The first person known to describe himself as "the queen of drag" was William Dorsey Swann, born enslaved in Hancock, Maryland, who in the 1880s started hosting drag balls in Washington, DC attended by other men who were formerly enslaved, and often raided by the police, as documented in the newspapers.
History of drag United States First drag balls However this is not always the case, because there are also biokings, bio-queens, and female queens, which are people who perform their own biological sex through a heightened or exaggerated gender presentation. Drag kings are women who assume a masculine aesthetic. Some argue that, because a drag queen is defined as a man portraying a woman, transgender women cannot be drag queens. In the drag queen world today, there is an ongoing debate about whether transgender drag queens are actually considered "Drag Queens". Many drag performers refer to themselves as drag artists, as opposed to drag queens, as some contemporary forms of drag have become nonbinary. The term tranny has been adopted by some drag performers, notably RuPaul, and the gay male community in the United States, but it is considered offensive to most transgender and transsexual people. You can call me Regis and Kathie Lee I don't care! Just so long as you call me." ĭrag queens are sometimes called transvestites, although that term also has many other connotations than the term drag queen and is not much favored by many drag queens themselves. Other drag performers, like RuPaul, seem to be completely indifferent to which pronoun is used to refer to them. Some drag queens may prefer to be referred to as " she" while in drag and desire to stay completely in character.
Pabllo Vittar, famous Brazilian drag queen American drag queen RuPaul once said, "I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?" He also said, "I don't dress like a woman I dress like a drag queen!" Alternative terms įemale impersonation has been and continues to be illegal in some places, which inspired the drag queen José Sarria to hand out labels to his friends reading, "I am a boy", so he could not be accused of female impersonation. At the peak of his career he was one of the most sought after and highest paid actors in the world. Due to that circumstance, some men became famous as "female impersonators", the most notable being Julian Eltinge. During the era of vaudeville it was considered immodest for women to appear on stage. This tradition continued for centuries but began to be less prevalent as motion pictures became popular. This meant male actors would play female roles during theatrical performances. There was little to no gender equity then and women held a lower social status. Female impersonator įemale impersonation can be traced back at least as far as ancient Greece. Drag is known to break down gender norms and can thus be seen as 'gender bending'. Drag has been argued to be an over-expression of the stereotypical female look.
Trans men who dress like drag kings are sometimes termed trans kings. Examples of drag kings include Landon Cider. Drag queens' counterparts are drag kings: performers, usually women, who dress in exaggeratedly masculine clothing. Cisgender female drag queens are sometimes called faux queens or bioqueens, though critics of this practice assert that faux carries the connotation that the drag is fake, and that the use of bioqueen exclusively for cisgender females is a misnomer since trans-feminine queens exhibit gynomorphic features. Examples of trans-feminine drag queens, sometimes called trans queens, include Monica Beverly Hillz and Peppermint. In a 2018 article, Psychology Today stated that drag queens are "most typically gay cisgender men (though there are many drag queens of varying sexual orientations and gender identities)". For much of history, drag queens were men, but in more modern times, cisgender and trans women, as well as non-binary people, also perform as drag queens. It may have been based on the term "grand rag" which was historically used for a masquerade ball. The origin of the term drag is uncertain the first recorded use of drag in reference to actors dressed in women's clothing is from 1870.
Drag queens from Buenos Aires in 1995, advertising a nightclub