| Recently I have really started to get into the drag king scene, It just really pumps me up when I don a binder and some facial hair and “pretend” or “imitate” male like behavior. Now I know I’m not the only girl/woman do to this before. I’m definitely not the first and I really hope I won’t be the last. In fact to my knowledge and what I see going on around me, the Drag King scene is really blossoming onto it’s own, more and more people know about them, and drag is no longer necessarily synonymous with Drag Queen. With all that said and knowing that I’m not the first girl to do it or the last, then why are so many people giving me grief about it? What may I ask is the big deal about me putting a binder on, some men’s clothes, a sock in my panties and some fake facial hair? Why must people say I’m a cheater, or a fake? Why, why, why; oh yeah that’s right I’m a transsexual woman. Yep I’m a woman who by all medical standards was born male. But still why should that matter, why should you care what my genitalia looks like, it’s MY genitalia. And the amazing thing is the drag community for the most part doesn’t have a problem with me, it’s the other transsexuals themselves. Your average person will state that the definition of drag king is; a woman or female, who dresses and behaves in an over exaggerated manly or male stereotypical fashion for entertainment or theatrical purposes. So lets look at this definition and the way it applies to me, a woman or female... well let see I am woman, I am female; in mind, spirit and well lets not pay attention to body cause I sure don’t. Okay so I have had a psychologist, determine my mind is that of a female in the way it works, thinks, and communicates. I know from several different priest, and priestess’s that my spirit is actually female too. Furthermore if you sit down with me and take the time to understand and visualize my body the way I do you’ll see that it too can bee seen as female. So now that we’ve established that I’m female lets move on. … Who dresses and behaves in an over exaggerated manly or male stereotypical fashion… when I get dressed in drag I dress in several stereotypical styles usually, the greaser boy mechanic type, the sleek business man, or the suave (but cheesy) romancer, and, the dirty trailer park trash guy. For the most part when I’m on stage I assume those kind of roles and do it in and over exaggerated and stereotypical way, I give out an over the top masculine male image, that in reality no man is actually like. … For entertainment or theatrical purposes, now even though most the time I go out just to hang out and have fun, I do want and hope to become a big performer. Drag has even more of a challenge for me, to appear masculine or manly, is a big theatrical feat for me. Why you ask, well if you ever meet me out of drag and view me you’ll see I’m very, very feminine. I don’t walk in girl mode I sashay, I don’t laugh I giggle, I wear lipstick and other makeup, I take an hour and a half to get ready, I fret over my hair, I’m that kind of girl. So drag has this entire other theatrical side that appeals to me as an actress, to try to assume that masculine walk and talk, to hold my self in a manly way and fashion, to do all those thing are an actual challenge and something I have to consistently monitor at least at this point. With all that said, I think I have now thoroughly dealt with the average definition of drag king, and now I don’t see where the problem is or where I don’t apply. Even though I some how fit the definition of what your average person would say a drag king is, I still get hassled for it. Many people in the gender community are constantly harassing me about how I’m not serious about my gender and/or how I’m going to regret transitioning. That’s just funny, because when I transitioned, I didn’t transition just to fit into another binary gender box, I transitioned to be me and who I am inside, and that is a female/woman identified person who is for the most part feminine but enjoys to do drag. Does my doing drag make me any less of a woman? Does my doing drag make me any more of a man? No, and no, my doing drag makes me more of a happier person, and less of a bored, apathetic, lazy person. I am creative, always have been and probably always will be, and drag is one way of me being able to express my creativity. I am so sick of hearing about because I do drag I’m not full time, or I won’t pass a real life test, well you know what that malarkey! I’ve talked to my gender therapist several times about this matter and we have both come to terms with the fact that I enjoy drag and I’m probably not going to stop anytime soon for NOBODY! What’s her opinion on this all what does she think it means? Does she think that I’m secretly rebelling against my own transition? NO, she thinks it proves that I’m comfortable enough as a woman to do thing I couldn’t as a male, i.e., act masculine and butch and be proud of it, carry a wallet that isn’t bedazzled with gems or Barbie or glitter, actually wear/own men’s clothing, things I haven’t done or cared to do since I was 14. I do it all now because it’s an act, an image, I’m trying to play the part of a man/guy, and I know I’m not one, and the people around me usually know I’m not one. She also sees it as a complete and total act I put on, in real life I’m feminine, girly, polite, classy and adore boys; meanwhile in drag I’m butch, and manly (or try to be), crude, and tend to like girls. She has also talked about how I am so feminine it’s hard for me to just allow my few butch tendencies to just come out, so instead I rework things so that I can let them free in drag. In drag it’s okay that I have desires to completely redo a vintage VW Beetle all on my own, and that I actually like the taste of dark Irish ale, in drag I can also mock myself and the absurdity that I sometimes see in my own femininity and the stuff I do like fretting over my hair. I have also realized when I have to go to certain places like a bar I haven’t been to before or a butch bar like Daddy’s Bar on Castro I feel more comfortable in drag. Why? Several reasons, for one it’s harder to recognize me if you saw me in drag then out of it, two I some times just feel my status symbol rising as I present myself as a male, and three sometime like in Daddy’s I fit in better, it’s a gay leather bar I fit in better as male then I do in girl mode. Now whether I’m doing drag to fit in or as an entertainment tool, the thing that I enjoy is the challenge. For me a woman who is very close to being a high femme, Drag is a beautiful challenge I put upon myself each time I don a binder and some eyeliner facial hair. It is a challenge for me to act and portray myself as a masculine male figure. I could easily have chosen feminine males to portray, but that would be too easy that would be too much like me. From the moment I decided to do this thing, to do drag, I knew I wanted to mock all those things that gave me fear in the past to mock all those things that scared me, and to do it in a believable way. I dress as the thug or wannabe thug, with his baggy jeans and shirt and sideways baseball hat, I mock his walk doing it in a bolder over the top, I try to talk in a cheesy ghetto Brooklyn speech patterns. I dress as the dirty grungy Redneck with his tight jeans and flannel shirt, I wear a mullet wig and a belt buckle that says “God Bless Texas” or such, I mock his drawl and his boldness, I imitate that just got off a horse walk. These are the men I portray these are the guys I imitate, and after long practice and patience, I have to say I pull it of rather well. It is this masculinity that I challenge myself with, and what a thrilling challenge it is. To succeed is even a larger thrill, when someone approaches me and calls me sir or such that tells me, it’s working that my efforts paid off. That is the reward in this, which is the reward to the challenge I presented to myself. Challenging and entertaining myself that is a thrill, that is what I get out of doing drag. Everyday I learn more about why others do drag and I find it fascinating, that many do it for some of the same reason that I do. I also find it interesting that as I tell king after king about my gender conflicts, that I am MTF, and the responses I’ve gotten from people with in the gender community, they tell me that’s because I’m unique. I am proud to be a forerunner in this and hopefully a model to others. I know I’m not the first woman to do drag and I’m not the last hopefully, and I may not be the first MTF to become a drag king but I’m one of very few. What I really hope is that even if I’m not the first MTF to be a drag king, I wont to be the last. Hopefully there will be other trans-women out there who take that bold gender-bending step that I have and join me in my royalty. |
| A DISSECTION OF A MTF DRAG KING |
| By Brooklynne M. Thomas |