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Drag Today
Drag Today
Before shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Dragula had broadcasted these theatrical performances, performances of drag or as it had been called, “cross-dressing,” were done privately. It functioned less as a public spectacle and more of a private demonstration of theatrics, gender-bending, and queer life exploration when it wasn’t accepted. Vaudeville shows had functioned to create safe spaces for those in early queer communities, to find those like them in a world that hadn’t been accepting of them. For some individuals, drag still provides an escape from a community of bigoted individuals. But with the escapism, also comes an amount of hindrance from outsiders (i.e the bigoted individuals). Similar to what we are seeing today in Tennessee, drag is being threatened within the guidelines of “prurient interest” (Sears, et al). But this isn’t the first time that drag has been threatened. Before that, we have to look back at the very beginning of drag performances.
One of the largest forms of entertainment within queer and transgender communities has been drag. Most commonly today, you may be able to go to your local brunch spot or bar in order to see some Drag Queens or Drag kings lip syncing, dancing and performing in front of an audience. Some of these performances have been extremely popular when it comes to celebrating things like bachelorette parties, birthdays and most popularly, Pride Parades. Where these performers are treated similarly to royalty, like the name Drag Queen/King suggests, but this hasn’t always been the case.
Shakespearean Drag
Shakespearean Drag
As mentioned in other sites of Transgressing Gender, vaudeville was largely the start of performance related cross dressing, except it had also occurred within the late 16th-early 17th century Shakespearen performances. It was extremely popular for men to cross dress within these plays since women hadn’t been allowed to perform on stage. This was due to a large portion of theatrical performances having been controlled by the church. Men had been allowed to exaggerate feminine features and body language. Although in 1660, King Charles II had lifted the restrictions regarding gendered performances, finally allowing women to have played themselves. But women had also begun to play as men, taking on “breeches roles” (Conger). Although women were allowed to perform on stage, male actors had opted to continue cross-dressing for the purpose of comedy. Because of this, there had been a British theater genre called pantomime, which allowed for a masculine actor to present femininely while a female actor played the male protagonist, performing a sort of cross dressing.
Vaudeville in the United States
Vaudeville in the United States
Meanwhile, in the United States, vaudeville had begun to rise to popularity in 1870 till around 1920. Vaudeville had functioned as a sort of gender-bending theater performance, it had also been seen as family friendly entertainment. Not only was there drag, but there were other performances such as ventriloquists and acrobats, and vaudeville functioned as a way for people to show off their talents to audiences. Differently from the British pantomime or minstrel shows, female impersonators, what we would call drag queens, did their best to convincingly portray women. This had resulted in audiences packing vaudeville houses to see these beautiful women, with full knowledge of knowing that they were men. These sorts of acts were also typically targeted as “wholesome family entertainment” (Editors). Which is quite ironic, seeing as how drag now is written as a “prurient interest” which classifies it as adult oriented and banned from public properties/places where children may be. This would also include scenarios where drag performers would read to children, that would still be seen as adult-oriented.
Julian Eltinge
Julian Eltinge
One of these famously beloved vaudevillians was Julian Eltinge, outside of their crossdressing, known as William Dalton. Seeing as how Dalton was most often known as Eltinge, we can’t be too sure that they now wouldn’t identify as queer or trans, so I will be referring to them using they/them pronouns. Eltinge was frequently praised as a “female impersonator”, one time having received a glowing review from the Boston Globe. After having made a namesake for themselves within the Broadway community, Eltinge had moved closer to acting within silent films of Hollywood. If we chose to have seen Eltinge as a trans or gender non-confroming individual, this would go to show the rhetoric that queer actors and characters have always been around, regardless of what some may believe. Despite one resource having said that Eltinge was beaten by their father for having put a dress on, they still did it. They acted as this gender deviant for that generation and as a symbol of bravery for later generations.
Restrictions on Performance
Restrictions on Performance
Apart from vaudeville performers, people who were dressed as the opposite sex were able to pass in everyday society. It was only around the turn of the century, when audiences began to turn against these performers which they had previously loved so much. Men having dressed up as women was less of an issue until it had become associated with homosexuality. It was something about the “publicness and self-consciousness of their deviation” (Eskridge) that made society anxious toward how they were meant to perceive these individuals. This is when cross-dressing has slowly started to resort back underground and away from the public eye as much.
One of the earliest laws that had been put into place was one that stated it is a crime to have had your “face painted, discolored, covered or concealed”. Although, New York, which the law had placed it, had not intended it for cross dressing audience, but rural farmers who took to “dressing like Native Americans to fight off tax collectors” (Ryan). Laws against cross dressing had grown in popularity between the years of 1848 and 1900, 34 cities out of 21 states had prohibitions against cross dressing. The laws would specifically target a person “wearing a dress not belonging to his or her sex” (Sears) or “wearing the appearly of the other sex”. Despite being targeted as family friendly content, cities like Los Angeles and New Orleans had passed laws that would prohibit “indecent dress” or having been caught while wearing so called “disguises' '. But what is a disguise? Is it wearing a cloak to conceal one's identity? Or a mask of a creature? In this description, a disguise would simply be articles or clothing, not “belonging” to ones assigned sex at birth. This was not a momentary law, these laws had been key tool in allowing for lesbian, gay and transgender to be policed and arrested for those laws. This would just be a sort of difference to have been made by the society of America within the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Which would have lasting effects all the way up until the late 20th century.
Three-Article Clothing
Three-Article Clothing
This difference that had been made in regards to cross-dressing would later affect those presented as trans and queer all the way up to the Stonewall Riots, depicting how much of an affect these laws had put onto the queer community. In the events that had led up to the Stonewall Riots, queer folks were frequently being arrested for this so-called, “cross dressing”. One of the laws that frequently had caused for people to be arrested was the “Three-Article Rule.”. This rule had meant that an individual had to be wearing three articles of clothing that had belonged to the gender they were assigned at birth. So, for example, if you had been a woman wearing a shirt and jeans, you would likely be arrested for failing to do this. Not only had this affected transmasculine men, but also butch women. This was a rule that had been put in place to set down this gendered difference. Our society has always made sure that if we were to do anything, even if it was “socially acceptable drag/cross dressing” it still had to fit the gender binaries of our society.
Conclusion
Conclusion
When conducting research for this website, I was given an even greater appreciation for those who had come before us. Difference is something that will always occur, regardless of how “forward” we may think our current society is. But with the recent Tennessee laws, it's clear that that isn’t the whole truth. We are still fighting for these rights to be able to express ourselves creatively, and for trans folks, they would just like to properly present themselves without being dubbed as a “cross dresser”. But as long as we have had differences, there will always be instilled binaries. Fortunately, I believe that having now done this research, I can better understand how those who came before us, had conquered their differences. We still have their stories even if we may have lost a few on the way. It would be an amazing moment to be able to tell those queer people about what living as a queer performer is like today. Drag is mainstream and popular enough now that this wonderful art form can be shared on television and social media, not hidden away within vaudeville houses. Despite what certain law makers are trying to do nowadays, there will always be the deviants. The people who organize together and create communities with those who need it. There will be people like Julian Eltinge, who despite having been beaten for dressing in women’s clothes, had been dubbed “the best female impersonator” and made a career of it. Even when police are counting the articles of clothing one is wearing, there will always be those who are transgressing gender binaries. When drags queens and kings are treated as villains to be feared and to hide younger generations from, they will still be there. I know that as a gender non conforming person as well as a drag queen, I will never falter away from my passion. Because in a society that seemingly was not made for queer people to live, they still had. Those queer and trans people of the 19th century and beyond had still persisted and lived. Despite the difference, they were there. And because they were brave enough to stay there, I am brave enough to live.
Bibliography
Bibliography
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