Conversation
I don't understand the appeal of drag queens, I don't find what they do as attractive or really entertaining.
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Who is the audience for this?
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@sim boomers I think based on UK TV in the 80s and 90s
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@arcana Will boomers watch anything? Or is this a particular thing for them?
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@sim I think it might be a particular thing. It makes me feel very uncomfortable
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@arcana @sim my mom loved watching drag queens and i never got it

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@mischievoustomato @arcana Yes, that is rather bizarre to hear. Did you ever ask why?
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@sim @arcana she said she liked the fashion, but i could never agree

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@arcana I suppose they could be a curiosity for them? Like that exotic other because it is not a normal thing to do.
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@sim I don’t think it’s that, I just think they saw it as a comedy form of entertainment
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@mischievoustomato @arcana That's interesting. I didn't think about that angle. I do agree with you though. I'm not into over-the-top exaggerated fashion and makeup.
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@sim @mischievoustomato I’ve always seen them as basically being a form of clown
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@arcana @mischievoustomato @sim yeah it's weird my brother made me watch it and i dont really get it. i guess its really gay guys into womens fashion. still dont get it, mentioned to him that some trans people i know find it plain demeaning
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Yeah, especially with all the make-up that some of them put on their face. Something a clown would do.
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@meso @arcana @mischievoustomato You were made to watch something like it too? It's one thing for gay guys to be into women's fashion but isn't this stuff exaggerated and extreme?
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@sim @arcana @mischievoustomato it's incredibly boring i think its just a self perpetuating thing of the hype and fandom around it being bigger than the thing itself, which in reality is pretty boring and stupid
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@arcana Oh yeah, there is that angle about it where it is comedy and treated as such. What do you think about it being sexual adult content?
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@sim it definitely is and I don’t like that personally. In a sense I can see why people enjoy it for the same reason they enjoy bawdy comedy films also from the past few decades but I personally don’t find that appealing.
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@sim @arcana i dont know whether its about it being adult content, as much as fashion shows are adult content tbh, or what demographic it's geared towards or who it appeals to. the contestants seem like they're into fashion
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@sim @arcana some of it ends up looking pretty cool tbh, it's very elaborate suits. maybe that's the entire appeal but i never saw that part highlighted in the media
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@arcana @sim they just expect you to get it. maybe it's more than that because women don't have shows where they make elaborate clothing to my knowledge
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@meso @sim I don’t think it’s fashion, at least in the UK. The UK drag stuff is very explicitly basically innuendo filled comedy and very exaggerated make up to look almost clown like.
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@sim @arcana i never got why people like that. even women often put too much makeup and look weird

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@arcana @sim they should try making a show about male fashion i'd watch that
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@meso @arcana @sim there are drag kings who usually look even worse
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@meso @arcana I suppose fashion shows are usually adult content, yeah. It gets a bit weird when they have children doing this stuff.
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@sim @arcana yeah children shouldnt be doing that it's just weird af
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@sim @meso I mean they have all that Honey Boo Boo stuff don’t they? That stuff is creepy
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@une @mischievoustomato @sim I don’t even think all of them are gay though a bunch are
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@arcana @mischievoustomato @sim yeah straight drag queens are a thing. maybe it's different in the UK but they're definitely more the exception than the rule, though since the popularity of rupaul's drag race i think they've gotten more common
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@mischievoustomato @arcana Yeah. It's not going to make you look more attractive. I think some women don't realise they have applied too much.
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@sim @mischievoustomato Drag queens definitely don’t do it to look attractive I don’t think, it’s more as I said, the clown thing, it’s meant to be exaggerated and theatrical
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@meso @arcana What would that look like? Then again...
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@sim @arcana this is boring as fuck tbh. idk gay people are good fashion and like men surely?
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@sim @meso Yes, I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it, youth beauty pageants in the US. Honey Boo Boo is famous because she was one of the ones they made a documentary about but it’s apparently a fairly notable thing in parts of the US, since the 1920s
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@arcana @sim child beauty pageants are beyond weird, fucking americans
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@sun @sim @meso Yeah it started in Atlanta it seems from looking on Wikipedia
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Yeah, that sounds right to me. It being theatrical. I wonder if it began in theatres?
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@sim @mischievoustomato Well it possibly did arise in part from the fact that prior to the Restoration in the 1660s, women weren’t permitted to act in theater and so all female characters were performed by actors in drag basically. I imagine it descends from there but it’s seemingly a global phenomenon, the Spanish reported on it when they reached the Philippines in the 1500s but they executed all of the ones involved in it as they suspected them of being gay.

This kind of thing was very popular with soldiers too in the world wars. If anything I feel like drag stuff is actually less common today than it was in the past.
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@arcana @meso Yeah, I was thinking about the beauty pageants but I haven't looked too much into it. I don't get it.
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@sim @meso people want their kids to win awards I guess
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Now that is brutal of the Spanish. Yeah, this origin sounds the most plausible because women weren't permitted to act. I think acting was once seen as something the undesirables did too, if you go back far enough.
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@sim @mischievoustomato The Romans certainly didn’t like actors, but in the Renaissance and early modern they were fairly respected. The tradition continued in pantomimes which are an old English tradition dating from the 19th century and they include drag stock characters. I went to see pantomimes often when I was younger at the local theater as they’d usually be on as family friendly shows at Christmas retelling Fairy Tales. They don’t really seem to exist as much any more, which again, feels like part of drag dying out to me.

If anything, drag feels waaaay less prevalent today than it did in the 1980s and 1990s, and I’ll often see people getting angry at things for being some 2020s “woke” thing which in related was common place in the 20th century
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@arcana @meso Yeah. Pushing them into it either vicariously or for the prize money in some cases.
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Yeah, I was thinking about the ancients in particular. In a way, I am glad that they become a bit more respected. The only problem is, they have worn the mysterious element down because actors are celebrities and we have more access to them than ever before. We get to see their bad takes, their politics and this kills the movie star vibe.

Interesting that drag feels less prevalent today. I do think that theatre is dying so that might be related.
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@sim @mischievoustomato interestingly too, as I was just reading into it, but it seems while drag in the UK began as I mentioned film theater, in the US it was started by black slaves, especially after the civil war a bunch of them started identifying that way and hosting balls
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Oh wow... I didn't see that twist coming for the US.
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@sim @mischievoustomato yeah, seems like it’s been their predominant root to it and the tradition it followed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dorsey_Swann

I guess it makes sense with the UK version taking the form of bawdy adult comedy shows (following the traditions of 17th century comedy) and the US version taking the form of fashion shows with many African American contestants including RuPaul
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Yeah. That is also going to cause them to be confusing because they have different roots to them. How much have they merged now?
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@sim @mischievoustomato I don’t know how much they’ve merged, I mostly just know historical aspects to things. I imagine there has been somewhat of a cultural merge and it might be that killing off the UK type stuff
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@arcana @mischievoustomato @sim

>and I’ll often see people getting angry at things for being some 2020s “woke” thing which in related was common place in the 20th century

They kinda are now though, there's been this absolutely strange push of "drag story hour" that ended up happening more or less internationally, pushed because of a very vague "it's progressive" thing going on that's just absolutely baffling. Nobody would care otherwise about drags if it wasn't strangely pushed that way
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@une @arcana @sim @meso it's not just tomboys in suits? Fuck
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@psnacks @une @sim @meso they draw on beards I think
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@arcana @mischievoustomato Yeah, that might be partly killing off the UK stuff but also whether there is enough interest in it to make it profitable to continue.
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@sim @mischievoustomato yeah, I mean I still attend the theater from time to time but it’s honestly pretty dire these days. I remember when I went to see the Ukrainian Opera Company perform Madama Butterfly and the house must have been less than 50% sold and the audience was predominantly over 60. It’s something I notice a lot when I go to various performances and cultural events; the audience is dying out and I don’t know what’s going to become of the various age old cultural endeavors involved
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@coolboymew @mischievoustomato @sim yes that was definitely weirdly pushed and felt almost like a psyop to divide people if I’m honest. Not saying it was but it felt like it
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@arcana

That’s what I was told by a literal drag queen and his “husband “

@mischievoustomato @sim
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@arcana @mischievoustomato @coolboymew @sim I know people that not only think it's great intrinsically they think it's great to fuck up their kids to own maga chuds
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@sun @mischievoustomato @coolboymew @sim yes I think there’s a lot of people doing stupid things to be like: “how’d do you like that other side?!”
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@arcana @mischievoustomato @coolboymew @sim years ago I showed someone pictures of "drag kid" irl and instead of changing their mind they just said nothing and turned and walked away from me ending the conversation lol
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@arcana @une @sim @meso just looked it up, looks wild
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@psnacks @une @arcana @sim >tomboys
>in suits
This is a show where gay men dress up as clowns dawg
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@meso @une @arcana @sim drag kings tho, and this looks like a fucking handsome jack cosplay with blue hair lmao
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@psnacks @arcana @sim @une although most of it is kinda mid i wouldnt watch it tbh, even drag queens have more elaborate designs
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@meso @une @arcana @sim > drag ken isn't real, she can't hurt you
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@arcana @une @psnacks @sim @meso now that you're a Jojo villain what's your Stand
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@meso @une @arcana @psnacks @sim why does top hat have different beard colour than their hair. Is that a thing that can happen? Breaks my suspension of disbelief
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@arcana @une @Merc @sim @meso holy shit, you need to watch jojos bizarre adventure
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@arcana @une @psnacks @sim @meso it's like a superpower that often manifests as a ghost you control. Called a 'Stand' because it stands next to you. Eg, time freeze powers, or ability to turn anything you touch into a bomb, or ability to freeze anything in the air in place relative to you, or ability to control a mini drone
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@psnacks @une @arcana @sim @meso or a bunch of plankton. Or purple vines. Or a blob that only appears after you die.
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@Merc @une @arcana @sim @meso or... weather that turns people into snails
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@psnacks @une @arcana @sim @meso or a guy who cheers you on and that's it
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@Merc @une @arcana @sim @meso i was just writing about that one
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