‘Drag’ typically means that you dress and perform as your ‘opposite’ gender. However, today, drag means much more than that. However, that is for a different article for a different day. Today we will just be defining and explaining who is what when it comes to drag titles and briefly touching on their part in the LGBTQIA+ community. This article is to scratch the surface of drag culture and community, as drag history is very rich and deep. You could easily devote your academic career to studying drag if you wanted. It is really easy (but fascinating) to get caught up in the history and who was where and why, so I am going to attempt to not get carried away here.

Let’s start with our ‘definitions’, shall we?

Drag queen

A biological male dressed as a hyper-feminine female that is usually an entertainer; a female impersonator. Hyper-feminine meaning pounds of makeup, a corseted waist plus padding for exaggerated, sometimes unrealistic curves. Some queens go for more realistic or “fishy” appearances (where you could pass as a normal, everyday woman), or some are more artistic and cartoon-like. Most drag queens are entertainers: the majority of them lip sync, sing, dance and/or do comedy. Some famous drag queens (other than Rupaul) include Bianca Del Rio (she does comedy), Courtney Act (she sings), and Bob the Drag Queen (she does comedy and lip syncs).

Drag king

A biological female dressed as a hyper-masculine male and that is usually an entertainer; a male impersonator. Hyper-masculine features means that the king is still wearing pounds of makeup, but to look more like a man. Drag kings hide their hips and wear clothes and prosthetics that make their bodies appear more like a man’s. Kings, like queens, are usually entertainers and will usually lip sync or sing, and some even do comedy. Drag kings are not nearly as popular as drag queens, but they are slowly becoming more well-known. Some famous drag kings include Spikey Van Dykey and Landon Cider.

Bio/faux-queens

A biological female that dresses up in the same way as a drag queen; hyper-feminine, a female ‘female impersonator’. It is more common to hear or see bio queens as nightlife stars rather than performers, but there are bio-queen performers. These types of queens seem to be the least common and there is even some controversy surrounding them.

The question I get asked a lot about queens is this: “don’t you have you to be gay to be a drag queen?” The answer to that is no. Every sexuality is welcome to participate in drag, even though it is not uncommon for kings and queens to be gay. Because it is common for kings and queens to be queer, their involvement in the LGBTQIA+ community is also not uncommon. A lot of drag performers do tie themselves into the queer community and there is a lot of queer history is drag culture.

I hope that this article has sparked your interest in drag culture because next week I am closing out my little series with a cheat sheet to gay and drag culture slang. It will come in mighty handy at your first drag show, or when you finally start watching "Rupaul’s Drag Race."