What is a Drag Queen?
However, the stars of the show as far as I was concerned were three ladies all dressed in long evening gowns. Two, standing nearly seven feet high in their heels, wore sheath dresses with splits up the sides to the thigh. One was in white and the other in turqoise, and both covered every inch in sequins. With silver wigs and perfect make-up they would have passed for ladies except for their height and, even under the dresses, obvious masculine build.
The third lady had a red gown, also covered in sequins, with short sleeves and a large 'puff' at the shoulder. Smaller and of a slighter build she would have passed for a woman but with the slight touch of the over-dressing which I feel characterises a drag queen.
There were also a number of costumes which, although they did make their wearer appear as a caricature of a woman, did not make them in my opinion drag queens.
Typical of these were a PVC maid's dress in red with a black apron, a schoolgirl's uniform and a very skimpy red teddy costume. These I felt reflected more of the fetish nature of the wearer's character than an attempt to be flamboyant.
So what, if any, is the difference between a transvestite and a drag queen? By strict definition a drag queen must be a transvestite since he dresses in woman's clothes, which is the meaning of the word, but in my opinion what makes the difference is in the motivation behind the need to "dress".
The origins and causes of transvestite behaviour are complex to say the least, but two factors seem to be quite common. A mother with a strong and often dominant personality and a job in middle management or the equivalent. I suspect the management element is there because some of the mother's strong personality is inherited.
In general, a transvestite will make every effort to appear as convincing as possible, taking great trouble with make-up, body shape and dress sense. Drag queens take just as much trouble and in many cases far more with their dress and appearance, not to appear as a woman but as a caricature of a woman. Thier dresses are flamboyant or very stylised. In many cases their wigs are over-elaborate and their make-up lavish.
One factor which appears to seperate drag queens from transvestite is that drag queens are all extroverts, a trait which probably takes a lot of them into showbusiness.
It is also possible that in many cases the motivation is not so much to look like a woman as to poke fun at women in general in much the same way as a pantomime dame does. To discover why someone would go to such lengths to make a visual statement in this way would need some deep psycho-analysis...
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