Drag Subcultures

Decent Essays
Sabrina Lamell

If subcultures have proven anything in their collective effort to renounce the mainstream, it’s that most of what is assumed by today’s human as intrinsic, actually comes as a result of societal conditioning. When these certain subcultures interrupt the conventions of society, all things are up for reconsideration and therefore allow people to respond to something closer to native behaviorism. Drag king and drag queen cultures do this more than successfully. “It seamlessly takes you into a world where a women become men for a living” (What Does it Mean to be a Man’? 2016). Drag king and queens are artists, activists, queer people, and others that dress in constantly evolving styles of drag for theatrical performances. Some drags explain that their performances allow for the expression of an inner part of themselves their
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Gender has a big spectrum just as sexuality does. Gender consists of transgender, transsexual, crossdresser, drag king/queen, etc. Although cross-dressing has been a popular part of mainstream culture for millennia, drag queens are a more recent development. “While drag queens learn to contour and tailor, drag kings have another set of challenges. Improper breast binding can actually be dangerous” (Kings and Queens for a Day 2016). Drag queen is a slang term that is used to describe one variation of male-to-female cross-dressing; drag queens are men who dress as women. Drag king is female-to-male cross-dressing. Gender is essential in society and its importance is often unrecognized despite its major influence. Gender assigning is one of the prominent social constructs in mainstream culture. Gender determines so much more than sexuality it provides power, acceptance, and function in society. “The one thing it firmly closes its doors to is- gender conformity” (What Does it Mean to be a Man’?

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