Don't Be A Drag Just Be Queen: A Quick History of Drag

Humanity has a long history of wearing clothes; it takes particular social and political conditions to transform a dress into drag. Drag itself is a form of arts and entertainment, the precursors of which can be seen in various cultures around the world, from ancient Greece to Japan. In Shakespearean theater, the political climate demanded women to remain off the stage due to perceived “indecency”, so all the roles were played by men. This is in striking contrast to today’s times, where women actors are commonplace and men performing as women can be accused of “indecency”!

Molly Houses were clubs in London during 1690-1860 that were akin to today’s gay bars. Within these houses, men would frequently take on the manners and dress of women, and even have wedding and “mock-birth” ceremonies. This social behavior was largely a push-back against the increasingly strict gender roles of the time. Molly Houses were subject to raids by the police for violating sodomy laws, which developed the association between drag and gay culture. [Exhibit 1]

During the Vaudeville era of 1880s-1920s, impersonation acts were popular. Both men and women would tour the US and England, such as female impersonator Julian Eltinge and male impersonator Hetty King. Shows were attended by a wide variety of people, such that gay attendees had a safe space to express themselves without being shut down by the police. American Prohibition of 1920-1933 coincided with the Pansy Craze, a rise in popularity of drag queens known as “pansy performers”. Various underground communities came together at speakeasies where they could participate in unlawful activity such as drinking alcohol, race-mixing, and drag. [Exhibit 2] Drag balls became more popular as extravagant events modeled after the debutante ball where a young woman would come out as eligible for marriage. Drag queens would play the role of the woman, coming out as homosexual rather than marriageable.

Around this time, Womanless Weddings also became popular among the general population. Local charities and churches would hold fund-raising events where a male-only cast would perform a wedding ceremony. The draw of womanless weddings was the humorous spectacle of prominent men in the community acting the caricatures of women. There are videos on YouTube of womanless weddings being performed as recently as the 1990s, but the act has largely dropped out of public interest now that same-sex marriages are commonplace.

During World War II, the United Service Organization began producing soldier shows to entertain the troops and increase morale. In a case of history repeating itself, women were not allowed on stage during these shows, because military leadership thought it would be “too sexually risqué”. However, the women soldiers were allowed to host workshops teaching the men how to wear makeup and dress as female impersonators. The men would put on shows with different acts, such as “pony ballets” where they would dress in tutus and dance ballet in their combat boots. The shows were also racially segregated, and even when they did finally integrate, the portrayal of interracial relationships was not allowed. The musical This is the Army based on these soldier shows opened on Broadway in 1942 with a movie version released the following year, which can be found in its entirety online.

Not too long after this, the Lavender Scare of the 1950s put gender impersonators and drag shows under heightened moral scrutiny. Accusations of homosexuality were levied against political opponents where accusations of communism wouldn’t stick, and thousands of gays and lesbians lost their jobs in the US government. This pushed drag further underground along with gay culture, creating the incendiary conditions that lead to the Los Angeles Cooper Do-nuts Riot of 1959, when police arrested 5 gay men (including 2 drag queens) and attempted to shove all of them into a single police car. Onlookers threw coffee cups and donuts at police until they fled, only to return with reinforcements to combat the crowds of protesters who had gathered in the streets from nearby gay bars. Drag queens later protested in the San Francisco Compton’s Cafeteria Riot of 1966 and the New York Stonewall Riot of 1969.

As early as the 1960s in Washington D.C., drag balls developed into drag, which were centers of support for the entire gay and lesbian community. Early drag competitions centered around performances including lip-synching. The Ballroom scene was launched by Crystal LaBeija in 1971 New York City, in a response to the racial discrimination in the city’s drag balls. These new Balls featured walks in various categories of dress, and even developed voguing, a form of dance that mimicked catwalk and fashion magazine imagery. Ballroom music also left its mark on popular culture with its mutual influences on house, disco, hip hop, R&B, and Jersey club. Both the documentary Paris is Burning and the historical fiction series Pose provide excellent depictions of the richness of Ballroom culture.

Following centuries of drag in performance arts and entertainment at live venues, drag was brought into our homes in the form of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Since 2009, over 150 contestants have competed, with hundreds more in worldwide spin-offs. The show has introduced numerous aspects of drag and gay culture into the mainstream, such as “spilling the tea” and “serving realness”. It has also inspired a broader range of young performers, gay and straight, male and female, to participate in drag performance. There has been a recent wave of legislative backlash and moral indignation at this increased visibility, but history has proved that drag is here to stay.

Exhibit 1

c. 1780

Exhibit 2

“Masculine Women, Feminine Men” (1925) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBBKLd_qqCY