Are they really that different?

Throughout my life, my exposure to drag queen culture has been minimal, at best. When I sat down to watch Season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I literally had no idea what to expect.

Within the first ten minutes of the show, I grew to recognize that drag is, above all, a performance art. I was surprised at how absurdly over-the-top these people are; they live their lives as if they are perpetually on stage, existing as if a part of a campy musical theater production. It really bothered me at first. I probably said “this is ridiculous” about five times, out loud, while watching the opening clips.

But then I remembered something Butler said about transvestites (which can be applied more broadly to anyone who rejects their ‘biological’ sex): “Indeed, the transvestite’s gender is as fully real as anyone whose performance complies with social expectations” (527). It struck me then that the only difference between people who play into conventional heteronormative stereotypes and people who choose to make money as drag queens is that the latter are simply more conscious of their performance than the former. They put on and take off their drag, just as everyone else-- in certain contexts-- puts on and takes off their gendered identities.