Social Movement Political Significance of Drag Queens
Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret is a study of as well as homage to the female impersonators who works in a pub in Florida. Written by arguably a lesbian couple, the book points out what can be referred to as the definite appraisal of gay impersonators who in essence are both male and female. As a result, the lives of the gays in and out of the drag, their political structures and their shows portrays at length the gendered and racial questions about sexuality which demonstrates the political expression through ethnic rebellion, revolution and protest actions. For example, the women were adamantly committed to dying for wigs, dresses and heels so that they could experience life as drag queens (Rupp and Taylor, 2003).
Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret is based on the numerous interviews with several girls in Florida who serve as the drag queens. It is built on the attendance of many performances by these drag queens and extensively the participation of the authors in these outrageous shows. Essentially, the book is a clear picture of the life and culture of the gay. In these descriptions, the inclusion of the antics of certain fabulous and descriptive histories of the drag queens, the relationships between them and their performances forms the foundation upon which it is plausible to think of the political significance of the drags. Scholars have maintained that the drag queens in this book are constantly questioning the femininity, masculinity and in general the gender issues of the society (Giddens, Dunnieier and Applebum, 2007). This entirely explains the continued protest actions in the clubs, the ethnic rebellions, the social movements and the political revolutions of the drags at the 801 cabarets. Ultimately, it is evident that the drag political significance lies in the question of gender issues and sexuality and the constant conception of what is held by the society as right in the light of gay, feminine, and masculine. Although the book is not glamorous in capturing the stories of the drag queens, it is oddly insightful to read it which to some extent makes it fun.
The political significance of the drag is described at the 801 which emphasis the essence of evaluating both the production and reception in entirely understanding the structure of shared identity that happened during the performance (Rupp and Taylor, 223). As evidenced in the book, the Key West and Girlie show is about to begin at the 801 cabaret on a Saturday night and the girls have been busy seducing passersby to attend the show. Rupp and Taylors describes that the club is packed and statuesque beauties are shown when the light goes down. The sexual lingerie of the girls see through miniskirts and heels steps on stage which the author succinctly takes the reader through what appears to be the cultural repertoire of the most overlooked subcultures of the Americans.
This is used by social movements which essentially forms the world of the drag queens. According to Halberstam (2004), the book provides a profound glimpse into the lives of the 801 girls who serve as the troupe of queens and thereby perform every night at the 801 cabaret for the commercial and entertainment purposes for both local and international tourists. Arguably, this is the fundamental reason why the drag postulates a political significance as portrayed by the authors. Convincingly, the authors maps the riveting narrative by weaving the strange life of the girls, their bitchness and flamboyance, the expensive costumes and the assorted music that colors the performances alongside the course exchanges of the girls with one another and their audiences as well. With regard to this, Rupp and Taylor explore how in exactness the drag queens crash the boundaries between gays and normal to basically bring about the realistic and deep perception about issues of gender and sexuality in the United States of America. Christina (2007) further asserts that the book considers in details the overall approach used by the drag queens to create space and encourage acceptance among the everyday people irrespective of the individual and societal sexual preference.
Those who attended the performances of the drags were possible members of both upper as well as middle class and from the interviews with the drags, these groups of audiences where well educated., It therefore brings into focus the element of gay or bisexuality in the members who attended. As a result, the political significance of the drag queens is held in the argument that they help in eliciting a host of interpretation about all that is involved in the drag performance and the cultural orientation of gender in America today. Cristina (2007) contends that while some of the drag queens consider themselves as transgender, others regard themselves as male identified. It is important to note that the male drags who disguise as female drag queens, continue with the same identity and continue seeing themselves as female whether in or out of the drag. Evidently, the notion of identity and performance resides in the premise of gender and sexual meaning which fundamentally raises the question of political culture because of diversified interpretation of sexuality and identity.
Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret is made more delightful by virtue of the fact that drags have totally different experiences with sexuality and subsequently expresses divergent views about their performances in general. According to Halberstam (2004), the clashing paradigms of the lives of the drag queens postulates the complexity in theorizing the fundamentals forms of identification and belonging in terms of gender and performance. For example, many at times the drag queens assume the revolutionary and individualized understanding of terms like identity, gender, family or even body. This explains why the drags come out to challenge the societal accepted forms of identity and being. For example, the collective nature of what happens at 801 cabaret points the drag queens as a family unit and at the same time the other accounts of the drag queens are noted to have conformed to the strange domesticity of their bonds (Rupp and Taylor, 159).Arguably, a house is a unit of a mutual bond. Sushi for example is the central drag queen that helps the authors to draw connections between categories of sexuality and gender which makes everyone a significant part of the family (Rupp and Taylor, 175).
In essence, being a drag queen postulates different meanings about life as well as different levels of importance in the lives of girls in the 801 cabaret. Although there are no clear-cut lines between the transgender, occupational and theatrical reasons, there is a kind of identity that is undoubtedly involved in being a drag queen. For example, Mama, who is part o the 801 family, reinforces this when she recollects her attitudes as she dressed in Sao Paulo. In addition, to all the drag queen girls, this has a deep impact in their lives and how they should live, relate to others and see the world.
Listening to the girls mindsets about gender and sexuality as boys and watching the transformation that takes place in the dressing room, depicts the instability of categorizing aspects of masculine and feminine. Accordingly, the rigidness in categorizing these mainstream cultures brings out the political culture in the drag. How the drag feels is completely different from the general understanding of gender issues because, some of them challenge or seek to bridge the existing division between masculine and feminines a result, Drag queens create their own genders and their constructions help social scientist to think in a complex way about what make a man and a woman different in the society.
Considering the many information on theorizing issues of sexuality, gender, familial domesticity, identity, kinship and sexual practice, Drag Queens at the 801 cabaret demonstrates the most complicated accounts of performance and the fundamental political significance of the drags .Arguably, the conceptualization of drags in the gay community resides in concepts of belonging, identity and collectiveness. This purely underscores the poignant point of the drags and their lives as well as political significance stand out as a living testament to the both imaginative and rich textures of strange lives of Americans and people in the twenty first century.
To recap, the authors have succeeded in glowing out from their taunted wigs of drag queens and thereby included their reader. Essentially, Rupp and Taylor threw their decorated arms out to greet an imagined audience and even invite them into the 801 cabaret. Somehow, their perception about the drag queens was to have an investment into the night world of this particular Florida cabaret which clearly represents the eminent pleasure that they undertook their research in sociology. Drag Queen at the 801 Cabaret is a must read for all people whether gay or straight because the performance of the drags is a political event that create solidarity between the gay and straight audiences and draw the reader into the world they hardly experience. The book serves as a catalyst for changing ideas, values and identities in the contemporary society.
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