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JACKSON 1

Michael W. Jackson

A02-92-6779

Warren 11A

2 November 1999

DRAG QUEENS:
Balancing the Effects of Women's Liberation

Society today is engaged in a correction of a sexual nature. The focus of this

correction is the equilibrium between the dominance of the sexes. The women's

liberation movement has fueled the quest for equality of the sexes and, in turn, placed a

great void in the femininity of the nation. The lack of a feminine mystique in the United

States has led to the development of a sub-culture in which hyper-femininity is the focus.

The emergence of Drag Queens is a direct result of the Women's liberation movement in

America. This proposition is supported both by historical context of cross-dressing

culture and the role of the sexes in society. The focus of this query will consist of the

historical assertion as well as in depth analysis of Drag Queen culture in the United

States.

The pre-liberation culture of the world was based solely upon the principle that

male dominance was the natural order of life. This sentiment is echoed in the statement:

"Male privilege in the nineteenth century continued to be deeply engrained in Western

society. Accordingly, most Western institutions proceeded on the assumption that male

privilege was fundamental to maintaining the existing order" (Bullough 145). The

solution through which a woman could gain the dominance shared by men is to cross-

dress. An example of this occurrence is held within the Civil War. The union and

confederacy both held, within their ranks, female soldiers posing as men. The desire of
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these women to be involved directly in the war and gain the respect of men is best

captured in the voice of Sarah Emma Edmonds (a.k.a. Franklin Thompson). Miss

Edmonds, at the early age of fifteen, decided to leave her family after reading a novel

concerning a female pirate. The novel described a woman whose lover had been taken by

pirates and by cutting her curls and stepping into "the freedom and glorious independence

of masculinity" was able to rescue her lover (Bullough 158). The realization that

masculinity provided independence moved Miss Edmonds to enlist in the Union army

and fight alongside the male soldiers in a desire to find equality of the sexes. This story

is common in the pre-liberation era in which many females actively participated in war to

gain equality with male society. The actual move to fight is by no means the miniscule

nature of this movement. Female society did not stop at the military but delved into

many fields of masculine dominance to achieve equality. An odd example of this is a

woman by the name of Valerie Arkell-Smith who married two times and was actively

engaged in the war effort. Valerie after her second marriage pursued a life as a man

under the name of Victor Barker and placed herself in a position of great political

influence as a retired military officer. The most recent example of a female to male

switch to promote or gain equality was Billy Tipton. Tipton, a member of the Billy

Tipton Trio, maintained a life of secrecy as a male to advance her musical career. The

extent to which she continued the ruse is evident, as she married and adopted two sons

that she raised as a father. It was not until the death of Tipton in 1989 that the true nature

of her sexuality was known. These three examples present the root scenario of cross-

dressing up until the time of the women's liberation movement in which the equality of

women was reached without the need for changes of outward appearance.
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In today's culture, however, it is prevalent to observe male individuals who desire

to regain femininity, lost by society, under the guise of a drag queen. This development

is unique when considering that male cross-dressing, during the pre-liberation period,

was reserved for high society. In general it was the product of a fetish for women's

clothing (Garber 68). The development of Drag is the product of a society in which the

gender roles of the past have been challenged presenting a clear imbalance in the realm of

true feminine women. The males, now confronted with the realization that they are no

longer the single dominant force, desire to regain the lost femininity by producing

characters that will replace the once prevalent subordinate class. The root of this desire

has been linked to a lack of maternal presence in the formative years of a male child

(Bullough 180). The psychology involved in the development of Drag is of great

significance as it supports the proposal that the move to equality of the sexes is the root

cause behind the production of this hyper-feminine class. The male cross-dresser is more

likely to consult a psychiatrist today than a woman who cross-dresses. This evidence

supports the belief that the movement of women's liberation has fueled a seemingly

acceptable position for women who desire to appear masculine, however when there is a

shift from one extreme to another a need for compensation is required. This shift towards

equilibrium then produces the desire to become an example of extreme femininity found

in the Drag scene (Garber 158).

There is a wide range of variety among Drag culture which is the product of

various levels of discovery by a man in relation to his impression of what it means to be

feminine (Fleisher 8). The drag queen can range on a scale from glamour to clown as

asserted by the rating system in The Drag Queens of New York. This scale further
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asserts the variable nature of female presence in the formative years of a male, causing

them to produce feminine behavior they can comprehend, producing a wide variety of

feminine stereotypes (Bullough 225). The variety inherent in Drag culture is best

displayed through two examples on the scale. The first being to the side of glamour in

Mistress Formika. The mistress has a fashion sense and a truly sensual presence in his

nature. His response to the feminist sentiment that drag is a theft of women's person is "

Drag queens aren't anti-feminist. They demonstrate that femininity does not have to equal

powerlessness" (Fleisher 120). This sentiment is shared through the Drag culture as a

desire to have a return of order to the balance within the sexes. The second type of Drag

queen is one that is outwardly a male and does not desire to try and conceal the nature of

their gender. An example of this type of Drag queen is Dolores who in dressed in the

attire of a cheap prostitute. "There are all these fun elements that society doesn't allow

men to play with because they are for women, and that is what I enjoy about doing drag"

(Fleisher 117). The social realization that is evident in the variety of drag queens is that

each male has an interpretation of what it means to be a female and through this

interpretation they create a female to fulfill the emptiness of their life.

The surfacing of drag culture in America has been the direct effect of the move to

equalize the sexes and cast out the feminine roles of the past. This presents a male

society with the need to develop a counter balance for the missing feminine quality of

society. This is best captured by Dolores when he asserts Drag allows men to experience

a realm off-limits to men. The restriction of the feminine weakness is the root cause in

the development of drag culture and it is this development that displays the equilibrium

of the sexes within nature. The desire of women to shed their skin of the feminine
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qualities in return for equality has produced a society without true femininity at its core.

The drag society is the product of a post-liberation culture where the lack of feminine

presence, due to a desire to be equal, calls for the addition of a feather boa to the male

closet.
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Works Cited & Consulted

Bullough, Vern L. Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. Philadelphia, University of

Pennsylvania Press, 1993.

Chermayeff, Catherine. Drag Diaries. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1995.

Fleisher, Julian. The Drag Queens of New York. New York, Riverhead Books, 1996.

Garber, Marjorie. Vested Interests: Cross-dressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York,

Routledge, 1992.

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