Yes, But What IS It?

It's all well and good to find interest in something, but you really need to pinpoint exactly what this something is. Is it a clear cut definition, or is it something a little more subjective? This helps narrow down the search as to what precisely we need to be looking for, and what we need to expand on. So what, strictly speaking, are drag queens, and what precisely do they do? Pretty interesting, actually.

 Oxford online dictionary defines 'drag queen', an informal noun, as 'a man who ostentatiously dresses up in women's clothes'. That is to say, a man who adorns himself in over the top women's clothing in a caricature fashion. However, it is worth pointing out that a drag queen is an entirely separate entity from a male transvestite, who dresses up in women's clothing for their own pleasure; a drag queen, on the other hand, does so in the name of entertainment purposes.

 A drag queen is an adopted persona, undertaken by an actor to perform and entertain. A transvestite just goes about his day in clothing typically suited for females; simple as.

(Left to right) Richard O'Brien, a transvestite cult film writer,
and Aaron Coady, alias Sharon Needles, winner April 2012 of RuPaul's Drag Race

 But why choose the word 'drag' to describe such an out there profession, as it were? The word 'drag' is generally used as a descriptive word to go with boring things or people, so why slap the name onto an aesthetic paired with certain actions that is anything but boring? This is where it gets subjective. The word 'drag', according to Wikipedia's entry on drag (clothing), is:

'used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender'.

 That goes straight back to the paragraph concerning the meaning of 'drag queen' in general. I also highlighted key words and phrases that really stuck out to me; for example, 'carrying symbolic significance' highly suggests to me that the outfit is not chosen at random, that everything is planned out. This persona that the actor has adopted, is a well thought out character, perhaps even with a background to create some degree of believeability, depending, of course, on how far the actor wants to go with it. In regards to the believeability, this adds a sense of relation between character and audience members. This helps to add comic effect, and, although, judging by looks alone, one may not initially feel there is any deeper meaning, bear in mind that the caricature is also treated as satirical, whether to society itself as a whole, or to other in the spotlight celebrities.

John Linehan as
pantomime dame,
May McFettridge

 The very names that the actor chooses for his drag alter ego is from puns or named after others. For example, American drag queen Sharon Needles is a word play of the term 'sharing needles', an unhygienic intravenous drug past time, created when Aaron Coady and his brother attempted to come up with an offensive. Another example is local Belfast pantomime dame, May McFettridge, whereupon her first name was in homeage to John Linehan's mother-in-law, and the surname was 'thought up' in a pulled-out-of-the-hat situation.

As I stated previously, some drag queens will carry more symbolic significance than others, but many choose their looks and general personalities for the use of satire; satire, created by the ancient Greeks, in which certain aspects of society or people etc., are ridiculed, often in the form of comedy, particular in modern days, and are gross exaggerations of what it is they are ridiculing (see this video on a more clear cut definition and differences between comedy, tragedy, and satire). Put simply, the drag queen persona has a deeper meaning than what may meet the eye; perhaps a grotesque exaggeration of society, say. But many different queens exist for many different reasons, it is important to note.

 I brought up May McFettridge as an example earlier, who is a pantomime dame based here in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Funny that, as one of the debated origins for the word 'drag' apparently comes from theatre slang, of the long skirts or dresses trailing on the floor. You will almost always find at least one character in a pantomime, a theatre show, where it is a man dressed up ostentatiously as a woman, so I thought it was worth noting at least once. While on that note, another possible origin for the word 'drag' actually comes from an abbreviation, which is Dressed As Girl; 'drab' being Dressed As Boy, for the female counterparts, however is much less as well known.

 The word drag on its own identifies meaningful clothing assigned to one particular gender, worn by the other. When used to create the manifestation of a drag queen, we soon discover a series of pretty out there caricatured women; entire characters or alter egos created by actors as a form of niche entertainment and performance. Now that the meanings are clear enough to delve deeper into the world of drag, we can look into precisely why it's done.

 Are you excited? 'Cause I certainly am.