Drag, or Dressing as Girl, has been gaining popularity over the past few months with the help of the TV show RuPaul's Drag Race. This show, which we will talk about later, has made many drag queens known to the public and is very important in the LGBT+ community.
However, drag has been around way longer than Drag Race. You can watch a video here from Drag Race alumni explaining more about the history of drag, but here is a history lesson for you right now.
Drag has been around for centuries, and many believe that it has been around ever since people have been wearing clothes. The term comes from dressing as a girl, but also refers to the dragging on the floor of long dresses that the queens would usually wear. One of the ways it started is when men would have to dress in a female illusion before women were allowed to preform in the theater.
In the 1900's, drag became popularized because of Vaudeville shows in America. Julian Eltinge, one of the most famous female impersonators, found huge success preforming in drag and eventually made his way to the Broadway stage. However, drag was still not accepted when homosexual acts were illegal. Drag was closely knit with the LGBT community and queens found it safe to stay behind closed doors.
So, in order for them to keep doing what they were doing, they had to relocated to different secretive places in cities and at night so they would not be caught. This is when the Pansy Craze happened, which is when underground gay bars all across America became popularized, especially in cities like New York City and Los Angeles, which still remain 2 of the most drag populated areas in America.
This craze lasted until the 1950's, which was when law enforcement started to get a lot stricter about homosexuality, which meant drag performers were not as safe as they once were. The house system and Ball Culture became popular among the drag queen community. The house system is a close-knit group of queens that help each other out, and Ball Culture is basically a pageant where queens get judged on walks, dancing skills, and fashion, including makeup, hair, and costume.
By 1966, there were an estimated 500 drag queens preforming across the US. However, in 1969, the famous Stonewall riots occurred. These riots were led by the LGBT+ community after police raids of gay bars were taking place. Many people were violet and many arrests took place, but no one was killed. These riots were said to start the LGBT+ movement in the United States.
In the 1970's, film maker John Waters' cast Divine, a very famous drag queen, into his movie Pink Flamingos. She became an icon in the community, as well as John Waters.
In the 1980's, many pop artists dressed in part or full drag, including legends like Boy George. This normalized feminine features in man and were very prevalent in the pop music industry.
In the 1990's the documentry Paris Is Burning was released. This documentary gave a look into what it took to become a drag queen in Harlem, New York. It was also focused on drag Ball Culture, which we talked about earlier.
RuPaul Charles, arguabley one of the most famous drag queens on the planet, gained popularity in the 1990's with her song, "Supermodel". With her success, she got a talk variety show and paved the way for many drag queens to gain popularity.
In 2009, RuPaul started the competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, which is now wildly popular. It has run for 10 seasons and 3 All Star seasons. Fans know the show for its different challenges queens endure every episode, including sewing, acting, singing, and dancing. The show has given a platform to over 100 queens and their careers have taken off.
Drag has become very popularized and it is a home for many people. It gives people a way to show off their creativity and it gives others a chance to experience true entertainment and passion. Drag has come a long way over its years, but I see it going nowhere but up in the future.
