Boy drama queen??

[bookwormthatturned]

So, I have a seriously over-emoting DS whose days seemed to be full of life's dramas ... - on being told 'no you may not do x' his response was [full hand to forehead dramatic pose] 'but mum, you've (sob) ruined (sob) my (sob) life!' ..... from memory I think what he'd just been told he could not do was have a biscuit so hardly life threatening.

My point is, in my head I'm thinking 'drama queen' but then racking my brains for an equivalent masculine term. DS isn't alone in being male and overdramatic, why do we need to use a term that refers to a female to describe them?

I may just be getting my knickers in a twist over semantics but at the back of my mind is the thought that why does this has to be described as 'female' behaviour?

Any suggestions??

I call ds a drama king when he's being overly dramatic

Drama King. Or just plain Dramarama.

xpost EverybodysDoeEyed :)

I call my boys "drama king" in that sort of situation.

I like "drama llama!" Silly enough to break the tension with no added gender stereotypes! :)

bookworm - You areright. This over the top behaviour is seen as female, hence the only term to describe it is a female one. The reality is of course, that both sexes do this.

And language does matter - it is not just semantics. Language reflects our power structure and culture.

Eatsbrains - exactly - Glad it's not just me fixating on something irrelevant! It is interesting though, the only other term I could think of was prima donna - which again comes back to the feminising of the behaviour - I may have spotted a linguistic black hole, although, Kritiq - drama llama does fit the bill nicely as a gender neutral term

Second vote for Drama Llama.

third vote for Drama Lama

Drama Llama is good. And if they cause a big argument it would be a Drama Llama Ding Dong.

I've always associated drama queen with the over the topness of a drag queen or panto dame!

The expression I hate is 'stop acting like a princess'. I can't think of a male equivalent to that.

at Drama Llama Ding Dong!

Had a visit from the Drama Llama.
Been spat on by the Drama Llama?

DD uses both of these for male and female strop-monarchs.

at strop-monarchs. I think we should all just use that from now on.

Yes its interesting to ponder the roots of this gender stereotype. Essentially it means 'making a big fuss over something small'. So why are 'excessive' expressions of distress seen as female? Why do we not see them as male? Does it mean that female problems are trivialised or male problems are important?

I'm thinking of the conjoured diva/drama queen image and that is of a vain, demanding, egomaniac woman. Perhaps we accept vanity, ego-centricity and demanding behaviour as reasonable or good leadership when expressed by men?

I like Strop Monarch...

DS and DNiece tend to receive an "Oooh, the dwama!" off me, complete with back of hand to my own head.

I just say "dramatic" or "over-dramatic" (although I do use "strop monster" under some circumstances). But I may adopt "Drama Llama".

By straight men, FoodUnit. In this as in so much else gay men are "other" than the straight male norm and get lumped in with women as drama queens and divas.

I think there's also another subtext that being a "drama queen" involves passive-aggressive and manipulative behaviour. Historically this may be associated with a more precarious social position - if you are in a position of privilege then you don't need to be sneaky about getting what you want but express your wishes and expect that other people will comply, while if your social/legal position is subordinate you may have to be less direct because you don't have the power to back up a straightforward directive or request. I'm not really unpacking that thought particularly well and not sure whether it's actually significant or a red herring.

I find 'whinyarse' effective and gender neutral as well. Though perhaps only for adults.

Drama Llama here too. I've said it to ds1 who is epic.