Violence‘Drag Race’ Star Sharon Needles Terrorized a 15-Year-Old Superfan - Daily Beast article (Discussion)

submitted by reluctant_commenter from self.LGBDropTheT

article: https://archive.md/0vWTF

I have never watched drag races before, so I don't really have any context for how common this sort of thing is, but I was wondering what people's reactions were to this article. The article itself is confusing to read at times because of all the pronoun swapping ("they" being used for multiple people and then for a nonbinary-identified woman; "she/he" being used at different points for a drag queen). The actual content is pretty horrific. I'm concerned about the reach of influence of people like the drag queen described in this story; it seems like he had easy access to vulnerable children, and no accountability for his actions.

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[–]Mikulbleu 16 insightful - 1 fun16 insightful - 0 fun17 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

I watched a couple seasons of Drag Race. My take is that they’re all a pack of narcissists who bully and shit on each other while the toxic fans say “YASSSS KUH-WEEN, YOU SLAAAAAY!!!” I’m sure there are some lovely drag queens out there, but from the few I’ve met in person I’ve just gotten really toxic vibes.

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I’m sure there are some lovely drag queens out there, but from the few I’ve met in person I’ve just gotten really toxic vibes.

I hate to say it but that has been my experience as well. I wonder to what extent today's iterations of drag differ from drag a few decades ago; maybe there's been a values shift.

[–]Femaleisnthateful 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

One of my Peak Trans moments was encountering two transwomen/drag queens (seriously couldn't tell the difference, and didn't ask) in a restaurant. One of them disappeared into the bathroom for an inordinate length of time, the other struck up a one-sided conversation with me and kept trying to convince me to come to a local drag show (he ignored my bf who was right there with me). He mentioned that he was unemployed (shocker!). Everything about him felt creepy and toxic.

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

I work at (generic coffee shop) and had a regular, I don’t even know what their sex was, like I genuinely could not tell if they were male or female, and they would always talk about drag and showed me pictures of themself in skimpy drag outfits. Either they couldn’t understand social cues and couldn’t tell I was uncomfortable or they were being a Yaniv and deliberately making me uncomfortable, either way I’m glad I don’t see that individual anymore, red flags all around. Plus their name was Skailer, like skyler but it had to be spelled really difficultly

[–]SerpensInferna 14 insightful - 1 fun14 insightful - 0 fun15 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I read through the whole article - it was not easy and it took awhile, but man that was a rough read. It seems as if the teenager in this article has plenty of back-up (social media & witnesses), and holy crap what he was subjected to was absolutely horrendous. And that everyone around allowed it to continue and no one did anything to stop it or get that kid to a safe place...what a bunch of god damn predators.

The drag scene is full of abusive monsters, apparently. Presented to the world with such a pretty veneer of 'harmless, kitschy fun'.

[–]JulienMayfair 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

The drag scene is full of abusive monsters, apparently.

I rented a basement apartment from a part-time drag queen ~30 years ago, and I got an introduction to the scene through him. It was a sleazy world of late-night performances in gay bars, drugs & alcohol, prostitution, etc... I was just passing through as a tourist. It was not a place I'd want to make my career.

And then you bring in Drag Race and the fact that they are probably looking for people who are a bit (or a lot) crazy to make for good screen drama.

Drag Race has made a formerly niche subculture mass market, accessible in a way that changes lives.

I think this is the real problem. You have psychologically-disturbed kids like "Annecy" given virtual and physical access to psychologically-disturbed drag queen performers, and these kids look up to them as heroes. What could go wrong? Oh yeah . . . everything described in this article. What parent thinks it's a good idea to take a mentally-ill 15 year-old on a drag queen cruise and leave them alone with adult gay men? At that point, the inmates are in charge of the asylum.

[–]DimDroog 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What parent thinks it's a good idea to take a mentally-ill 15 year-old on a drag queen cruise and leave them alone with adult gay men?

A negligent parent. Reading that article was blood boiling.

I'm seriously sick and tired of how predators are able to get away with their actions b/c they are protected and powerful.

[–]ChunkeeguyTeam T*RF Fuck Yeah 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

JFC. Epstein vibes.

[–]GreykittymommaMagical lady 💜 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

He choked this child with his dick? Wtf did I read that correctly???

[–]reluctant_commenter[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The article is horrific. This guy is a predator. Sorry, maybe I should've put a NSFW flair on it.