Rupaul’s Drag Race and the Social Construction of Gender
“We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag,” or so drag queen RuPaul Charles’ 2014 single ‘Born Naked’ would have us believe (Charles). Charles, known most commonly by his mononym RuPaul came to prominence with his 1993 pop hit “Supermodel (You Better Work)” and appearances in mainstream films such as The Brady Bunch Movie and television series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In 2009, Charles was approached by LGBT-geared cable channel LOGO to produce his own competition reality series specifically for drag queens. Thus, RuPaul’s Drag Race was born. One part American Idol, one part Project Runway, and one part America’s Next Top Model, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s main conceit involves …show more content…
It is one of the few television programs where every contestant in the show’s history has been a member of the LGBT community, and the show has done an excellent job of showing the many different kinds of backgrounds and points of view that can be found within the LGBT community. It is always heartwarming moment when the queens have their “workroom chats,” their discussions about what it means to be a gay man who exaggerates and mocks gender identity in a society that is quick to judge and ridicule those that do so. This has produced some of the show’s most iconic moments such as season four’s discussion about gay marriage and contestant Phi Phi O’hara’s confession about his father’s physically assault of him upon his revealing his sexuality (“Dragazines”). It is moments like this that make Drag Race, behind all the artifice and performance, one of the most honest shows on television today. In his article “A New Vision of Masculinity,” Cooper Thompson posits that “traditional definitions of masculinity include attributes such as independence, pride, resiliency, self-control, and physical strength…but masculinity goes beyond these qualities to stress competitiveness, toughness, aggressiveness, and power” (Thompson 623). The fourth season of Drag Race also brought about a moment which reflected the astuteness of this quote. During one of the series’ popular “makeover” challenged, in which the contestants put guests in drag that may not seem very prone to gender exploration. Season four had them giving makeovers to especially masculine fathers. The guest who was assigned to work with eventual-season 4 winner Sharon Needles became belligerent and aggressive toward a contestant, Chad Michaels. He derisively refers to Michaels as “princess” and a “bitch” and then later writes off his poor behavior as his form of competition—an
“We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag,” or so drag queen RuPaul Charles’ 2014 single ‘Born Naked’ would have us believe (Charles). Charles, known most commonly by his mononym RuPaul came to prominence with his 1993 pop hit “Supermodel (You Better Work)” and appearances in mainstream films such as The Brady Bunch Movie and television series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch. In 2009, Charles was approached by LGBT-geared cable channel LOGO to produce his own competition reality series specifically for drag queens. Thus, RuPaul’s Drag Race was born. One part American Idol, one part Project Runway, and one part America’s Next Top Model, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s main conceit involves …show more content…
It is one of the few television programs where every contestant in the show’s history has been a member of the LGBT community, and the show has done an excellent job of showing the many different kinds of backgrounds and points of view that can be found within the LGBT community. It is always heartwarming moment when the queens have their “workroom chats,” their discussions about what it means to be a gay man who exaggerates and mocks gender identity in a society that is quick to judge and ridicule those that do so. This has produced some of the show’s most iconic moments such as season four’s discussion about gay marriage and contestant Phi Phi O’hara’s confession about his father’s physically assault of him upon his revealing his sexuality (“Dragazines”). It is moments like this that make Drag Race, behind all the artifice and performance, one of the most honest shows on television today. In his article “A New Vision of Masculinity,” Cooper Thompson posits that “traditional definitions of masculinity include attributes such as independence, pride, resiliency, self-control, and physical strength…but masculinity goes beyond these qualities to stress competitiveness, toughness, aggressiveness, and power” (Thompson 623). The fourth season of Drag Race also brought about a moment which reflected the astuteness of this quote. During one of the series’ popular “makeover” challenged, in which the contestants put guests in drag that may not seem very prone to gender exploration. Season four had them giving makeovers to especially masculine fathers. The guest who was assigned to work with eventual-season 4 winner Sharon Needles became belligerent and aggressive toward a contestant, Chad Michaels. He derisively refers to Michaels as “princess” and a “bitch” and then later writes off his poor behavior as his form of competition—an