END OF THE road for old-school drag queens, the headline in today's Independent solemnly intones."The misogynistic, wig-wearing female impersonator is being replaced by a sassier, more sophisticated act," the article continues, as if this is a good thing. "Cabarets and clubs across Britain are dispensing with 'old school' drag artists in their thick make-up, grandiose wigs and extravagant outfits. They are being replaced by a new generation of sassy and sophisticated young men in make-up who are rejecting the 'misogyny' of the grotesque female impersonator."
Misogyny? Sophisticated young men in make-up? Forgive me whilst I retrieve my bloody fist from my newly smashed-in computer screen, and proceed to wring the neck of the homophobic/self-loathing moron who penned this piece. Someone called Paul Burston, who apparently has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the gay club scene (that's something to boast about is it?) says this: "There's alternative drag now. The old school drag was very misogynistic and just not funny. Now there are acts such as Tina C, who is very satirical, Johnny Woo who isn't pretending to be a woman, and Pam Ann, who is actually a woman doing a drag act. But there's no one since then taking traditional drag in a positive progression." There's so many things wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to start. Old school drag isn't misogynistic, and it is funny. The only people likely to find it offensive are prissy, self-hating queens with a serious sense of humour deficiency. Someone like Paul Burston, who says things like this: "It's happening because young gay kids are more assimilated now. So instead of just having gay friends they will have straight friends as well, so they have to go somewhere that entertains everyone. They don't want to see someone doing boob and fanny jokes. It's just boring." Yeah, so are you mate. You're a big, fat sell-out too. What you're actually advocating is the wholesale destruction of gay culture, just because it embarrasses you in front of your precious straight friends. Gay youth aren't assimilated. They're conforming to heterosexual norms in order to protect themselves from an increasingly homophobic society, and an increasingly homophobic gay mainstream, which puts heterosexual masculinity on a pedestal and worships it.
This is nonsense. The old-school drag queen was very funny and I could reel off a list of dozens.
ReplyDeleteThe gay scene has been completely destroyed over the past 15 years in the name of us being 'assimilated'. Fine and dandy in theory. But in practice all the safe spaces have all gone and have been turned over to a narrow rich elite of mainly young white gay men who are most profitable.
If you doubt this, just have a night out in Manchester's gay village with a transexual friend and see how much abuse you get.
Most people haven't yet realised the culture we have lost. Built over centuries and dating back at least to the 'molly houses'. All gone in little more than a decade thanks to political correctness
It is insulting to female impersonators, drag queens and panto dames going back hundreds of years to say none of them were funny. It only needs a moment's thought to realise what an incredibly stupid generalisation it is.
ReplyDeleteBut it's just another example of the rather sinister rewriting of LGBT history. It suits the purposes of the gay metropolitan elite, super charities, marketing people and businesses to perpetuate the myth that things have never been so good.
In fact talk to gay men and lesbians aged over 35 and you'll hear a different story. Many will tell you that there is less community spirit and no politics now, fewer safe spaces, a rise in homophobia, different ages don't mix and there is more racism and ageism on the gay scene. That there are much higher than average problems with alcohol and drugs, an HIV time bomb ticking amongst young men, no quality gay media anymore and very little representation on TV except for the occasional property-developing interior designers on Homes Under the Hammer.
But hey we're a market ripe for exploitation. So that's OK.
"It's happening because young gay kids are more assimilated now. So instead of just having gay friends they will have straight friends as well, so they have to go somewhere that entertains everyone. They don't want to see someone doing boob and fanny jokes. It's just boring."
ReplyDeleteThis statement totally misses reality on a broader scale. Ka-os, I'm frothing at the mouth over such stupidity just like you. Gay people having straight people for friends is nothing new -- as such, that can't really generalize that as 'assimilation'. It is very possible to have a sense of individuality AND community... give us more credit than that.
Moreover, as I find here in my area, gays are generally encountering tolerance. More and more straight people are seen mingling in traditionally gay areas and having a good time. Businesses see this as a whole new opportunity, and as a result, they change right along with the demographic. To this day, I watch as more and more shops spring up in the gayborhood that want EVERYONE to buy, not just gays.
It is an inherent price that we pay for tolerance, but that does not mean that gays are being assimilated. Luckily here in Texas, that doesn't scare away the fabulous, wig-wearing drag queens that we love so much!