On Season 3, Episode 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, popular drag queen, Mimi Imfurst, fought to stay in the competition during the Lip Sync for Your Life elimination performance. In the middle of the number, Mimi Imfurst ducked underneath fellow queen, India Ferrah, picked them up on their shoulders, and carried them on the stage. At the end of the performance, RuPaul eliminated Mimi Imfurst and said famous quote, “drag is not a contact sport.” How is manliness exemplified when cisgender, queer men are dressed up as women? The show RuPaul’s Drag Race is an American reality competition show that casts contestants to compete to become “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and win other monetary and leisure prizes. The drag queens each episode have beauty, …show more content…
This show has span 10 seasons and has multiple spin offs including RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars and Drag U. The majority of the drag queens casted for the show identify as men, while over the years some have transitioned and now identify and transwomen.
(Picture of current Season 10 contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race)
Infamous New York City drag queen and runner up for Season 9 of Drag Race, Peppermint, became the first openly trans woman contestant on the show. This should be celebrated however it calls into question why it took nine seasons for an openly trans woman to be casted. RuPaul, host and famous drag queen, recently interviewed with The Guardian and was asked about the role of transwomen in the drag scene. “Drag loses its sense of danger and its sense of irony once it’s not men doing it, because at its core it’s a social statement
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Nardi defines gay male friendships “as a political statement, since at the core of the concept of friendship is the idea of “being oneself” in a cultural context that may not approve of that self. The contestants of the show identify their relationships as a “sisters in drag” and as a sisterhood. In the beginning of the show, the destruction and negativity of these relationships were focused on greater than the positivity and healthiness of them now in later seasons. The negativity projected in these relationships between contestants can be explained in the authored literature titled “The Association Between Gay Men's Stereotypic Beliefs About Drag Queens and Their Endorsement of Hypermasculinity.” This piece investigates the negative stereotypes gay men reinforce about drag queens. These stereotypes affirm hypermasculinity as superior within the gay male community using three functions: have little or no interaction with drag queens (experimental-schematic function), have a peer group consisting largely of other overtly masculine gay men (self-expressive function), and distance himself from the behavior of drag queens (defensive function). This can be explained in relation to Nardi’s identification of gay male friendships as political. Gay male relationships can be healthy and deconstruct the normative stereotypes gay men are pressured and bullied because of. Gay men do however perpetuate the divisiveness of
The concept of masculinity is considered as the qualities and characteristics of a man, typical what is appropriate to a man. In this article, A Community Psychology of Men and Masculinity: Historical and Conceptual Review, The author Eric S. Mankowski and Kenneth I. Maton, analyze four main themes: "Men as gendered beings, the privilege and damage of being a masculine man, men as a privileged group, and men’s power and subjective powerlessness. The second and fourth themes are described as
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
Hegemonic masculinity is the belief in the existence of a culturally normative ideal of male behavior. This ideal among other things includes the belief that men should be big, strong, and athletic. Sports, especially contact sports, reinforce this idea, as an athlete is seen as the ideal of what it means to be a man. The general belief associated with gay men is that they posses none of these traits and are thought to be feminine. These normative beliefs are not the case and are actually st...
Stop for a moment and think what if homophobia didn’t really mean what we think it means. What if it really meant the opposite? Michael S. Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” explains that homophobia is actually the fear of being perceived as gay. Yes, this might come as a shock to some people, but let’s see why this actually might make sense. This essay discusses that men in order to look as manly as possible, they act in very different ways, and sometimes they even exaggerate their behaviors (103). According to Kimmel men are afraid of being humiliated by other men and they would rather jeopardize their health just to preserve their masculinity (105). The author states that society has a great impact on how one should behave in order to be perceived e real men. That’s why I deeply agree with Kimmel’s general idea that homophobia is actually the fear of being
Aaron Devor’s essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” describes how despite popular belief, gender and sex are not directly related and how social norms affect individual’s choice of gender. Devor‘s main argument is that gender is not determined by genitalia, but instead by the individual's own choices. Michael Kimmel’s essay “Masculinity as Homophobia” claims that gender equality is a positive thing for males and that social norms force men to act a certain way. Kimmel’s main argument is that men are always having to protect their masculinity in order to prevent themselves from appearing weak. Both authors present compelling arguments for both gender equality and for how social norms influence individuals’ gender choice. However, the two authors approach the same topic in different ways. Kimmel takes a more laid-back approach to the topic by using simple words and a conversational tone that relates to the casual gender sociologist. Devor writes a more sophisticated essay using complex terms and a more formal tone that relates to the serious sociologist that research gender studies.
And this exact same message is being shared, perhaps in different ways, all throughout the world; as young men are continuously bombarded with this indication that somehow any feminine quality should be repressed. Society, through avenues of media and other propaganda, has formed a way of thinking for men that causes them, despite always having these feelings internally, to put on an act which inhibits them from openly expressing any type of femininity, especially in public. In Michael S. Kimmel’s work, Masculinity as Homophobia, he reveals the great secret of all men: We are afraid of other men. Kimmel urges the reader to realize that men are grouped int... ...
For example, “sociological and popular understanding of gay and lesbian relationships has been greatly distorted by the false presumption that only heterosexual relationships are normal ways of expressing sexual intimacy and love” (Andersen 1997, 95). This explains how society helps in influencing and identifying people sexual identities throughout their lifetime. Andersen admits that “heterosexual identity includes the belief that men have an overpowering sex drive and that women are considered more loving, soft and are link to sex [… and] contemporary sexual attitudes are shaped by phallocentric thinking-that which sees men as powerful and women as weak” (Andersen 1997, 94, 96). Although, society is lead to believe that men should be the dominant figure of the family. The reality is that, in gay and lesbian relationships, no one individual displays the behavior of an authoritative
In conclusion, this show focuses on many aspects, particularly gender roles and sexism. Although this show could have more diverse characters, it focuses on male and female stereotypes very well. I appreciate that there are several strong female characters who aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves and perform typically masculine
In the article “Masculinity as Homophobia”, Michael S. Kimmel is claiming that homophobia is a direct result of hyper masculinity. Hyper masculinity is the emphasis on stereotypical gender roles that are placed on men; e.g., being tough and strong. These ideas are about how a man should act in society and how a man should act with another man in society. With this idea of male stereotypical gender roles it has placed an idea of what men are supposed to be like and when men are encountered who don’t fit the definition, they can be called homosexual. Kimmel states in the article: “the great secret of American manhood: we are afraid of other men.” Men are always in a competition with each other either at sports or with who has the better job,
Drag shows is a form of comedy entertain that has its own unique twist. This form of entertain is very important to the gay community. To me, drag shows were emphasized in this class mentioned in some of the readings, like the navy base in Rhode Island. From stories about same sex companionship, like Alice and Freida and Weston’s stories, being gay or showing same sex romantic feelings were thought of as an embarrassment. In Alice and Freida’s case, Alice’s family disproved of such relationship, and in many of Weston’s stories, many were debated about the idea of coming out, because they were afraid that they would be shamed upon. The reason why drag shows, especially drag queens, work so well in the gay community is because the idea of norms are flipped in this environment. Outside of the drag show, the idea of crossdressing is thought of as weird and wrong, but in a drag show, it is encouraged. Within the drag show, homosexuality is treated as the norm, whereas outside, homosexuality is not “normal”. This almost provides a safe environment for homosexuality.
Early feminist studies of gender often depicted the expression of masculinity as solely meant to subordinate women. Upon further research and understanding of gender and its role in society, gender theorists have realized that masculinity is not only a patriarchal regulation against women, but that it also has negative effects against men. Masculinity has different characteristics in different cultures, but masculinity in general presents a hierarchy of traits, with femininity as the lowest, least desirable trait. In American culture, masculinity is defined within multiple structures, such as race, class, and sexuality, where a man’s masculinity can be lessened by his traits as well as these identities. Often, normative expressions of masculinity
This idea has stuck and is more likely to be portrayed in media when it comes to assigning roles for transgender characters. There are many shows that contain anti-transgender lingo and negative categorizations. A few examples of some of the cruel portrayals include: Rebecca Romijn played the first recurring trans character on Ugly Betty in 2007 on ABC. She was a scheming, lying, and conniving woman. She went from “behind-the-scenes villain to a more complicated role as a ruthless magazine publisher” (Kane, 2013).
Pageant Queens gear their act toward winning titles and prizes in drag pageants that rival Miss
As Laurie Norris notes in Of Fish and Feminists Homonormative Misogony and Trans Queen, “On Drag Race, that image is of the glamorous, professional, fish. With big wigs, haute couture inspired costumes, flamboyant but sexy make-up, the queens are expected to give both face and body. The beauty ideals from Americas Next top Model are exaggerated to become the hyperfeminie expectations of Drag Race.” Drag indirectly showcases how the performances performed to fit gender roles are socially constructed and in reality can be performed by any
Introduction There are hundreds of gender stereotypes in the culturally constituted world, which tells individuals what is appropriate and what is not. These items of appropriateness or ones that are not appropriate transfer meaning to the individuals and products that are associated with it. Most male stereotypes focus on the male being strong, independent and the breadwinner, mostly those attributes are for the all American white male. I do believe that these stereotypes change if a male is homosexual or of a different race. For example, a stereotype of a homosexual white male would be to be flamboyant and emotional while a heterosexual Asian male would be seen as smart and good at math and music.