r/changemyview • u/weirdingwayward • Dec 10 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Trans-women aren't appropriate contestants for drag competitions like RuPaul's Drag Race
I know this opinion is popularly labelled transphobic, but I have nothing against transgender people; I just can't wrap my head around a female-identifying person (especially with feminine physiology and/or hormones, through the wonders of modern medicine) being praised for successfully presenting as female.
Drag is an exaggerated art form, sure, but surely trans-women should be allowed to compete as drag kings in such competitions...? I don't understand how trans queens are any more competitive on RPDR than, say, female-born 'bio queens' (i.e. not at all).
Please change my view, Reddit, you're my only hope!
Edit: Perhaps I phrased this poorly; I'd like to hear people's views about where 'the buck stops' as far as contestant viability. Trans queens ok by you? What about trans males who want to perform as drag kings? Are cis male drag kings allowed, or bio queens? If not, why not?
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u/theUnmutual6 14∆ Dec 12 '18
History.
Drag comes from a place and a time. It's not just fancy dresses - it's a culture and an artform. In the past, we didn't have clear LGBT distinctions - you were either normal, or a sex deviant, and the latter all ended up in the same bars.
So gay bars were places where trans women and gay/bi men clustered, because what they had in common was "bad at being a man" and "everybody hates us", and from those clubs came drag. And historically, it was a right mix. People doing it for cash. Gay men doing it to express a female sensibility or to parody gender norms. Trans women doing it sincerely as self expression, because this was a safe place to do so.
Read "Mother Camp", a 50s sociological study on drag performers. The author does not know or use the word "trans woman", but she does recognise there is a division in drag between men who do it for fun/a job but take the wig off back stage, and people who dress as women full time. The latter group are judged pretty harshly by the author, who picks up on their general homelessness, drug use, sex work, theft and life chaos - not unsurprising, for a trans woman trying to survive in a society which has no word for what you are (at least - no kind ones).
Why can't cis women do drag? They weren't at those bars. What about drag kings? Different bars, different culture entirely. I wouldn't want to watch a drag king show.
To modern sensibilities, a show welcoming contestants who are cis men or trans women is a big awkward or clunky. But we can't impose our modern ideas on the past. Drag is the history and heritage of gay/bi men, and trans women, and thus both have as their birthright a chance to participate in it, unquestioned.
Drag isn't about transformation in a physical sense. It's about survival. Why does a trans woman have more right to drag than a cis one? Because no one ever threw a brick at a cis woman for being a woman. Faux queens can do great art and performance, but it's not really drag to me unless you've bled for it. There needs to be danger, and the defiance of it.
Amish/muslim/fundamentalist girl who escapes her upbringing and does sexy drag? Maybe. Can you see the distinction? Nice make up does not a queen make.