Both: Do you think drag is offensive or problematic?

submitted by worried19 from self.GCdebatesQT

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[–]DistantGlimmer 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

When dressing more feminine I've always thought that it should be done in a respectful way to women. I think women are well within their rights to complain about GNC men or transwomen who don't do it respectfully and/or over-sexualized it.

i realize drag is a performance thing and it's very enmeshed with gay male culture so it's complex. I think the overused word "problematic" is actually very good here. There's nuance to it but I get how some women find it offensive.

Drag-kings is a totally different social context. I don't see anything offensive about that. Go for it. I think it's a positive thing for women to challenge or poke fun at masculinity.

i haven't really followed much of the controversy about DQSH. Nothing wrong with a man dressed femininely reading stories to kids if that's all it is. Possibly it is helpful to them to see that men do not have to dress in masculine ways. The same would apply to children dressing up themselves in GNC clothing. It's great as long as it just isn't used as a way of teaching them stereotypes.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

I think women are well within their rights to complain about GNC men or transwomen who don't do it respectfully and/or over-sexualized it.

Why? If gnc men or transwomen wanna look like hell on wheels, or just wanna be sexy in general, what's wrong with that? Is beeing sexy in a feminine way exclusive to females? Or am I missing some context?

[–]DistantGlimmer 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I see it as being similar to the discussions about cultural appropriation. Femininity is something imposed on women. If males are going to opt into dressing feminine we need to be very careful to be respectful about it and not just reduce other people's oppression to a turn-on or a joke.

[–]Porcelain_QuetzalTabby without Ears 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I may disagree. If the joke was degrading women because of their femininity I would totally get behind that. It's not something they choose for themselves so making any joke about the oppressed class based on its oppression Is cruel. But sexual femine expression does not do that. No matter how oversexualized, which honestly is a nebulous term at best. Where is the line between sexualized and oversexualized?

[–]worried19[S] 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What about "bimboification" and "sissification?" Those are both male displays of sexual feminine expression that are based around women being stupid and weak and degraded.

[–]DistantGlimmer 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

There's definitely a line and it is nuanced. It's really up to women to say where the line is and I don't think it's something they really are all going to agree on but I think it is important to be aware and respectful of that just as I would be if I was wearing something inspired by someone else's culture and someone from that culture got offended by it.