This document summarizes an article and documentary about drag kings and drag queens. It finds that while drag kings and queens both challenge rigid gender norms, they differ in their approaches and experiences. Drag kings portrayed in the documentary explore masculinity through performance to experience freedom from female roles, while drag queens announce their identities as gay men to undermine divides between sexuality. Both use performance as a form of education to critique social standards of gender and sexuality.

1. What do We Know about DragKings?Teila BlanchfieldApril 1, 2011WRTG 3020 – 098

2. IntroductionThis presentation is an examination of the article Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes written by Leila J. Rupp, Verta Taylor and Eve Ilana Shapiro. Showing how drag kings and drag queens are both similar and different in their gender performanceThe presentation also draws from the documentary Venus Boyz, a movie based on different individuals who choose to live the life of drag. Showing how individual accounts into how drag makes them feel, and why they chose to perform drag

3. Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender MakesThree sociologists decided to study the differences between drag kings and drag queens Focusing on two groupsThe 801 Girls, a drag queen troupe in Key West, FloridaThe Disposable Boy Toys, a political feminist collective in Santa Barbara, CaliforniaThese are drag kings

4. Who are the authors?Verta TaylorLeila J. Rupp Eve Shapiro

5. Leila J. RuppLeila J. Rupp is a historian, feminist and professor in Feminist studies and Associate Dean of Social Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her interests of study include women's history, women's movements, sexuality and LGBT.

6. Verta TaylorVerta Taylor is a professor and Chair of the department of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her areas of interest include gender, qualitative research methods, and social movements.

7. Eve ShapiroEve Shapiro is an assistant professor of Sociology at Westfield State College. Her areas of specialization include social movements, gender and sexuality, deviance and social control, research methods, new technologies, classical and contemporary theory and social inequality.

8. Theoretical FramingThe existing literature on drag suggests that drag queen and drag king performances do not critique the binary system in similar waysBinary system: a system in which a society divides people into male and female gender roles, gender identities and attributes

9. The Argument“We argue that the transgressive personal gender and sexual identities of drag queens and drag kings influence and are influenced by the performance of drag and are key to understanding the boundary – and identity – deconstructive potential of drag.” Rupp et al pp 278

10. Important Definitions to KnowTransgender: referred to a wide range of gender non-conformity, including genderqueer and FTM identities.Genderqueer: claimed identity outside of the male/female binaryFTM: signified moving from a female to male gender of sexRupp et al pp 282

11. Research MethodsMultiple qualitative methodsThe 801 Girls Observing, tape recording and transcribing 50 drag performances, including the dialogue, music and audience interactions, collecting data on the production of the performances by attending weekly drag queen meetings, observing the performers in their dressing room, conducting semi- structured life histories of 12 performers, and remaining connected to the drag queens and field setting after completion of the original research. They also conducted informal conversations with 50 audience members at the shows which added to the data on audience responses, as did the coverage on local newspapers.The Disposable Boy ToysConducted and transcribed semi-structured interviews with 28 of 31 current and past members, an analysis of documents from DBT and from an annual conference called the international Drag King Extravaganza, content analysis of 200 hours of video-recorded drag performances from DBT and participant observation at meetings, rehearsals, workshops, and performances .

12. What They Found in the 801 Cabaret PerformancesThe 801 Cabaret (drag queens)They raise questions about ‘naturalness’ of gender and sexual identityThey are not female impersonators, they announce from the beginning that they are gay menThey interact with their audiences in aggressively sexual waysThey work to undermine the divide between heterosexual and homosexual by deliberately working to arouse desires outside audience members’ claimed sexualitiesThey extend their performance to their audience, in hope to arouse straight men by touching and foundling

13. What They Found in the Disposable Boy Toys PerformancesThe Disposable Boy Toys (drag kings)They conveyed messages about sexism, racism, body size, and militarism, as well as gender and sexualityThey explicitly critique binary categories of masculinity/ femininity and gay/straight This was done through acts about transsexual, genderqueer, and fluid identities, queer desire, and transgressive masculinities and femininities

14. Now that you understand the article, lets take a couple steps back……We will take a look at…..Drag KingsThe definition of kinging according to Rupp et alWho performs drag Why individuals choose the drag lifestyleThe transformation from female to maleDrag QueensDefinition according to Rupp et alThe findings Rupp et al found in Drag Queens and Drag Kings

15. Related findings were also drawn from the movie Venus Boys. A documentary based on different individual’s drag lifestyle.

16. Plot summary of Venus Boyz (2002)Meet a group of women who explore their masculine sides as "drag kings" in this offbeat documentary. Using a legendary Drag King Night in New York as a starting point, we follow some of the women into their lives, whether their drag persona is an identity they assume part-time or full-time. Drag kings in London and Zurich are also interviewed, including some who are experimenting with hormones to accelerate their masculinity. Venus Boyz

17. What is a Drag King?

18. Drag kinging includes female-bodied individuals performing masculinity, transgender indentified performers performing masculinity or femininity, and female identified individuals performing femininity, the latter known as ‘bio queens’.Rupp et al. pp 276

19. Who performs Drag?Anybody can choose to perform dragThere is no model or expectation an individual must follow to be capable of performing dragMany women carry “normal” lives outside their drag performancesSome have families, children, full time jobs

20. But why be a Drag King?Some individuals enjoy the act of performing as the opposite gender.It can be… Erotic, Exciting and ExhilaratingIndividuals enjoy the experience of being a man and becoming an alter ego.The exploration of choosing different personas as a man

21. But why be a Drag King continued…..It can be a vacation from being a woman.Stop smiling/ and stiffen upForget trying to impress othersNo need to act lady-likeDifferent attitudes and respect individuals gain becoming a male.People treat men differently than women.

22. What do individuals feel while performing Drag?A sense of….EmpowermentEroticismAn escape from everyday gender rolesIts fun and exhilaratingEnjoymentFeelings of belongingSelf expression

23. The Transformation?Typically part of the look….Facial hairBindingPackingclothingSome kings focus on mannerisms and clothing rather than facial featuresMany kings use both the outward presentation and attitude/mannerisms to come into their male character.

24. BindingPackingFacial HairClothing (the options are endless)

25. Becoming a manhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbRPd2axofg&feature=player_detailpage

26. Why are Drag Kings different from Drag Queens?

27. What is a Drag Queen?

28. Drag queens are gay men who perform in women’s clothing, although they are not necessarily female impersonators.Rupp et al. pp 276

29. DifferencesComing to dragGender performances how they underscore the social construction of gender and sexualitySexuality on stage

30. Coming to DragThe 801 CabaretGender transgression and same-sex sexual desire played an important role in coming to dragBeginning even before their early teensGender transgression included dressing in feminine or androgynous clothing, experimenting with make-up, and playing with “girls toys”.Use of flamboyant dressing as a masquerade that allows the drag queens to create new identities, that they are able to put on and take offAlthough there is cross-dressing at early ages, identifying as gay and same-sex desire is the most important factor in the implementation of a drag queen identity

31. Coming to DragThe Disposable Boy ToysExperienced drag identity transformation as a result of performing as a drag kingAlthough many women were butch or masculine beforeJoined in search of a drag community, performance opportunities and time with friends who were already involved

32. Performances of a Drag QueenDrag queens play with categories of sexuality out of their own histories and desires, but they announce that they are gay men with intact male genitaliaAnnounce they are gay, not female impersonators

33. Performances of a Drag KingDrag kings deliberately and consciously invoke questions about what is ‘real’ beneath the costumesDon’t announce sexual orientation

34. Article ConclusionsDrag kings and drag queens are very differentIn coming to dragThe different performance styles and how each group approaches sexuality on stageDrag kings and drag queens are also similarUse entertainment as a form of education to challenge hegemonic gender and heteronormativityPerformed gender shows the possibility for change in dismantling rigid and binary gender and sexual categories They both challenge gender and sexual systems

35. But what did you Learn?Throughout this presentation readers have seen how differentThere are a variety of reasons one may choose to perform dragStereotypes into categories is nonproductive because there is such a huge range of categories that there can be no one definitionJust like any other sub culture there are many different categories of peopleGender is undefined and its really what you make of it

36. Even Cartoons play with their sexuality, challenging gender norms…

37. ReferencesRupp, Leila J., Verta Taylor, and Eve Llana Shapiro. "Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes." Rpt. in Sexualities. 3rd ed. Vol. 13. 275-95. SAGE. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. <http://sex.sagepub.com/content/13/3/275>.Venus Boyz. Dir. Gabrielle Baur. Perf. Diane Torr, DrédGerestant and Del La Grace Volcano. First Run Features, 2002. Netflix. Netflix, Inc. Web. 1 Apr. 2011. <http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Venus_Boyz/60029213?trkid=2361637#height1783>.