Drag is shock humor because people think “omg look at these guys dressed up as ridiculous looking women dancing around, men aren’t supposed to do that”.
They probably don’t realize it, but that’s what they’re thinking subconsciously
No, that’s not a reaction where I live for the majority of people. As you can see from the OP’s photo, men dressing up as women has happened for a long time. Women weren’t even allowed as actors on stage in England until the 1660’s, and also weren’t allowed in ancient Greece. More recently the English speaking world has had Monty Python in the 70’s who did a lot of drag in the tradition of English panto which was hugely popular for 100 years, Dame Edna Everage was an Australian icon who passed this year but had done female impersonation for a good 50 years. Buddhist countries like Thailand and Cambodia have had a drag scene since the 50’s and have historically been fine with gender differences. The US had vaudeville in the 1800’s… There have been movies about drag queens for decades (Priscilla Queen of the Desert was in 1994), drag queens were plot points in US 1970’s sitcoms and dramas.
For many of us in less religious areas (which is where I see the most objection coming from), drag has been a very normal part of the entertainment scene for decades, if not hundreds of years. It’s just costume.
I don’t think about how silly ice skaters usually look in sparkly leotards either. Although some of them are… a choice.
Maybe from the view of someone who isn’t in the LGBT+ community, I guess? But most of us aren’t so hung up on that stuff. It’s just good entertainment and performance art in my eyes.
Drag is shock humor because people think “omg look at these guys dressed up as ridiculous looking women dancing around, men aren’t supposed to do that”.
They probably don’t realize it, but that’s what they’re thinking subconsciously
No, that’s not a reaction where I live for the majority of people. As you can see from the OP’s photo, men dressing up as women has happened for a long time. Women weren’t even allowed as actors on stage in England until the 1660’s, and also weren’t allowed in ancient Greece. More recently the English speaking world has had Monty Python in the 70’s who did a lot of drag in the tradition of English panto which was hugely popular for 100 years, Dame Edna Everage was an Australian icon who passed this year but had done female impersonation for a good 50 years. Buddhist countries like Thailand and Cambodia have had a drag scene since the 50’s and have historically been fine with gender differences. The US had vaudeville in the 1800’s… There have been movies about drag queens for decades (Priscilla Queen of the Desert was in 1994), drag queens were plot points in US 1970’s sitcoms and dramas.
For many of us in less religious areas (which is where I see the most objection coming from), drag has been a very normal part of the entertainment scene for decades, if not hundreds of years. It’s just costume.
I don’t think about how silly ice skaters usually look in sparkly leotards either. Although some of them are… a choice.
Maybe from the view of someone who isn’t in the LGBT+ community, I guess? But most of us aren’t so hung up on that stuff. It’s just good entertainment and performance art in my eyes.