So, we already know that straight men desire women and straight women desire men. By and large, straight men don’t want their women looking like men, and straight women would not want their men looking like women.
Being that gay men desire men and lesbians desire women, what is the appeal in drag queens and drag kings to the homosexual community? If a man is looking for another man, why would there be any interest in a man that’s trying his damndest to look and act like a (many times exaggerated) woman? If a woman is looking for another woman, why would she look twice at one that makes every effort to look and act like a (again, many times exaggerated) man? One would imagine that if they wanted that, they could just avoid the middleman and find someone who’s legitimately of the other sex rather than an impersonator.
Drag queens / kings are performers. They do not present as female / male in their daily lives, but dress in the clothing of the opposite sex (to an extreme degree) as part of their performance. You wouldn’t suggest that Milton Berle was trying to appeal to gay men when he did drag, would you?
Gay men desire gay men, and lesbians desire lesbians, and both groups love a good show. Besides, I wouldn’t suggest that a drag queen is trying to look like a woman – drag queens try to look like drag queens.
Let me note that I don’t just meen performers. I’m also speaking in regard to gay men and women that, even just in their day-to-day life, go out of their way to appear and act more like the opposite sex. (We’ve all seen the 200-pound, crew-cut women who put many genuine males to shame, masculinity-wise.) What’s the point?
Transsexuality is a neurological disorder whereby the sufferer believes themselves to be the opposite of what they were born as… it’s been compared to ‘phantom limb’ syndrome, where your brain’s map of your body doesn’t match what the actual body looks like. Except that instead of missing an arm, you were born that way, and your whole body seems wrong.
It also apparently has little to do with homosexuality… physical sex, mental gender, and sexual orientation are linearly independent vectors. You could have the body of a man, but prefer to think of yourself as female, and also be attracted to women-- so people who didn’t know you thought of yourself as female would think you were a straight man, but in your own mind you’d be a lesbian.
from what i have seen, performers are there to make us laugh, the drag queen EMCEE event is always good for a few laughs (mind you get old, because they all for the most part have the same … your a straight boy and im gonna make fun of you, or “your a faggot… look at you silly faggot, are you going to F**K that man of yours in the ass tonight and think of me” routine)
in terms of diva drag queens, i like them because it amazes me that a man can look THAT much like a woman. there was a tranny who worked the clubs in boston, and i swore she was a woman, the most beautiful woman ever. she was a man named ben. i tried to take her out on a date a few times and consistantly got shot down (turned out she likes big beefy dudes, not 6’5 160lbs pile of skin and bones like my self )
i find trannies and drag queens hot because i like women as well as men, and the women i am attracted to spend time on their apperance, always have their hair and make up done up, and drag queens are always done up super fabulous, so if you were to date a drag queen, you would get a soft spoken effeminate male but when they dressed up… its dressing up. so its the best of both worlds.
yes i know my grammer and spelling is horrible so… excuse the run on sentances and spelling errors
Well, those aren’t drag kings and queens. Those are people who dress in the way they are most comfortable. Many of those “200-pound, crew-cut women” are straight, you know. Others (like me, on occasion) just like a good old-fashioned gender-bending. I usually do drag on Halloween, and I’m not above wearing nail polish in my daily life. Hell, my username isn’t even reflective of my gender.
Summary, since I ramble: People dress in a way they are comfortable. If that means men becoming slaves to fashion or women looking like John Goodman, that’s how they’ll dress. For me, living out and proud was such a big step that dressing to please others hardly seems important anymore.
DQ: They’re bright and flashy and they take the piss out of evil heterosexuals who are determined to make everyone live in a single mould.
DK: They take the piss…
They’re political in that they say “I don’t conform to your rules”. It’s also a bit like anti-war protesters wearing soldier uniforms.
There are some non-heterosexual people who don’t like drag at all. Whatever lights your candle.
I think what the OP is really asking has little to do with drag queens or transvestites. You could just as easily, and probably more to the point, use the idea of flamboyant, effeminate gay men.
He’s basically asking this: If gay men like men, why do other gay men act like women to attract gay men? Shouldn’t they act like the manliest men they can?
I don’t really have the answer to that, but hopefully that clarification can help get better answers from those who know. Besides, this may belong in GD or IMHO, imho.
Gay men can be attracted to a wide variety of men, from “manly-acting” to “womanly-acting.” Just because a man likes men doesn’t mean that the men he likes have to conform to some particular standard of man-ness.
The same applies to lesbians, with a “wo-” inserted as appropriate.
A lot and I mean a lot of gay men do NOT find drag queens or effeminate men attractive.
I find drag queens offensive from my stand point they are the same as black face entertainers. That may not be your point of view but the gay people I know take this view.
You have an audience making fun of “poor deviates,” or weirdos. This is just what they did to freaks and black face minstrils (sp?) shows. Let’s go to a show and see weirdos entertain. And there ain’t nothing complimentary about that.
Ironically now straight men are getting more and more effiminate. I find many straight guys, waxing, piercing, plucking eyebrows to a point. The acceptence level of not only gays, but people who are more androgonous (sp?), by young people, is astounding to me because of how much it has changed since the mid 80s.
My last job it was quite obvious (the hotel industry) that the younger straight guys had no problem with it but the older straight men (say over 35) were mearly tolerating gay people.
Young people just don’t seem to see gay or transgender people as an issue. (moreso, obviously there are still some out there that do)
Leaving aside the DQ/DK question, as it has been answered and wasn’t your question to start off with
Men and women come in all shapes, sizes, shades and attitudes. I was introduced to what I assumed was a sweet little old gay man at a family get together of mrsItekis people. He congratulated us on our wedding so effusly, and was soooo queeny that I assumed he was a little closeted grand-uncle who was pleased as punch for oppertunitys “the youth of today”. He then introduced me to his wife, and I realised they were the parents of two of the other people present. Doesn’t mean he isn’t gay of course, but more to the point, his wife likely isn’t. She had no problem being attracted to a very unmanly man. Even from surfing these boards there are plenty of people in both camps who want either a “blonde bombshell girly girl” and those who would love to meet a woman who doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, will play with their trucks with them etc. The same goes for the lgb community. Tastes differ from person to person. I think your assumption that the majority of straight men and women want their partners to be typical examples of the opposite sex is flawed. Many perhaps, but not most, and absolutly not all.
