Representation

One of the main things that made Drag Race so popular was that it was the first reality programme of this kind. It was originally released on the channel Logo TV, which was a channel aimed at the LGBT community. Across the 11 series there has been lots of ‘tea’ spilt and ‘wigs snatched’ conforming to the very stereotypical representation of the gay communty. They all fit the 2 stereotypes ’fishy’ or ‘butch’. I will be looking at Butler’s (1990) research into gender, also looking at Goffmans’s theory of self identity (1956). Dyer (2002) said that representation is how we are seen determines how we are treated; how we treat others is based on how we see them; such seeing comes from representation. Meaning that the way that we perceive the queens on RPDR is from our interpretation of their actions, one person may have a different interpretation of a representation to another, even though it’s of the same person.

Butler (1990) talks about ‘gender performance’ which is that gender is rooted in societal construction, and is made real through/by the individual’s actions or ‘performances.’ She states that gender isn’t down to the physical body, but how the individual chooses to act, dress and express personality. Gender is up to the individual to decide who they are. This can be seen as reinforced in RPDR as the queens have chosen to have their drag personas. They choose to dress up to look and act like woman, as it’s something they are comfortable doing and is a way for them to fully express who they are. They all have their own style, from oversized wigs to sparkly sequined dresses. They have a USP about them for example; Brooke Lynn Hytes is a ballet dancer, Trixie Mattel is a singer. Which makes the audience loves them, and shows drag queens in a positive way.

When looking at RPDR you notice how ridiculous gender really is, it’s basically a bunch of stereotypes defined by society which we need to follow to fit in.  Drag is used to almost parody this, in the sense. As it makes us aware that at times all of us ‘perform’ to fit into our gender mould. The work of drag shows the lack of originality gender has, and how there’s so much more to express you as a person. 

Butler (1990) argues that:

Gender is not always constituted coherently or consistently in different historical contexts, and because gender intersects with racial, class, ethnic, sexual, and regional modalities of discursively constituted identities. As a result, it becomes impossible to separate out “gender” from the political and cultural intersections in which it is invariably produced and maintained. (p. 3)

Which I interpret this as that gender is seen differently across all different races, classes, ethnicities. However although these vary, we can never fully specify what gender is, as it’s stereotypes are reinforced across races, classes and ethnicities.  Across time however different cultures are allowing and are becoming accepting of people who are gender fluid. This can be reinforced in how RPDR went from being on a small TV channel to being streamed worldwide on Netflix. The representation and acceptation of drag queens has become more mainstream.

Across the seasons the queens share their stories of coming out and the hardships they’ve been through. For the audience this makes them real, it makes you see drag queens in a way you normally wouldn’t have thought of.  This makes the representation of drag queens reflect reality. Additionally this also represents the LGBT community in a positive way, as they call RuPaul, ‘Mumma Ru’ as he always states that even though it’s a competition they are all a family. In some episodes he talks to the queens in the work rooms and has heart to heart with the queens. A very famous RuPaul quote is “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? .“ Which is well known within the LGBT community. This shows how inclusive and loving the community is and can be seen as pathos as it evokes emotion within the audience. Below is a clip from the latest series in which RuPaul supports a queen who confesses that her family don’t agree with her being drag.

Going back to the basics in psychology your sex is how you are biologically: hormones, anatomy and physiology. Gender is cultural differences expected by society of men and woman according to their sex. A person’s sex can’t change from birth, but their gender can. This is explicitly shown with drag queens, as their sex is male. But they choose to be genderqueer, they “blur lines between masculine and feminine” (Moore 2013, p17.) They challenge the dominant ideologies of gender and the heteronormative binaries of society.  

‘Fishy’ drag is a term used to describe a queen who is hyper-feminine and has constant portrayal of physiological femaleness. On RPDR they are expected to reinforce this, they have to wear padding and breasts so they physically look female. They also have to have pristine make-up and perfectly made outfits. ‘Butch’ drag is used to describe queens who are queens who a neither extremely masculine or feminine but have mannerisms of both. However the butch queens on RPDR are often not fully accepted among the other contestants. There has been a few examples across the series of this.

In season six, another controversial queen, Milk, received a great deal of criticism from her fellow queens as well as the judging panel for consistently blurring the gender lines… instead of being accepted as a creative expression of her drag, Milk was derisively ridiculed as a ‘Fuckin’ big man6’ by Gia Gunn. (González, J. and Cavazos, K., 2016. Pg 663)

This portrays that in RPDR genderqueer queens and those who don’t stick to the strict stereotypes of a drag queen aren’t as likely to be accepted and to be successful on the show. This makes for a very strict stereotype that they must fit into to be successful.  However over the more recent series the style of drag has become more varied and experimentive. As they don’t want to be the same pageant queen they are expected to be, they want to express who they really are. Over the 11 series they have shown that drag isn’t hyper-feminised but a way of self expression. Below in the images you can see how drastically different styles of drag are.

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A good way to look at the representation within RPDR is actually how the queens choose to represent themselves. Goffman’s theory of self identity (1956) states that we choose how we represent ourselves to others. He says that we have a ‘front stage ’and ‘back stage’ personality. With the ‘front stage’ being our constructed identity we use in professional situations. In RPDR this could be seen when the queens are on stage, when they are in front of RuPaul. This is because they want to act professional when he sees them as this helps them look professional in their work as a drag queen. This may help them to win the show. They also have their drag personas which is ‘a means of self-expression of their own personalities, or allow them to characterise various personality attributes in order to entertain (O’Brien, 2018.) So in this sense Drag is a way for them to represent themselves in a way they choose. For their ‘back stage’ personality, this is their personal identity behind the construction. This can literally be seen when they are in the work room which is backstage. They are their normal self’s, dressed in normal clothes and chatting with one another. Here they are a lot less professional, with drama happening between queens.