I lived there for years and honestly never saw a single king perform, let along an entire show of kings until I moved, but there’s got to be some somewhere! I did see some awesome gender bending burlesque though - my guess is some of those performers are kings.

To me, it’s like if you told a costume designer to make costumes and makeup looks for a play where all the characters are animals. No one is going to literally look like an elephant or a gorilla or snake, it’s about how are you going to capture the essence of the animal in the overall “look.” A few months ago, I saw a…

I dunno, I went to all their instagram accounts and Goldie and Landon are serving some really interesting looks. These first two photos alone could win a challenge on Drag Race, easily. I honestly think that they just haven’t been given the chance and that there are some powerhouse talents like these out there that…

Meh. The idea that women are more aesthetically interesting ... is a statement pretty much always made by people who are attracted to women. I’d much rather look at masculinity and men and I love exaggerated performances of masculinity like zoot suiters, bikers, blue collar workers and (some) drag kings.

I do think drag for kings is less developed maybe.... I agree I’ve seen more artistry and creativity on the queen side, but I don’t think it has to do with the gender and more that the community around it is more developed.

There’s really something to be said for the conditioned male gaze. We find women more interesting to watch and spectate because we have been trained by visual culture to be interested in looking at women because it was a culture run by...you got it, men. Drag king’s might not be aesthetically normalized, because it…

I responded similarly above, but I will here again. I thought the same way until I went to King pageant and the kings were AMAZING. There is way more you can play up than I had considered before. These kings had amazing costumes, choreography, themed numbers, personality, everything. One of my friends is an awesome…

Totally agree - so maybe it just comes down to I haven’t seen a drag king that totally won me over performance wise? Or maybe there are more outlets for different types of drag queens and I am shoving drag kings all into the same hole?

I’ve seen a lot of boring/bad drag kings that seem like they didn’t put much effort into their acts. This led me to believe they just weren’t as fun to watch and that there must be much more to play with and explore for drag queens. Then I went to a king pageant and HOLY SHIT. These kings were AMAZING. It changed my…

I think drag is less about “passing” as the person of the opposite gender and more about taking masculinity or femininity to an extreme performance, or at least that’s the part that makes it entertaining and artful. Now there are drag queens with beards and honestly some of the best drag queens play up the femininity…

I’m not sure they do leave their male privilege behind - at the end of the night they can take off their womanface and go home. And unless they’re naturally flamboyant or femme when they’re out of character, they can travel home a lot more safely than the women in the audience. I’ve never understood how feminist blogs…

Why are we equating drag kings to lesbians, exclusively so? Just as there are straight drag queens, there are also straight drag kings.

Ummm, drag kings get less play because they don’t play into our heteronormative ideas about gender.
Drag queen market themselves as challenging gender norms, but in reality, the perform “female” traits in a way that is defined by heternomative standards (a focus on frivolous things, cattiness, social aggression, etc.).
…

There it is, just for you: “Lesbian identities have always been sidelined...we’ve always slid under the radar,” Julia Applegate says. “I don’t think people are as interested in what women do, period. I don’t think we’re as interesting to people because we’re not as valued.” 

This is a really good point.

Thank you for your much-appreciated perspective. Especially about what Third World poverty is like. Anyplace where you can still get cholera is a whole lot different from Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta.

And remember the context of the Peace Corps’ creation: the height of the Cold War, when Soviet Communism was very attractive to newly independent Third World states eager for material assistance uncontaminated by colonialism. The Soviets positioned themselves as revolutionary brothers sincerely looking to help black…

Or disentangle them from the capitalist world-system (i.e., World Bank loans that prioritize debt service over social services) and let these countries sort it out in their own way.

Oh absolutely douche bag behavior to interrupt and I loathe Damon because of this very video. I always thought he was a great guy then I saw this.

This is a clip from a t.v. show - Project Greenlight-where contestants compete for money and a chance to direct a film funded by HBO.