Is female impersonation/drag offensive?

[dannybb]

Hi. As a teenage hairdressing apprentice I used to do a drag act in my spare time - a few decades ago. With more time on my hands I'm now thinking of returning to female impersonation - doing drag queen bingo and entertainment mainly in old peoples homes etc.

While I am (and always will be) very respectful of women I'm wondering if the era of men dressing as women to provide entertainment has had its day.

Has this now become offensive or inappropriate?

Any responses much appreciated!

Plenty of others will be along to disagree with me I'm sure, but personally I don't find it offensive as it's done with a wink. It's an entertaining exaggeration. I mean Lilly Savage for example, I've never seen Drag Race so I can't comment on that.

I don't find it offensive as long as it stays an act. I think it is more offensive to claim that dressing up "as a woman" turns you into a woman!

No one I know finds it offensive.

It never used to bother me but I feel very uncomfortable about it now. Spending time on these boards has really opened my eyes to some really unsavoury stuff that’s going on both in terms of some drag artists and also the whole concept of ‘womanface’.

Yes.

It annoys me personally, I feel like it's mocking women, making them out to be shallow, bitchy etc, all the unpleasant stereotypes. Also as a woman it with a lot of gay friends they always seemed to pick on me, like I was an easy target to insult.

I’ve heard some people liken it to blacking up - the argument being that it’s never okay for someone far more privileged and consequently blind to someone’s oppression to imitate their experience. I don’t know how much I buy into this viewpoint of drag myself though - I’ve always seen drag as far more of an art form.

I think it's lost it's 'harmless fun' veneer amidst the trans debate, to be honest. I'd be really uncomfortable if I had to watch this.

I don’t get offended by it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t offensive. Same as blackface, I’m sure some people don’t get offended and some do. It’s a very personal thing.

I don't like it.

Yep.
I can't see the difference between this and blacking your face and doing a full out black and white minstrel act.
Is there a difference? I can't see it.
Yet you wouldn't do that would you.

I didn't used to be offensive (or at least wasn't intended/received that way). I loved Lily Savage for example and Dame Edna. Ru Paul said it was 'f-off to male dominated culture' recently. He was actually called transphobic because he didn't think his competitions should be open to transwomen who take hormones etc.

However in the current climate it's become suspect and politicised and linked with erosion of boundaries for young people such as through drag queen story times.

And looking back, there is something a bit off with drag being a parody of women, so I think 'inoffensive drag' is actually becoming a bit archaic. (Sorry!).

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/mar/03/rupaul-drag-race-big-f-you-to-male-dominated-culture

Like Haunted I never used to find it offensive but now I see it as ridiculous. Drag Queen names are often based on sexual innuendo and the over the top wigs and make up just annoy me now. I switched off the recent BBC programme Pose and I wouldn't watch Rupaul's Drag Race if you paid me.

I know it's done as a tongue-in-cheek comedy act but in the current climate of the trans debate it doesn't make me laugh so it's a no from me.

I don't like it or get it. Men take the piss out of and undermine women enough as it is, and drag acts never seem like women anyway so its weird to me. If it was an act that allowed the man to take the piss out of men in some particular way, I'd consider it on its merits but it wouldn't be proper drag and why can't men do that whilst still being men. I'm supposed to not care I think, be the cool girl or whatever, but to me, men in drag just seems rooted in misogyny and nasty sex stereotypes however you dress it up.

Couldn't Paul O'Grady have been funny as a man? I don't see what being Lily Savage added as he was so obviously a man anyway. And I don't find him very funny anyway. I don't like cruel humour.

I think it is especially off in this climate of the trans agenda and the real threats to women's rights, so I also wouldn't encourage you because of that even if you think you are being harmless.

I'd ask you why you wanted to do it OP? What does it mean to you and why can't you dress up as yourself or as a caricature of a man rather than a woman? I'm genuinely interested in why it appeals to you or what it offers you.

Just reviewing before I post.. yes grotesque is the word.

And veneer of harmless fun' Audacity. That's just it.

I am a bit mixed on this. In general I had drag with a passion, think it's taking the piss out of women etc
But then I do like Lily Savage and others who are "acts" iyswim.
I'm more than a little intrigued as to whether drag queen bingo is now a popular care home entertainment option?

I hope someone shoots me before I'm trapped in an old persons home being 'entertained' by a man impersonating women.

I hate it. I rank it alongside the black and white minstrels for entertainment value. Probably lower in fact because at least they were actually singing. All the drag I've ever watched has been shit and all they've been doing is lip syncing.

I hope someone shoots me before I'm trapped in an old persons home being 'entertained' by a man impersonating women.

Absolutely Zutt. Imagine those poor women who find it hard to keep away from it because they are immobile or have dementia etc. Horrible.

It never used to bother me but I feel very uncomfortable about it now.

Yup. No stuffed bra, that’s what I’d suggest. Just be a man dressed up in a gender none conforming way. No need to ‘impersonate’ a woman

I’m not sure I’d want to watch it regardless, but to each their own

Totally agree with ZuttZe

Yes. Drag uses the tools & symbols of women's oppression for entertainment. It's mocking and cynical.

Why not just wear makeup and dresses if you like? I as a woman rarely wear either, and don’t see them as some sort of exclusive to women uniform.

Why do you need to “impersonate” a woman and be a caricature of what you think a woman is?

I once thought drag was relatively harmless. Even watched Ru Paul’s Drag Race. Then even contestants in the latter started to claim they “womaned” better and has insulting names for women.

I actually like Ru Paul himself as I think he is someone who understands he is a man who does drag and his experience in life is as a man who does not conform to “masculine stereotypes”, not as a woman but I think the shifting and gas lighting in trans ideology/activism has changed my stance overall on drag.