Representation of Female Masculinity In order to understand the formations and trends of masculinized female identities, it is important to analyze the presentation of female masculinity in film. Because female masculinity is a generally unexplored phenomenon, films and the media provide a societal view of female masculinity. Masculine women have often been presented on film as butches “as an emblem of social upheaval and as a marker of sexual disorder” (Halberstam 186). Although there is extreme variation in the way feminized masculinity is presented in film, their representation represents “powerful female masculinity rather than simply as the disgrace of the gender bender” that has often been subjected to negative stereotyping (Halberstam
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Therefore, the “history of public recognition of female masculinity is most frequently characterized by stunning absences” and “very little time and energy has been expended on the drag queen’s counterpart, the drag king” (Halberstam 231). The drag king, a relatively recent culturally recognized phenomenon is “a female who dresses up in recognizably male costume and performs in that costume” (Halberstam 232). The subculture of drag kings became most evident in the 1990s as a distinguished genre apart from male impersonation. The drag kings shows started “not as cabernet acts but as male competitions” (Maltz 282). A master of ceremonies would introduce several drag king performers and “the crowd would cheer at the most ridiculous or most believable performances of manhood” (Maltz 282). Recently, as kinging becomes more popular, there is a veer away from male performativity and more of a focus on identity transformation and drag. A notable difference is that drag kings “mock masculinity” while male performers “own it” (Maltz …show more content…
However, there are differences; while camp calls attention to the performance of femininity despite gender kinging analyzes the “distance between maleness and the performance of masculinity” (QTP 128). While camp can often be simply a performance, kinging functions “as a form of consciousness raising and a site of identity transformation for performers” (Shapiro 251). While both camp and kinging exhibit a “significant source of identity change” kinging seems to display this more significantly (Shapiro 253). Camp has a deep root in humor within performativity; camp has a “complex flipside involving melancholia for the subject that the performer parodies but can never ‘be’” (Maltz 283). Camp is often extenuating the idea of gender as a performance by males embodying femininity. Differently, kinging is not simply about “the incongruous juxtaposition of femininity and maleness” but rather an attempt at the “reordering of particular power relationships inherent in our society’s version of masculinity and femininity” (Maltz 283). Kinging operates, therefore, not just as simple impersonation but also as a critique of the socialized power of hegemonic masculinity. If kings are able to pass as males and utilize their male privileges, masculinity is not only redefined but threatened by a new
Therefore, the “history of public recognition of female masculinity is most frequently characterized by stunning absences” and “very little time and energy has been expended on the drag queen’s counterpart, the drag king” (Halberstam 231). The drag king, a relatively recent culturally recognized phenomenon is “a female who dresses up in recognizably male costume and performs in that costume” (Halberstam 232). The subculture of drag kings became most evident in the 1990s as a distinguished genre apart from male impersonation. The drag kings shows started “not as cabernet acts but as male competitions” (Maltz 282). A master of ceremonies would introduce several drag king performers and “the crowd would cheer at the most ridiculous or most believable performances of manhood” (Maltz 282). Recently, as kinging becomes more popular, there is a veer away from male performativity and more of a focus on identity transformation and drag. A notable difference is that drag kings “mock masculinity” while male performers “own it” (Maltz …show more content…
However, there are differences; while camp calls attention to the performance of femininity despite gender kinging analyzes the “distance between maleness and the performance of masculinity” (QTP 128). While camp can often be simply a performance, kinging functions “as a form of consciousness raising and a site of identity transformation for performers” (Shapiro 251). While both camp and kinging exhibit a “significant source of identity change” kinging seems to display this more significantly (Shapiro 253). Camp has a deep root in humor within performativity; camp has a “complex flipside involving melancholia for the subject that the performer parodies but can never ‘be’” (Maltz 283). Camp is often extenuating the idea of gender as a performance by males embodying femininity. Differently, kinging is not simply about “the incongruous juxtaposition of femininity and maleness” but rather an attempt at the “reordering of particular power relationships inherent in our society’s version of masculinity and femininity” (Maltz 283). Kinging operates, therefore, not just as simple impersonation but also as a critique of the socialized power of hegemonic masculinity. If kings are able to pass as males and utilize their male privileges, masculinity is not only redefined but threatened by a new