King Me!

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Meyer, Pony
  • Lazy Kitten Productions (Katie Cutting)

• We can't overlook the value of DRAG KING performance for lesbian, feminist, and queer communities, particularly when we consider the historical and contemporary regulation of gender and sexual norms and the legal and social persecution of female cross-dressers, lesbians, masculine women, and transgender people. My research builds on this understanding to explore the role of drag king performance in the lives of drag kings. Pictured here, we get a glimpse of a key finding – the overwhelming significance of community support and validation. We see the researcher, Ponyboi, featured as the focal point and supported by beautiful queer femmes and fellow drag kings. From the 1970s hippy-dude to the rocker-boys of the 1990s, to the threatening cop cozied up with the conservative establishment – we witness the strength of community in the wake of violence and oppression. For some kings, drag kinging is more than just fun; its essential to survival as a queer person. As a conscious performance of masculinity, it offers space for critiquing dominant masculinities and celebrating relationships to female masculinities, trans-masculinities, and queer sexualities. Performers can contribute to the construction of masculinity for supportive audiences, an act of agency that many non-biologically male people have consistently been denied. // Program of Study: PhD Interdisciplinary Program // Faculty/Department: Faculty of Physical Education & Recreation and Department of Drama // Place of creation: Edmonton, Alberta // Award: 1st Prize, Images of Research Competition 2016

• Date created

  2016-01-01

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Queer studies
  • Drag kings
  • Lesbian community

• Type of Item

  Image

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3KP7TV6Q

• License

  Attribution 4.0 International