What are your views on drag?

[Ladyday1995]

I never really started thinking about this until the other day. But honestly I personally can't stand it. It's so completely insulting to women, it's an ugly caricature based on strange men's ill informed ideas about femininity. Everything about it is so gross, the cattiness, bizarre sexual overtones, the disgusting makeup and clothing. I just cant understand things like "drag queen story time". They've done that at my local museum much to my horror.

@Avarua

Most of the best comedy is parody though. Without parody you're basically left with cringe-type or slapstick humour.

Most of the best comedy is actually funny....

Drag, from a comedic perspective is actually a very intellectually crude device.

A parody without a point other than to largely serve the ego/fetish of a man in a dress/wig.

It's awful and distasteful. Bore off you bloody impotent men that think you can put a wig and lipstick on the think you are a woman.

@Avarua

The makeup and clothes are wearable art. It's great.

😂😂😂😂

I can guarantee that in 100 years time we will not be seeing RuPaul's outfits displayed in The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Costume Collection at the V&A.

Don't see why not?

@Avarua, because the pretend erotic overdone drag look has been done to death?

Lesbian, 40, feminist and in a LTR with a very masculine presenting woman. We both absolutely love drag, sorry to say. I'd hate to see it go. I can see why people find it offensive, too. I just cannot be offended by something that sits so well with my sense of humour.

It's awful. Horrible charicature.
I'd come to the conclusion about blacking up too. Should have been banned a long time ago.
And no panto isn't drag.

I HATE drag

@TracyBeakerSoYeah

I watch Drag Race & I like it

Same.

I feel the same as you @Ladyday1995

It's horrible. Ugly, offensive.

Must have been on mumsnet that I saw some woman writing about knitting her drag artist son fake breasts and a fake pregnant belly. [Sounds ridiculous. It must have been a weekender thread] There was then a clip of said drag artist performing - screaming, holding a 'baby' by the leg and hitting it and other such. It really brought it home to me how much men hate women, and how drag is no 'homage' to women but an unmistakeable expression of that hatred.

Indifferent mostly. Puzzled a lot. What's the point? I really don't understand what it's about.

The only drag act I've seen live was Courtney Act and that was on the tails of Big Brother. Shane Jenek seemed such a nice person in the Big Brother house.

I don't remember much about his/her performance, other than the dresses were beautiful, Shane/ Courtney looked lovely and was as personable as they were in the Big Brother house.

I hate smut (terrible word I know) but I don't recall being made uncomfortable by the performance.

I think the difference with Courtney Act is the make up and dresses are well within the range of what actual women would wear when glammed up for events like award ceremonies. Courtney Act also has a sort of career in music- voice isn't great (but then neither was Madonna's or Kylie Minogue)

All in all it was mildly entertaining, not offensive but I've no desire to see another drag.

I love the RuPaul show.

What do you think of pantomines? A lot of panto performances have a man dressed as a woman. Should this be done away with?

Personally, I find it misogynistic and distasteful. I don't want to see male fetishes paraded in front of me and I avoid it. It is offensive to many women, obviously, as these responses demonstrate. Do we ban things because they are offensive? No, but we should be free to voice our opinions so that social attitudes can change. We also need to be able to talk openly about male fetishes and how they are not appropriate for children to see. It's a safeguarding issue.

@Avarua

I don't get offended by blacking up either. I think being unable to laugh at yourself is quite dysfunctional, actually. No one is so precious that they can't be poked fun at.

You don't find white people pretending to be black and mocking black people for the way they look, offensive?

I'm not a fan personally, but if people want to see it then not too fussed. What I don't like is with the drag time story's at libraries for example, the insistence that it's to teach acceptance etc- I mean, of what? Of this type of performer? Can't be for the gay or trans community as neither are solely drag performers. So why are people being painted as intolerant if they don't see it as appropriate? Do we have burlesque story time for toddlers next?

@MargaritaPie

What do you think of pantomines? A lot of panto performances have a man dressed as a woman. Should this be done away with?

Most children under seven are wary or downright scared of pantomimes because of the drag act(school stopped hiring one because the lower year groups all ended up in the corridor) I think it's a self preservation reflex. Children don't like people concealing their faces either and I suspect that is because usually someone doing so is a threat. I imagine children are able to spot male coded features, features walks and evolution has taught them to be wary of men in disguise. They're generally not funny so I think their appeal is very limited. Most children would enjoy a fairytale pantomime without the narcissistic interludes that are dames.

Also don't like that they take the prestigious title of dame and lampoon it.

The worst is when people try to dragsplain that drag is an homage to women? Homage?

Taking all the most offensive stereotypes about women (comedy breasts, slutty clothes, garish makeup, bitchiness), terms like 'fishy' and 'tuna tube', names like 'Anna Bortion'...and then telling us we are just bigoted old dinosaurs because we don't like it? That we should embrace this homage to women?

Fuck off.

Sexist, misogynistic, out dated and often very unpleasant towards women.

@Avarua

I don't get offended by blacking up either. I think being unable to laugh at yourself is quite dysfunctional, actually. No one is so precious that they can't be poked fun at.

@Avarua, so am I right in thinking in your view, women who don’t laugh at drag and black people who don’t laugh at blacking up are dysfunctional?

Just want to be clear what you’re actually saying here.

Drag done well can be very entertaining. I went to see an act a few times which was four men who could sing and dance dressing up to do various cover versions of famous songs. It was good as they were good entertainers. No insulting jokes or anything like that. Pantomime dames can be similar... just people good at entertaining.

Unfortunately too many acts do it to mock women. If DQST was a man dressing up as a female character from that book, it wouldn't be insulting or worrying imo. But its not, its them going as adult entertainers.

An art form which rates the quality of its performance by how " fishy" the performer is ,( fishy referring to the fishy smell they say emanates from the female genital area) really says it all

It's just not entertaining. Nothing against as such other than that.

A bit like comedy, some people like some things other like others. Personally I can't stand most 'modern' comedians, I find them completely unfunny and more interested in entertaining themselves.

@Avarua

Most of the best comedy is parody though. Without parody you're basically left with cringe-type or slapstick humour.

Q: So why don't the drag "comedians" just do comedy, without the drag?

A: Because they aren't actually funny