Who's Horny in the House Tonight? Drag Queens and the Construction of Queer Spaces

• In Event: 035 - Section on Sex and Gender Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Queering Spaces

Abstract

This study provides an ethnographic investigation of drag shows at a downtown nightclub that caters to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community, and is located in an urban southeastern city. The drag queen identity is complex and largely influenced by experiences of reward and marginalization. Although the gender identities of drag queens are often misunderstood and used as targets for physical and emotional violence, they find power in their ability to collectively challenge the hegemonic gender order through their contestation of the heteronormative gender binary. This study contributes to the analysis of the drag queen identity by underscoring the relevance of the environment drag is performed in. By interrogating the relationships among drag performance, drag show audience members and the performance environment, the author demonstrates how presentations of gender and sexuality can be manipulated within a situational context to create a queer space where the normative and procedural rules enforcing gender difference temporarily dissolve.

Author

• Harry Barbee, Florida State University