Commentary | MAGA Republicans are obsessed with harassing drag shows — here’s why – By Amanda Marcotte (Salon) / Dec 9, 2022
You don’t need a doctorate in women’s studies to know gender is a performance — “RuPaul’s Drag Race” proves it
“I woke up like this.” So sayeth the 2013 Beyoncé anthem “Flawless,” a song that also features a speech by feminist writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. When it was released, the lyric caused some grumbling among feminists who took it literally, but in my experience, fans understand it how Beyoncé almost certainly meant it, as an ironic joke. We do not wake up like this. Feminine presentation, in particular, can be a lot of work, with heavy investment in hair, makeup and clothes. Plenty of folks feel like genderless puffbags when they wake up, until they groom and doll themselves up.
In other words, Beyoncé boiled down reams of Judith Butler-style feminist theory for the masses: Gender is a performance. It’s an idea that caused much angsty academic debate for years. But when you put it like Beyoncé does, it starts to sound more like common sense.
“Flawless” has been rattling around in my head for months now, drawn out of my subconscious as reaction to months of growing right-wing attacks on drag shows. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was a mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs that left five people dead and 22 injured, on a night in which a drag show was scheduled. The alleged shooter has been charged with hate crimes. Groups like the Proud Boys have only escalated the harassment since then, successfully terrorizing some performers into canceling shows. CNN reports that investigators are exploring the theory that right-wing terrorists vandalized a power system in North Carolina, wiping out electricity for thousands of people, in an effort to shut down a drag show.
CONTINUE > https://www.salon.com/2022/12/09/maga-are-obsessed-with-harassing-drag-shows–heres-why/
