In 1968, Esther Newton work was one of the first major anthropological that studied the homosexual community in the United States. Newton’s PhD thesis “the drag queens; a study in urban anthropology” examined the experiences, social interaction and the culture of the drag queens. In various kinds of theatrical settings there were men who dressed and performed as women, or as an expression of their sexual identity (Newton, 1968).
Later in 1972, she wrote the book “Mother Camp: female impersonators in America”. In this book Newton had spent time with drag queens for two years, she went with them to the loud bars they appeared, the chaotic dressing rooms where the homosexual men transformed themselves as women and the cheap apartments that the
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Drag can be considered central to queer theory itself since it has ascended in contemporary academic theoretical venues as the singular approach to gay and lesbian studies. Contreras explains that drag symbolizes many important and conflicted questions regarding the modern urban queer identities and gay male identities in particular. The drag queen can represent a lively fixture in a gay parade or a homophobic representation in mass culture. In this book he wrote some statements about drag that function as queer common …show more content…
It is hard to imagine drag not consisting of a type of stage activity and of being a part of a theatrical performance. Contreras also points in Ester Newton’s book, Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America. In framing drag’s importance to queer theory, it is also important to consider drag practice also a particular expression of racial identify (Contreras, 2005). In this book, Contreras explains that drag´s relationship to sexual and racial identities are discussed in a context in which relatively is visible academic work about drag, such as Marjorie Garber’s books Vested Interest: Cross Dressing and Cultural Anxiety where she elides these
In Deborah E. McDowell’s essay Black Female Sexuality in Passing she writes about the sexual repression of women seen in Nella Larsen‘s writings during the Harlem Renaissance, where black women had difficulty expressing their sexuality. In her essay, she writes about topics affecting the sexuality of women such as, religion, marriage, and male dominated societies. In Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif” there are examples of women who struggle to express their sexuality. The people in society judge women based off their appearance, and society holds back women from expressing themselves due to society wanting them to dress/act a certain way.
Rawi Hage’s novel, Cockroach, is filled with cold, irony, hate, love, homosexuality and violence. Judy Ruzylo’s documentary, “The Order of Things”, presents the testimonies of people who chose to make a gender change in their lives. These changes can affect them in both positive and negative ways. By analyzing Hage’s novel and Ruzylo’s documentary, one can find similarities between some characters. For instance, Farhoud, a friend of Hage’s protagonist, is homosexual. Furthermore, the documentary is based on gender change and sexual orientation of the interviewed men and women. Although Farhoud and the documentary interviewees might feel comfortable in their way-of-being, society will not accept them. People are afraid of change; it’s a human nature to want to remain in the comfort zone. Whenever someone sees an individual being different they will react negatively due to their confusion. Getting excluded of one’s own home and losing loved ones, not being respected and the use of violence, and the loss of identity are three of many consequences that follow the discrimination of these people in today’s public.
As the stock market booms and society prospers, women’s fashion undergoes drastic change during the 1920’s. The hems of skirts and dresses rise to newer, more promiscuous level. The traditional long hair, supposedly the crowning glory of a women, is cut shoulder-length or shorter. Defined waistlines are lost, giving way to a shapeless and loose fitting style of clothing. Manufacturing of cosmetics emerges during this decade, and a variety of products become popular among women. The famous Gabrielle Chanel, more commonly known as “Coco Chanel,” introduces her renowned perform in the late 1920s (Yarwood 139). Peggy Whitley, dean at Lone Star College, sums up the newfound cosmetic craze in her American Cultural article: “Powder, lipstick, rouge, eyebrow pencil, eye shadow, colored nails. They had it all!” Associated with the distinct new styles of the era, the iconic “flapper girl” is born. This term is often used for women who donned the edgy style of the time, particularly with a defiant and independent outlook on life. Outside the exciting and rebellious life of the flapper girl, everyday clothing also experiences significant change. Relaxed sport’s attire bec...
To be labeled as a feminist is such a broad classification therefore it is divided into various subsections, one such subsection is known as hip hop feminism in which Ruth Nicole closely associates herself with throughout this essay I will thoroughly discuss this form of feminism. Ruth Nicole is a black woman that categorizes herself as a girl, by her definition a girl is far from independent. Black girlhood discusses the shared experiences of the ever-changing body, which has been marked as vibrant, Black, and female, along with memories and representations of being female. As a result, Ruth Nicole wrote Black Girlhood Celebration in order to share her personal and political motivations of working with black girls within the community. A conversation that is not often articulated about due to a language barrier. In which this discussion accurately details a means to work with black girls in such a way that does not control their body or pilfer black female individuality. Under those circumstances, Brown believes that black girls are being exploited for their physique through the use of music and instructed to conform to white norms constructed by society.
...sented as more than just deviance, but a way in to comparable differences to what are the societal and sexual norms of “typical” attractions and behaviorisms. This is the outlying interdisciplinary approach to the nebulous idea of queer ecology. In sum, clarifying the definition of queer and how queer ecology influenced and diverted from more biased structures to ecology has a positive effect on future studies, despite its own shortcomings. It provides a more fluid and approachable, albeit complex framework for many people.
...of sexuality in the public arena. As they left the hallowed domestic sphere, women increasingly perceived sexuality as a political, and not simply a private, issue. (4)
Jodie Medd’s The Cambridge Companion to Lesbian Literature (2015) will function as the key text, since the book includes chapters on the origin of lesbian literature, its development over the decades, and mentions various examples on contemporary literature and how the lesbian identity is portrayed in this canon. The different chapters in The Cambridge Companion to Lesbian Literature are written by several different authors which will give a much wider view on the different matters within lesbian literature. Aside from the Cambridge Companion, I will also look at Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949), to reinforce my research with one other feminist perspective on lesbian identity and stereotypes. De Beauvoir, for example, sees “choosing to be a lesbian” as a convenience for women that want to benefit from their masculine tendencies to gain more power. Other texts will function as insight from different backgrounds and perspectives to either strengthen the stereotyping of the lesbian identity, or will shed a light on contrasts between the manner in which lesbian women are depicted in historical works and contemporary
She sheds a light of how early Black feminist scholars such as Collins have been criticized for relying too heavily on colonial ideology around the black female body. Subjectively neglecting the contemporary lived experience of Black women. Critiques such as these highlights the Black female agency in the representation of the body. viewing this as a human and sexual rights or health perspective has been lending to the contemporary Black feminist debates about the representation of Black female bodies and Black eroticism within the culture of
Edward Brown II conceptualizes Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear The Mask”, and uses it to define his study. “Contemporary African American gay men wear many masks as a means of survival, but beneath the mask lays no vestige of a healthy identity.” Brown tackles black masculinity and the oppressive and crippling parts of black culture that keep black gay and bisexual men captive. Edward Brown II, a research consultant, holds a Master of Arts in African and African American Studies and specializes in psychology and gender theory. His case study asks if contemporary African American gay men are complicit and in many ways the case agents for the same homophobia that oppresses them. Brown questions if America’s history of racism and homophobia has robbed them (black gay men) of the possibility of self esteem and self
Transvestism is defined as wearing opposite gender clothes. Other differences are also present, which assists to identify the distinction that is present as well when discussing queer style and transvestism. The use of colours in dresses and the materials of the dress with the way it is carried have important meaning for identifying the differences. The use of bright colours with silky, shiny, and tight material represents features and aspects of queer style. However, on the other hand, cross-dressing is not restricted to colours and materials (Purdy, 2004). Transvestites wear all type and all sorts of dresses that start with skirts and end at complete opposite gender dresses. Transvestism occurs not because the person endures some psychological issue or wants to show themselves as different, but it is a sense of
Cheerleaders with beards strolled arm in arm down the street. "Women" with three-foot-high green bee-hives giggled at silver-lame suited space boys. Six-foot-five divas draped in sequins and heels and attitudes that extended around them like magical auras sauntered along, too beautiful, too glamorous, to even notice the ordinary people around them. But if a camera, glinting in the sunlight, caught their eyes, they turned fiercely, like dragons with glittering scales, not to attack, but to pose. Some over nine feet tall in full regalia, they were totems of defiance against any attempt at definition. This was Wigstock, a festival of drag and a window into the recent disappearance of "Truth" from the West's intellectual landscape.
Thesis: Drag is big and larger than life, anyone would want to be a queen for a day, man or woman.
In this essay, I will discuss the concept of heteronormativity. I intend to elaborate on this concept using the reading by Mumbi Machere: Opening a Can of Worms: A Debate on Female Sexuality in the Lecture Theatre. I will also give an account of how this concept makes sense to me and how this concept proved relevant to how I was raised.
Somerville, Siobhan. "Scientific Racism and the Invention of the Homosexual Body." Gender, Sex, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University, 2009. 284-99. Print.
Fashion is a form of non-verbal communication, expressing various aspects of an individual’s life and character. If it is true that ‘clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society,’ (Twain, 1927, pg6) then a woman can make herself a man through fashion. Society constructs an image of what is masculine or feminine and, although those who choose to cross genders may believe themselves to be individual and out of the mould of what is considered the norm, they are more often than not subconsciously following society’s ideal of femininity versus masculinity by using society’s definition of this as a basis for their individuality. However, society’s expectations may also portray a message much more than indicated by the individual. Cross-dressing in entertainment has shown what is entailed to dress as another gender and sets expectations for society. This can be seen in the James Franco cover of the transgendered magazine ‘Candy’ and the Lady Gaga cross-dressing performance at the VMAs.