Tuesday, September 28, 2021

TRANS SISTAS


Here we are again...Arise.... for the next crowned Queen...Vanessa Van Cartier, the latest queen to win the crown of Drag Race Holland... and yet again, another trans female to follow Sonique as a winner,  and about high time these trans sistas get their due. Vanessa has long been very well known and is usually pretty stiff competition if you follow the drag pageant system. Vanessa is truly one of a kind. As a transgender drag queen and performer,  Vanessa is the only queen from Europe to win and hold the title of Miss World Continental, where she beat out the world's most popular and talented queens when it was held in Chicago, and then getting placed on the second season of RuPauls Drag Race Holland, where she pretty much ate up the competition without as much as breaking a sweat. No small feat, as the season had some of the stiffest competition yet for one cast. And About damn time these trans queen are allowed to compete. As I have said before, drag is drag.

We must remember that just a short few years ago, one of the preeminent drag queens in the world expressed his resistance to trans woman participating in Drag Race because when it's not cis men doing it, "drag loses it's sense of danger" And Ru added a trans woman have a "up" by taking hormones, which to him are nothing more then "performance-enhancing drugs." Don't get this wrong though. RuPaul knows that drag queens and trans sisters are and were part of same club and night scene. Ru never had anything against our trans sisters, but I think just had the old fashioned thinking of drag shows were just for cis males competing. Even some of the queens recently like Dahlia Sin and Adian Zane had issue with trans queens competing. Since many seasons have ended,  there have been many queens who went on the transition, many more then most know, most notably recently is the fabulous Gigi Goode. But it wasn't till the last season that a fully trans queen finally got on,  in the form of Gottmik. Ru has since opened the flood gates. Over the past decade with the show's success, Drag Con events, and festivals like Bushwig, drag is experiencing yet another sort of renaissance. Drag queens have become interchangeably our self help gurus and seasonal look books, and make up tutorial how- to's. "Who's your favorite drag queen"  is the new "What's your astrological sign" you ask me.
So it's high time trans can compete. Trans people have had to differentiate and distance themselves from drag queens, asserting that their identities are entrant and permanent, This distancing has come with good reason considering the historic prevalence of transmisogyny with in drag spaces. Where do trans find themselves today: they are burdened with the task of always proving themselves, of the real in a society drunk on the myth of it's own naturalness. In a world where ideology masquerades as biology, they have to convince the doctors, the feminists and the partners and parents they they are real in order to be recognized, let alone respected. These trans performers have just as much right to perform drag as cis men. It blows my mind that as drag queens who have also had it hard with being rejected by members of the community, that no one would date because their considered to "fem" that they wouldn't accept a trans person doing drag. It is all art after all! So I take my hat off and roll out the welcome mat for our trans sisters and brothers to bring their best  drag personas.. So I condragulate Vanessa Van Cartier and Sonique on their crowning's.
So you know I'm all about the first AFAB queen, Victoria Scone being on this UK season. And she was 
FAB.U .LOUS!!!
She just may be the funniest queen on the show since Bianca Del Rio. The hilarity ensued already in the first half hour, where she had RuPaul already in hysterics.

24 comments:

  1. I love that crescent moon dress!

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  2. Excellent post!!!!! And yes congrats to the news winner Vanessa. High time Rupaul register her morals. Had she not...I would have not supported or viewed the show again. And I never could stand Dahlia Sin. Terrible attitude and a chip on the shoulder.

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  3. About time. I think Ru has evolved in what concerns who does drag. There's always been Trans women in Drag (kind of a gateway to really understanding oneself, I think) and I'm sure Ru was not the only person who thought Drag was more of a male profession. But you are right, times are changing. Love Vanessa! I've watched the Drag Photo RuView for the second season of Drag Race Holland and she's killed the challenges. BTW, I think Frank, the hostess, is a riot. Somehow I think you'd look like that in Drag.

    XOXO

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  4. Times do change.
    I used to be one of those who thought transwomen shouldn't be on Drag Race because they are women and have a leg up so to speak, But your posts on the art of drag, and what it means to do drag, changed my perception.
    I thank you for that.

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    1. That is a wonderful comment and thank you! I'm sure these gals would be very tickled too Bob.

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  5. Drag is performance art, plain and simple. If you have the chops, you have the chops. And it appears these girls have the chops.

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  6. For me, drag is drag. These are not women being portrayed but figments of our imaginations. More power to ALL drag queens... and kings.

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  7. Speaking as a woman, I've never looked a million miles near as fabulous as these ladies

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    1. I agree Helen! Even in my young years I was no where near as glam as these ladies.

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  8. I had a trans sista radio when I was a kid. I'll cover my face and leave now.

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    1. I just bet you were the trouble maker in class?

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    2. You'd lose that bet, Mads. I was the timid, never said a word, sitting in the back, teachers' pet. Probably why I have no filter now.

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  9. But seriously... Things are changing so fast that I find it difficult to keep up. Or keep it up... What was the question?

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    1. Oh, I bet you can keep it up mister! I am finding it hard to just keep up with drag race itself!!!!

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  10. I love following these kind of posts, but sadly I don't think any of the channels on YouTubeTV carry Drag Race.

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    1. Your right...it's bit and pieces on You Tube. I only pay to get the two main streaming platforms where I'm able to view most of the season, only because Im so invested into drag.

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  11. How fun. Great photos. Very vivid. Enjoy!

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  12. Drag being Performance Art, it is great that a lot of the prejudices and whose been historically excluded are being brought up and discussed finally. That headway is being made to be more inclusive and less biased about who and how they Perform their Art and whether or not it's validated. It isn't anything new that discrimination exists in many Performance Arts, by Gender, Age, Race, Appearance, etcetera, but these are important conversations to have.

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    1. Thanks Dawn! I agree. It is getting better. What shocked me the most was how even some drag queens took issue with trans queens competing. Well, I my book if you got a trade mark strong look and some real talent, then they should have nothing to worry about.

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  13. I'm like Bob. I too never thought real women or transwomen should compete. What's the purpose? But then your post and then seeing some of them in action change my views. If a transwoman can do drag that good that you really think it's a man doing drag....THEN JOB ACCOMPLISHED. Holland was a cut throat season...they were all front runners...and that's what you want.

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  14. What astounding and stunning winner! I can view Holland but missed quite a bit. I am so happy RuPaul finally is letting the trans folk take part and like you said, why should they be allowed? I have loved the trans winners and wish them well. And the UK Season 3! I may be in love with Victoria Scone.

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  15. love the dress of the last one!

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Go ahead darling, tell me something fabulous!