drag

Artistic mediums always have innovators, those people who weren't afraid to try new things with paint, words, light, film. Director Jeffery Schwarz's new film I Am Divine creates a portrait of how revolutionary drag superstar Divine brought drag from society's margins to the mainstream in his fearless and innovative way. 

This season of RuPaul's Drag Race is nearing the end, as we continue our tireless illustrated recaps of every damn episode. In this episode, RuPaul pulls off a roast with the most. We find out which queens are funny-haha, and which queens are funny- uhhh. Our seven soul sisters sling shady snaps in the race for the crown and cash.

I've been illustrating the best moments of RuPaul's Drag Race all season long. In this week's episode, inspired by Live Aid, the remaining queens sing for their lives. The stage shrinks as dead weight becomes painfully obvious, teetering off the edges. Drag Race drags on. Here, are this week's six best moments, in cartoon majesty. 

This season of RuPaul's Drag Race soldiers on with episode five's "Snatch Game." The game promises to separate the Queens from the Jokers, as the witty and witless alike take center stage. It all happens on Drag Race! My illustrated recap of the show's six best moments is below.

Continuing our weekly illustrated recap of the most fabulous show on TV, in the fourth episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, the competition gets fierce in a dance battle. Ghosts of mothers are present. The whip is cracked. One hundred thousand dollars are on the line. 

In the third episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, twelve queens remain to fight tooth and nail polish for the crown. In this leg of the competition, a children's show challenge separated the Muppets from the babies. I've illustrated my six favorite moments from episode one and episode two of Drag Race, here's the hits from this season's third glittering installment. 

On the first of February, I awoke to quite the stir on Facebook. A popular local gay bar in my town, Eagle Portland, had booked a drag performance by Shirley Q. Liquor for March. The people of Portland were angry. 

As a person who must be in the know, I started to Google Shirley Q. Liquor to see what I could find. I learned that Shirley Q. Liquor is played by Texas comedian Chuck Knipp, who describes his drag character as "an inarticulate black welfare mother with 19 children." Her fictional kids children have names like Orangello and Chlamydia and she also drives a Cadillac. Stereotypes abound! As I kept watching Shirley Q. Liquor’s videos, the tropes continue. Shirley is overweight, loud, and—everyone’s favorite—sassy.  To my eyes, his performances are incredibly racist. 

As a Black woman, these stereotypes still hurt and in many spaces I feel I have to live them down. I have been called "an angry Black woman" while expressing opinions and I’ve been told, “Don’t name your kid one of those Black names.”  On the flipside I get the ideal compliment, “You are so articulate!”  It’s like living the live version of “Shit White Girls say to Black Girls.” 

These things change the way I behave, the people I trust, and the ways I express myself. I want to be seen as whole person. And I feel thrown back by performers like Shirley Q. Liquor. Was I surprised there was a performer out in the world who plays on Black stereotypes for laughs? No. Was I surprised that there is a White man who performs in blackface, calls it drag, and is able to book shows at gay bars? Yes.

 

RuPaul's Drag Race! I watch every episode! Project Runway meets drag queens creates a weekly spectacle so hilarious that I'm unable tear my eyeballs away from the TV screen! Last week, I illustrated my favorite six moments from the Drag Race season premiere. Here are my six picks from the season's second fabulous episode, where talented and insane drag queen performance artists lip-synch for their very lives and 100 grand in prize money!  

Imagine, if you will, that you are living in Missouri at the end of the Civil War (1864 or thereabouts). Imagine also that you are a woman without a ton of moneymaking options who is in need of a job ASAP. Oh, and you are also a recently freed slave living in a place and time where people are still getting used to the idea that you aren't a piece of property. (And we thought it was tough to find a job in this economy.) What on earth will you do to support yourself?

Well, if you are a feisty entrepeneuse with a working knowledge of military life like Ms. Cathay Williams, what you will do is dress in drag and join the U.S. Army.

As you may have seen in Nicole J. Georges' tributes to gay animals, we are learning that gender in the animal kingdom is just as fluid for cats, dogs, giraffes, birds, and monkeys as it is for us humans. Why is it, then, that we still encourage animals (humans included) to conform to antiquated gender roles? Some members of the animal kingdom have had enough of this, like this doggeh who is sick of being dressed like a princess:



And this kitteh is having the opposite problem. Poor lil' guy just wants to dress like a princess!



Here is yet another member of the animal kingdom who is choosing to express her nontraditional gender.



Have a great, gender-bendy weekend, everyone! And if you've got an idea for feminizt LOLz, make your own at I Can Has Cheezburger and send 'em our way!