social expectations and learned behaviour.

How else can we explain that many women did not support the suffragette movement or how many women will victim blame rape survivors due to what they were wearing or 'why did they walk home at that time of night'

Nobody is asking you to watch it

That's not really relevant to the discussions at all.

No one asked us to change our behaviour in attempt to protect ourselves from misogyny that happens in public but we are entitled to call it out for what it is when it happens.