Is This Drag?
By: Courtney Holliday
It would be easier to ask, “What isn’t drag?” Love of fashion, self expression, challenging societal norms, promoting LGBTQ+ visibility and acceptance? Exploring gender identity, connecting with communities, and advocating for social justice? This is drag.
Drag is one of the most well known ways that LGBTQ+ community melds with fashion and beauty. We all know that fashion trends are born from fashionistas of color, often queer and trans women, and those trends are showcased on one runway or another from high fashion spaces to your local dive bar. The amazing thing about fashion is that it can be absolutely fabulous no matter the price tag. Drag performers represent the fluidity, price range, and talent that goes into creating and wearing an outfit to the fullest extent.
One of the (if not the) first drag performers that we know of was William Dorsey Swann. Swann was a formerly enslaved man who held private parties in the 1800’s called “drags.” This comes from the phrase “grand rag” which is an older term used for masquerade balls. These parties drew the attention of the authorities and were eventually reported on, spreading the news to the public that there were Black men getting together dressed in “female attire.” Drag has always been an act of resistance, and the fashion has always been fantastical.
Many drag performers make their own garments and teach others how to sew and mend as well. If they outsource, it is often to other creatives, makers, and community members. Drag performers hold makeup classes, teach how to walk in heels, fundraise for local organizations through their shows, and always show the audience a good time while doing it.
The drag and trans communities go hand in hand while exploring gender, providing resources to their communities, and showing up for each other. While drag has many altruistic and community-based aspects, it is also just plain fun. It’s entertaining, witty, fantastical, and magical. It’s a performance. You’ll laugh, cry, cheer, and hold out your dollar bills in a room full of like-minded people, and that can be so healing.
If you’re interested in reading and learning more about drag, here are some books that Readin’ recommends:
The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag by Sasha Velour
Don’t Be a Drag by Skye Quinlan
Just One of the Boys: Female-to-Male Cross-Dressing on the American Variety Stage by Gillian M. Rodger
Second Night Stand by Fay Stetz-Waters and Karelia Stetz-Waters
If you’re attending your first drag show this Pride season, here are some vocab words to learn:
Queen: A person, often masculine in daily life, who dresses and behaves in an exaggeratedly feminine way as part of a performance.
King: A person, often feminine in daily life, who dresses and behaves in an exaggeratedly masculine way as part of a performance.
Drag Mother: A mentor for a new drag queen, often the first person to help them get into drag and helping them along their journey. You can also have drag siblings, etc.
Drag House: A chosen family or group of like minded performers, often using the name of their drag mother. Example: Alyssa Edwards is a drag mother and she is the head of The House of Edwards.
Spilling the Tea: Sharing gossip or sharing your true opinion on a situation.
Throwing Shade: Making an unkind remark about someone (often another performer), or a joke at their expense.
Tuck: The process of concealing genitalia beneath clothing, often in order to create a more “feminine” silhouette.
Reading: When someone gives a witty insult, usually something that is hilariously true or “reading them like a book.” When one performer is reading another, people will often say that “the library is open.”
Support your local drag performers this Pride season, and all year long! Bring twenties to the gig, share their platforms on socials, talk up their shows. Drag shows are often safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community to let loose. The performers and venues provide those safe spaces for us to laugh, connect, and sing at the top of our lungs.