I’m only interested in a type of masculinity that’s healing, kind, and empathetic. I usually get inspiration from queer men like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, the Village People, or the creations of the camp cowboy designer, Nudie Cohn. I’ll always remember the first drag kings I saw on stage who really inspired me to get stared, like Chiyo, Benjamin Butch, Mr Wesley Dykes, and Romeo de la Cruz.
#DRAG KINGS TV#
We are definitely the moment, and as someone said to me recently ‘drag kings and things are what still make drag exciting these days’, especially after seeing TV queens doing the same routines, wearing the same wigs, and being clones of each other. They have been breaking down barriers for years now. They think it’s not what the audience wants, based on archaic views from Ru Paul’s Drag Race that’s been gatekeeping drag for years.ĭrag kings are not a 2022 phenomenon, nor are they the future. Many producers consider our art boring, not interesting, too political, too deep.
Not everyone who is a drag king is a woman and others are still perceived as ‘women’, even though they may be non-binary, trans, gender non-conforming. This definitely intersects with an issue of misogyny in the queer and drag scene. We’re constantly compared to drag queens, and made to feel as if we’re second class and don’t deserve to take up space. Little did I know then that drag kings were still very much in the margins of the drag scene, usually looked down upon, underpaid, underbooked, and generally ignored. My career really kicked off after winning bronze in Man Up 2019, when I performed a number about being trans… Just casually coming out in front of 700 people. It was love at first sight, if you wish, a liberation for my own queer and trans identity. I couldn’t understand what was going on, but I just knew that one day I’d be performing on that stage. I remember seeing drag kings for the first time at Man Up, a competition at The Glory pub in east London. I discovered the art and politics of drag after moving to London in 2017. I still get goosebumps when I remember that first time I got on stage in 2018, when I unbuttoned my shirt and revealed my bound chest (before surgery) and my trans semi-naked body as a way of feeling empowered and seen… I dressed up as a matador who had to fight toxic masculinity and the gender binary. My debut in drag was a critique and an ode to my Andalusian heritage. I had to master the art of performing femininity for years, before being able to explore my masculinity and become a drag king. This would never end up happening because of societal pressures in the conservative south of Spain where I grew up. As a teenager I used to fantasise about dressing in my little brother’s clothes. I remember those hot summers in Spain by the beach, thinking how it’d feel if I were a boy or had a different body and gender.
#DRAG KINGS SERIES#
Sherry Deckman will be joined by Kersha Smith, Jordan Bell, Esther Ohito, and CREE Pendergrass.In celebration of this year’s Pride, we're showcasing a special series – Pride Voices – to explore the many sides of LGBTQIA+ life and queer culture today, as told by people from the community. Please join the Urban Education PhD Program for this book talk and discussion on Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower with Professor Sherry Deckman. This work illuminates ways administrators, faculty, student affairs staff, and indeed, students themselves, might productively address issues of difference and anti-Blackness for the purpose of fostering critically inclusive campus environments. Through rich description and sharing moments in students’ everyday lives, Deckman demonstrates the possibilities and challenges Black students face as they navigate campus culture and the refuge they find in this organization. Uniquely focusing on Black students in an elite space where they are the majority, Deckman provides a case study in how colleges and universities might reimagine safe spaces. Deckman takes us into the lives of the members of the Kuumba Singers, a Black student organization at Harvard with racially diverse members, and a self-proclaimed safe space for anyone but particularly Black students. In Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower, Sherry L. Protests against racial injustice and anti-Blackness have swept across elite colleges and universities in recent years, exposing systemic racism and raising questions about what it means for Black students to belong at these institutions. Book Talk on Black Space: Negotiating Race, Diversity, and Belonging in the Ivory Tower by Sherry Deckman.
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