It’s not the glittering make-up or towering hair that begets such concern. It’s the individuals who profit from the empowerment of the glitz and the glam. “When Dustin Hoffman does [drag in Tootsie], nobody says something. When Tyler Perry does it, nobody says something. When Martin Lawrence is in drag, no person says something,” says Naysha Lopez of Drag Race’s eighth season. As Jaymes Mansfield from season 9 elaborates, “That was seen as core innocent leisure. However the second it’s queer, it is an issue.”
Issues like an eye shadow palette or a can of hairspray could be on a regular basis objects to some, however when used within the context of drag, they switch an influence from inside that can’t be contained. “When you placed on the wigs, the lashes, the nails, and the heels, the insecure particular person you had been out of drag, that particular person not exists inside you,” explains Kandy Muse, season 13’s runner-up. “You turn out to be, actually, a superhero. It is an otherworldly feeling.”
For season 13 Miss Congeniality LaLa Ri, it’s the false lashes that pull all of it collectively. “After I pop on my lash, honey, I am simply the last word superwoman on this planet,” she says. “It simply makes me really feel like I can do something.” Heidi N Closet, season 12’s Miss Congeniality, finds power in embracing the tradition of Black ladies. “[My drag] is about being a powerful Black girl in a world that desires to place you on the backside of the totem pole,” she explains. “So I like to specific my tradition and my hair. I like a great braid. I like a great Afro. Ooh, I like an Afro.”
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