An Evolutionary Exploration of Drag

Abstract

Drag, a performative art in which individuals dress in exaggerated and artistic displays of gender, has a long history and has been seen worldwide for centuries. For example, in the fourteenth century, women would dress as men to attend tournaments, and while at the time, that was not defined as drag, it can today be seen as such. Similarly, in Shakespearean theatre, where women were not allowed to act, men would dress up and play the female characters in the show. In the 1800s, the term drag emerged in the media to describe men dressing as women. In the United States in 1858, William Swan, a formerly enslaved person, became a self-named queen of drag. Despite its long history, there has been a shift from seeing drag as a celebrated art form to a perverse manipulation. In this presentation, I explore these questions: What does history have to say about drag? Why are drag performers being targeted so egregiously? What are current media platforms saying, and is this attack on drag only the start of a bigger attack on the queer community?