instruction sofia

The main goal of this instruction was to break the 3 major stereotypes about drag queens to teenagers. I came to this 3 stereotypes on lesson #3 when I had to answer some question about the type and stereotype. These were stereotypes that I had but also that many people have.

I thought about different alternatives - about doing a poster, or an instruction on how to become a drag queen, or a small pamphlet. The things I was missing on the representation of the group was how drag is an art, where we can find them, the exploration of exaggerated femininity and the diversity of races. I wanted to focus on the identity, on the person. I wanted to find a way to tell teenagers about this, so it had to be colourful and simple but the concepts could also be a little bit more complex than if I was explaining to kids.

I then came up with the idea that of creating a game by using visual markers and stories that focused on empathy. The idea is that there are 6 stories written on the first person that tell a personal story. For example, the first stereotype is “drag queens are not transgender”. So the first story tells the story of a transgender, how they fell, what it is. Then, the story is told through a drag’s perspective: what it is like being a drag queen and how this is different from being a transgender. I wrote this stories based on interviews, movies and research I did online. These stories are put on different cards. The main goal is for the teenagers to join in a group (or can also be played individually), take on card, read the text out loud, and try to connect these stories. When the stories are connected, three different phrases can appear (drag queens are not transgender/gay men/transvestites).

I’ve experimented a lot with the background. I first took screenshots of videos of drag queens getting ready but then it didn’t become cohesive with the colours of the cards. I also traced the images with the same colour as the card but it was still too busy and I really wanted the teenagers to focus on the game. So finally, I decided to have the tracing result only and paint the important visual markers (for example, wigs, eyebrows, eyeshadows). I tried to make it a lot colourful and the colours were inspired by the knowling I had previously done.

INSTRUCTION: DRAG QUEENS

RESEARCH AND STORIES

pdf with all cards - see details, etc.

USED RESEARCH TO WRITE THE STORIES

I am a drag queen, please stop confusing me with a transvetite. Being drag is not a fetish, it isn’t a turn on. Drag is also for kids and it’s not sexual. I just love the beauty of a woman, how they look. I love beautiful women’s clothes, their flowy hair and long nails. A lot of nights, I put on a big wig, do some crazy makeup, and put on a wild costume to entertain people. It is not something I do in the bedroom, but in public. I love being on stage and performing, that has always been my passion. I love creativity, I love irreverence, and colours, and music, and dancing, and movement, and shapes, and sizes. I have chosen to adopt this eccentric character as a way to express myself and the parts of my personality that people don’t get to see when I’m not in drag. It gives me the freedom to be more comfortable with myself and the freedom to try out new things that I wouldn’t try as my normal self. After becoming a drag queen, I have found out so many new things about myself, the things that I like and the things that I don’t. It has made me so much more comfortable with who I am and how I look. It is so amazing to when you are constantly being inspired by the people that surround you, and being able to develop these new characters that are inspired by my daily life. My alter ego allows me to create a layer between me and the world. To express myself, to be myself. We all have something to show through drag.

I am a transvetite, not a drag queen. I am a married heterosexual man, and so are the majority of the transvetites I know. I dress and act as a woman. I don’t put up an act every day or every weekend, but sometimes I like dressing up one. When I decide to do it, I can choose which kind of woman I want to be. Wearing women’s clothes allows me to have access to things that men don’t have access to, putting on a dress gives me permission to act out those feelings and behaviours that were banished from my masculinity. In those moments, I am connecting with the feminine side inside of me, I am more emotional and I’m allowed to be a bit different. I think of a dress as a sign of vulnerability and innocence and I am set loose by the costume I’m wearing. To me, being seen as a beautiful woman is a very desirable idea. It gives me an adrenaline rush, often caused by the soft fabrics and other items of clothing. It is true that when I dress up as a woman, I have an alter-ego, just like drag queens do. But unlike them, I have to admit that I explore the erotic dimension a lot more. Even after talking with friends, I still cannot understand if this is an obsession or a compulsion, but it’s definitely something that’s always been there. Sometimes, I do it for pleasure or to just relieve stress. I have to admit that I do have sexual enjoyment from dressing in woman’s clothing and I guess we could also call that a fetish. But you should also know that just because I am dressing up as a woman, it doesn’t mean I am seeking sexual attention from men. I still have a wife and I’m still an heterosexual man.

I am a drag queen, but I am heterossexual. It is true that most drags are gay men, but there are so many exceptions to the rule. I am one of them. I was worried that I wasn’t going to be accepted by the other queens because I am not gay. I literally thought I was going to be bullied the whole time. I thought the girls would hate me. Some people find my sexuality really controversial and struggle with the idea that I do drag - bless them. "I've been getting messages from people saying, 'I didn't know I could do drag because I'm straight, because I'm bi, because I'm a woman.' And I said, 'Are you crazy? Of course you can! We are all here to support each other, to work together. However, I should also tell you that it is indeed unusual not to be a gay men in the drag scene. But many of my gay friends who do drag have told that they feel alien to the mainstream gay society. It might be because we like getting people’s attention. We love the stage and the big crowds. We like the control that it gives us. When we walk in the room, everyone turns their head and we have full control. I love drag because it’s fun! I think being sparkly is the best thing in the world. And if life is short and I’m going out, then I’m going in some ridiculous heels I can’t walk in.

I am gay man, not a drag queen. I’m gay but I don’t like to dress like a woman, nor do I feel like a woman. I am gay but I’m not a fashionista, I don’t know how to dress myself. I’m gay but I’ve never seen an episode of RuPaul’s drag race. I’m gay but I’ve never worn a wig. I am not super stylish. I might be an exception, but I am one of many. Although it sounds cool, I’ve never dressed as a drag queen. If you pass me in the street, you wouldn’t turn around to look at me. I wouldn’t call for your attention. You would pass by and see a common man, dressed in everyday clothes. No makeup, no wigs, no costume. I will not talk loudly or perform in a stage. I have no desire of wearing heels or women’s jewellery or to even go to a drag race. I am not dressed to perform on stage, I am dressed to go to work at a lawyer’s company. When you look at me you will see a common businessman. And that it’s because it is impossible for you to determine my sexual orientation (or anyone’s) simply by looking at my physical appearance. I do not conform to the traditional norms associated with femininity or masculinity. I express my gender as I want, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I am an homosexual. I do have friends that like to do drag, but you have to know that isn’t the majority of us. It’s their way of expressing themselves and that is okay. I also have friends who like to dress in a more feminine way, as I also know women who like to dress more masculinity. In the meanwhile, I will keep wearing my ordinary clothes and my ordinary shoes.

I am a transgender, not a drag queen. I was not comfortable on the body that I was born with and I could not identity as a man. I was living in a body that wasn’t mine. Since I was young, I have had dreams of being treated like a girl in Sunday school, of groups of girls making me dress in girly clothes, of magically transforming into a girl. From a young age, I was fascinated by all feminine things. Being transsexual is a way of living. Being transsexual doesn’t mean waking up as a man, putting on a wig and some make up, and suddenly transforming into a woman. It means going through hormonal changes, which makes my skin become softer to the touch, my nipples become sour, have my breast buds form. It means that my body hair is decreasing and that I start crying over random emotional stuff. It means that I have to go through a lot of surgeries and do painful laser therapy during several months. Everyday I see my body transforming a little bit more, and I see myself becoming who I always knew I was. Transitioning implied that I had to ask my parents to call me by a different name than the one they had given me at birth, and that my friends had to start using different pronouns when referring to me. I’ve had to train my voice to sound more feminine by watching endless youtube videos and practising vocal exercises on a voice-analyser software on my phone. Being transgender is who I am from the inside out. This is my real life, my everyday. It is my personal identity, not a performance. Nor is it a costume. It is about who I am, not how I dress. I am a woman.

I am a drag queen, but I am not transgender. Being drag is not about identity, but about artistic expression. It is what you do, not who you are. It’s all an illusion, a pretend, a perfomance. I am an artist. Doing drag is my career choice. I never wished I was a girl. I love being a boy but I enjoy dressing up as a girl. It’s really fun! I love every inch of myself. Most days I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt, like a common guy. But when I’m in drag, I am making fun of identity. I am a shapeshifter. I have never wished I was a woman, but I like playing pretend, poking fun at the status quo, giving the construct and constrains of gender the middle finger in a fun, larger than life way. Being drag is a celebration of not caring about the rules, it’s allowing people to be who they are! I am being open minded and I am questioning everything. Being drag for me is about looking at the concepts of being a female and male in society and trying to figure it out what kind of boundaries we are placing on ourselves. Sometimes I feel more like a woman, and sometimes I am feeling more like a guy, and somehow I am just floating in between. In this crazy world, I am constantly trying to escape all these rules about gender, what I should wear and act like. Part of drag is to explore gender and once you’ve done that you realise how little it matters and maybe you come to realisations about yourself, so it is natural that some drag queens end up transitioning. Drag makes a mess of things, and I think that’s wonderful!