Rewriting ‘herstory’: Sasha Velour’s drag as art and activism

Middlemost, Renée

doi:10.1080/19392397.2020.1765083

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…11, issue 4) devoted to RPDR . This collection considers the mainstream visibility of drag vis-à-vis RPDR against contemporary celebrity culture, furthering Muñoz’s discussion of drag’s fusion with mass “celebrified” (meaning “professionalized, commercially-viable, brand-oriented and mainstream.” (Feldman and Hakim, 2020: p. 386)) culture juxtaposed against its punk, camp, and anti-establishment history (Andrews, 2020; Collie and Commane, 2020; Feldman and Hakim, 2020; Ferreday, 2020; Mercer and Sarson, 2020; Mercer et al, 2020; Middlemost, 2020; O’Connell, 2020). Another pertinent volume is a collection of essays titled RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Shifting Visibility of Drag Culture (2017).…”

Section: Drag Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstream novelty: Examining the shifting visibility of drag performance

Zaslow

2022

Sexualities

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This mixed-methods analysis seeks to understand the shifting visibility of drag performance in the wake of RuPaul’s Drag Race and increasing mainstream exposure. Using a publics/counterpublics framing popularized by Michael Warner, this work argues that RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a drag “public,” while drag at the local level has shifted from insular subculture to counterpublic. This shift is marked by both a new and different hierarchy of drag performance that has altered the drag scene on all levels. This hierarchy imposes standards and expectations about how drag, as an embodied art on the local level, “should” look which influences drag’s reception.

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Section: Drag Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mainstream novelty: Examining the shifting visibility of drag performance

Zaslow

2022

Sexualities

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“…Since then, through their online activities and various appearances at events and in television programs, Satsuki has become simultaneously consumable by mainstream media audiences and something of an advocate for young Japanese trans people. On the one hand, the presence of trans celebrities like Satsuki can positively challenge cisgender representations dominating media and popular culture (McIntyre 2017; Middlemost 2020). On the other hand, more trans celebrities in the public eye does not necessarily translate into serious treatment of trans issues and can serve to sensationalize them, subject them to surveillance, and prescribe “certain normative ideals of ‘acceptable’ transgender identity” (Fischer 2019; Lovelock 2017, 677).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Different Kind of Transgender Celebrity: From Entertainment Narrative to the “Wrong Body” Discourse in Japanese Media Culture

2021

Television & New Media

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Scholars have criticized how tarento (television personalities) who might be considered “transgender” have for decades provided comic relief on Japanese mainstream television, but few have considered the recent emergence of a different kind of trans celebrity who rejects the entertainment narrative to embrace the “wrong body” discourse (having mismatched corporeality). This article explores this phenomenon through the example of Nishihara Satsuki, a trans-identified internet celebrity-turned- tarento, drawing mainly on discourse analysis of their blog, memoir, and variety program appearances. I demonstrate how Satsuki’s celebrity departs from narratives of trans tarento as objects of entertainment to align with hegemonic discourses of the wrong body, which govern how trans individuals are understood in Japan and reflect the broader context of heightened trans visibility elsewhere. In doing so, Satsuki offers an important platform for discussing trans issues and experiences today, which I argue has encouraged the media to take trans representation more seriously.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race: Queer authenticity and strategic Westernness

Willard,

Dubrofsky

2024

Communication, Culture &Amp; Critique

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We analyze RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs The World (UKVTW), part of the larger RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise—one of the most popular current media representations of queerness. UKVTW features participants from different countries competing to be “Queen of the Mother-Tucking World.” We examine the intersection of queerness and whiteness, exploring the tension between national identity, racialization, and drag performance. Building on scholarship about reality TV and authenticity, we argue the series queers conventional notions of authenticity in reality TV by privileging fluid gender identities. Developing the notion of “strategic Westernness” we examine how the series presents a postracial imaginary that obfuscates race by foregrounding nationality: seemingly progressive representations of gender ultimately privilege white and Western participants.

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Rewriting ‘herstory’: Sasha Velour’s drag as art and activism

Cited by 3 publications

References 29 publications

Mainstream novelty: Examining the shifting visibility of drag performance

Mainstream novelty: Examining the shifting visibility of drag performance

A Different Kind of Transgender Celebrity: From Entertainment Narrative to the “Wrong Body” Discourse in Japanese Media Culture

RuPaul’s Drag Race: Queer authenticity and strategic Westernness

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