![]() “So, either they tend to lean into that problematic thing, or they display what healthy masculinity could be-or in the case of nonbinary and trans drag kings, showing off your own masculinity and embracing it after society has told you that you can’t have it.” Drag has become a livelihood, a profession for a whole host of LGBTQ+ people, and for some, it’s the only place where they feel they can perform. “Most people who are drag kings very likely experienced oppression or misogyny from the kinds of characters they are portraying,” mused Beau Jangles. It’s no wonder that many are turning to drag as a creative tool of self-expression and liberation from the bounds of living in a heteronormative society. But the old guidelines of who can perform what kind of drag have gone out the window, along with the assumption that gender and sexuality exist within a strict binary. In the past, queens were cisgender men dressing as cisgender women, and drag kings were thought of as cisgender women dressing up as cisgender men. More than that, Maddy’s casting was just another example of how the show continued to exclude specific groups of drag performers while reinforcing antiquated ideas about what drag is and who can perform it. ![]() It felt as if the sensation of Maddy’s casting upstaged this historic moment. In an email with Jezebel, Tenderoni said, “I think Maddy could show a different perspective and might even introduce some viewers into a different concept of what drag culture really is: a mixed bag.” Yet few noticed that Kerri Colby and Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté were also cast, making it the first time that two trans women of color would compete at once. Maddy Morphosis’s right to be a queen wasn’t the debate for many kings. “I’ve heard many performers who do fit the Drag Race mold, even some who have been on the show, sigh at its lack of inclusion.”Īmong Drag Race’s fourteen drag queen contestants this year was Maddy Morphosis, the first cisgender, straight man to join the show. “I’m not sure if I could name you a single drag king who thinks that Drag Race is in any way a true, inclusive reflection of drag as it is,” Beau Jangles told Jezebel. For the past decade and a half, one drag queen after another has fought for this title, while dynamic drag kings like Beau Jangles, Tenderoni, and Oedipussi Rex remain absent from our screens, hidden in the most part from the mainstream. Yet, one cannot help but sense the repetition. To be sure, they are masters of their craft, talented figures of joy who have worked hard to get to this stage. The candidates-drag queens of every stripe-sashay and vogue through the show. It’s mid-April, and we are nearly done with the 14th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. ![]() Oedipussi Rex, the “beardy drag barbarian,” then starts to growl out Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” encouraging the audience to sing along. He lands hard on his four-inch platform sandals and stomps ferociously across the stage, the panels on his Roman leather skirt flying wide. ![]() His purple eyeshadow with pronounced shoulder pads, silver harem pants, and red leather gloves cut quite the figure, like a 21st century Boy George.Īt Europe’s premiere drag convention, a horned man with an enormous purple mane and beard flips backwards off a chair. In a recording studio, Chicago-based Tenderoni pops and swings to a professionally choreographed number, effortlessly lip-syncing to R&B. She sighs dreamily at the king’s antics, recalling a time of crooners like Stormé DeLarverie. He flashes a glowing smile at a woman in the audience. Wearing a three-piece suit with tails and a purple cummerbund, he clutches a glass of scotch in one hand as the diamond in his cravat winks and the smooth curls on his forehead swing rakishly. Beau Jangles, the self-styled “fuckboy for your great-grandaddy’s generation,” sings into an old-fashioned microphone in a South London tavern.
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