Drag Queens' Use of Language and the Performance of Blurred Gendered and Racial Identities

Abstract

Building on Barrett (1998), this study provides a sociolinguistic analysis of the language used by Suzanne, a European-American drag queen, during her on-stage performance in the southeastern United States. Suzanne uses wigs and costumes to portray a female character on stage, but never hides the fact that she is biologically male. She is also a member of a predominantly African-American cast. Through her creative use of linguistic features such as stylemixing (i.e., the use of linguistic features shared across multiple language varieties) and expletives, Suzanne is able to perform an identity that frequently blurs gender and racial lines.

Keywords:

• drag queens
• gender
• language
• race
• sexuality

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Tracey Weldon, Jennifer Reynolds, William Leap, Denis Provencher, and participants at Lavender Languages and Linguistics XIII and XIV for useful comments on earlier realizations of this project.

Notes

1. RuPaul is an African-American drag queen who became famous in the 1990s as a singer, talk show host, and supermodel. In recent years, she has regained some popularity as creator and hostess of RuPaul's Drag Race and RuPaul's Drag U, two shows on the cable television network LOGO.

2. It is common practice to use feminine third-person singular pronouns to refer to drag queens within this speech community.

3. Despite the fact that Suzanne's performance is public, I still gave her a pseudonym to respect her privacy.

4. Barrett (1998) defines drag queens as “gay men who dress as women, especially those who perform in gay bars” (p. 139). Barrett's definition excludes drag performers who may identify as transgendered. Many of the performers in the venue where I collected my data are transgendered but refer to themselves as “drag queens” when performing. These transgendered performers are often called “tittie queens,” because their breast implants distinguish them from the gay male performers. The drag queen who is the focus of this article identifies as a gay man, but the influence of transgendered language within the drag community cannot be discounted.

5. It is important to note that this exaggeration is not intended to be mocking.

6. “Jay's” is a pseudonym.

7. The stage is only erected on Wednesday nights for the talent show.

8. If time allows, she may also do another perimeter on the floor to get tips from patrons standing closer to the walls.

9. Interview with Dolly Parton on Larry King Live (July 12, 2003).

10. I used a Sony TCM-5000 EV analogue cassette recorder to record the performance and a Sanyo TRC-8080 transcriber for the transcriptions. I used primarily standard English spelling for all transcriptions.

11. Barrett (1997) and Leap (1996) provide descriptions and discussions of GME.

12. “Kamikaze drag” is a segment of the show in which Suzanne is expected to lip sync to a series of songs from her standard repertoire. She does not know the song order or at what point in the song the DJ will decide to stop and switch to another one.

13. I have not yet measured this instrumentally, but it is perceptually obvious.

14. Jay (1992) claims that research on the use of expletives in natural settings, including bars, is still lacking and should be examined in future research.

15. Statements regarding the use of “bitch” by gay men are based on the author's personal knowledge as a member of the speech community.

16. It is also, arguably, more complicated among women, as well.