Life is a drag

As some of you out there may or may not know, the Queer community is chock full of subcultures that make us diverse and colourful. One of the cultures that tends to get the most spotlight — and rightfully so — is the Drag community.

The Drag community is a subdivision of the Queer community that consists of female and male impersonators that cross-dress to convey a persona that they are performing as.

The Drag community gets quite a few
misconceptions about them, simply
because not a lot of people understand
the structure behind it.

Drag is a type of performance art like any other stage production and it takes a lot of courage to get up on stage – in heels I might add –, and perform to a venue full of people.

Female impersonators, or Drag Queens, are typically men who take on a female persona and dress up in that character’s clothing. Once in the Drag Queen persona, the man underneath the dress has disappeared and the woman on the outside comes to life. Drag Queens also pick a name that tries to fit into three categories: a play on one’s own name such as Roberta Rockhard, an homage to a celebrity such as Marilyn Moreblow or a type of sexual innuendo such as Sofonda Cox. Each Drag Queen then takes on their name and uses it to their full advantage in performance, whether it is lip syncing to bubble gum pop music or performing Drag stand-up comedy.

In contrast, Drag Kings are typically women who try to fit into the stereotypical male ideal, spoofing hyper-personas, such as gangster, Guido or country superstar.

Once the Drag Queen or King is in full costume, also known as “face,” you should refer to them by their Drag pronouns and names. The performance aspect of Drag is what most of society is familiar with and the goal is to entertain.

As a frequent Drag-show watcher, I must admit that it can be a little intimidating for first-timers to get out to the Drag bar and enjoy the show, but once you have crossed that line into the dark side, there is no turning back! Ask my roommates, who I had to convince on hands and knees to come with me, but once they were there, ended up loving every minute of it!

The WLU Rainbow Centre will be putting on their own Drag Show right here on campus at Wilf’s on Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. so if any of you first-timers out there want to experience the Drag life, please come out and show your support!