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What Is a Drag Queen?
Maybe not what you think
In all of this ridiculous trans panic— and now the banning of drag shows — it has come to my attention that millions of Americans don’t know anything about drag. At all.
First off, let’s go over what drag queens are NOT. Drag queens are not:
- strippers
- pedophiles
- trans women (generally)
In general, drag queens are gay men who like to cosplay as women. These are usually gay fellas who spend their days at work as typical gay men, but on weekends, or in the evening, or maybe at the occasional library reading or drag brunch, they prefer to dress up and act like women. If they’re really good at it, they’ll get on a stage to perform in front of other people. Drag is performance art. Not indoctrination.
In order to appear as women, drag queens will spend HOURS covering their faces in makeup, pulling on shapewear and tights — maybe choosing to tuck a little hip or booty padding in there—then a gown over that — often with long sleeves, especially if they don’t care to shave their arms — and finally, they’ll crown the whole illusion with the perfect wig and…
