Drag Queen on Strictly

[HelenaWaiting]

I didn't see a thread on this, and it seems to have been slipped out quietly. I'm assuming this man in woman-face will be taking the place of a female?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/strictly-come-dancing-la-voix#:~:text=A%20powerhouse%20of%20charisma%2C%20comedy,no%20stranger%20to%20national%20television.

They aren’t mocking women!!!

We know drag is womanface, hateful and misogynistic. And we know the anti-women movement see this and don't care, it's why your hateful movement is so poisonous and dangerous. You don't see women as human. Just an object to mock.

Yes, they ARE mocking women!!! You must be so full of hate for women to see it and not care!! Wake up!

I haven't watched it for years as it was repetitive. Now it's dull with a women-face act. It's going backwards into panto territory.

Who do you think they are mocking?

No. That's why it's so offensive...

There was a drag queen on the Christmas special. They did it all in drag and were paired with Kai.

@AuntieAgnesPoodle
Can I just point out that this:

So called "womanface" is about pretending to be a woman in everyday life. It's not confined to the theatre or to any other form of entertainment

is untrue. Many drag artists don't pretend to be a woman in every day life.

I see that I wasn't clear enough in the way that I wrote about "womanface".

I am not claiming that drag artists pretend to be women in everyday life.

Drag artists are performers who have an act, where their stage character is that of a fantastical woman. It is designed to entertain an audience. It is part of the rich world of theatre. The performance may be elegant and beautiful or it may be coarse and bawdy, there may be other aspects to the performance too. When the performance is finished, the drag artist removes their costume and make up. They are their ordinary selves most of the time, unless preparing for, rehearsing or playing a performance.

I do not agree that the definition of "womanface" includes drag artists. Drag artist are performers and they have an exaggerated character portrayal of their chosen character, and that is art. It is an act, for the stage. They have a specific woman character who is their stage presence. They are acting and performing. Nobody imagines an actor playing Hamlet pretends to be Hamlet all the time.

A man putting on women's make-up and pretending to be/imagining that they are now/expecting everybody to treat them as/ a woman is something that now seems to be called "womanface". That seems to be a lifestyle choice and not a profession of any kind.

I think the term womanface is absolutely loathsome. I think the term itself demeans women.

People haven't really defined the term as far as I can tell, so no doubt I will be told that I am completely wrong, but I do not think that womanface is anything to do with the art of performance or theatre, whereas drag is all about the art of performance and theatre. Theatre is a separate world from everyday life. It is an art and a craft and people need to work hard to be in it. Drag artists are not doing it for a laugh or to convince their friends, it is hard work and they put a lot of energy into their performance and their stage persona, relaxing once they are off stage.

You're missing the point. These males who are 'in character' as female are the oppressor class in character as the oppressed class. Just as Al Jolson was a white man 'in character' as a black man. No one is suggesting once he removed the boot polish he still 'lived as a black man'.

It is an oppressor group (male) appropriating and sending up the oppressed group (female). That is why it matters. That is why it is womanface.

In both cases (womanface/blackface) an oppressed group is 'sent up' and appropriated by the oppressor group. In both cases. Females, in case you didn't know, are oppressed by males. Females are the oppressed sex class and males the oppressor sex class. The oppressor sex class is appropriating, mocking, sending up and being in 'character' of the oppressed sex class. I don't know how else to explain it to make you understand.

whereas drag is all about the art of performance and theatre

So too, was blackface.

A stage act that lampooned cerebral palsy would be universally deplored. Why is a stage act that lampoons women any different?

Thank you@ThatBlackCat for clearly explaining your point of view.

I often can't understand sarcasm, and when people use words such as "hateful" and "enabler" and "disgusting" I get sidetracked by my dislike of those terms.

I shall consider what you've said, but need some sleep now.

Rainbows, sparkles and RuPaul have really done a number on the most incurious of women.

Blow enough sequins in their direction and they'll be so distracted by the shininess to ignore the wildly sinister male sexism behind it. Instead, they'll cheer it on and ask for more sequins because it's the cool thing to do.

Blacked up minstrels were also part of British culture once but we don't see them any more. What's the difference?

Says the bloke who was mansplaining female puberty on the other thread where he also wrote a lengthy diatribe trying to convince everyone that it's perfectly OK for a man impersonating a woman to accost a 14 year old girl in an M&S lingerie department.

What I object to is the box ticking by media organisations all the time.
Drag queens seem to crop up everywhere on the TV. They are too over represented.

To the people who say they are offended by drag because it is ''woman face'': I just can't get my head around this.

A drag queen uses outlandish make up and outfits.

It is meant to be over the top and in now way does it claim to represent women in general or to turn the performer into an actual woman...

It is just a show where the performer create a new, outrageous persona for themselves.

I am really staggered that in these days of wanting to 'cancel' everything so many people seem to have lost all perspective and sense of humour.

I feel the same. I have never liked drag queens … almost a phobia. I used to love Strictly when it first started but it has got more and more tedious so won’t be watching it at all this year.

You can't see that a hyper sexualised parody of women - faces, bodies, personality - is offensive to women?

It's certainly not a celebration of women.

@ThatBlackCat explains it perfectly. Your dismissive 'it's just humour' is exactly what was said by people defending the Black and White Minstrel Show back in the 60s and 70s - what's the harm in a bit of make-up, a few jokes and some dancing, eh?

Now here is some top notch misogyny!

Claiming women are too stupid to understand what's good for them because they are distracted by sequins!

God forbid they just have a different opinion than you without being stupid 🙄