All straight men, not only do they love drag, but they do their own versions of it
Summary
A straphanger in full costume delivers a fiery argument that all straight men already love drag, they just call it something else. Pro wrestling? Drag with entrances and outfit reveals. Halloween? Drag for cowards. Rock concerts are drag with guitars, anime conventions are drag with subtitles, and "artsy Brooklyn men" are doing drag for trust fund babies cosplaying as the working poor. The stranger, dressed in what he calls his work drag persona, pushes back when Kareem suggests he's performing masculinity, insisting he IS masculinity. Good masculinity is good drag. He reflects on growing up playing sports in tight pants while fans wore face paint and dressed as players, realizing the drag fandom was always there. The real problem isn't drag itself but the hypocrisy of straight men who love it yet roll their eyes at drag queens. By the end, he offers to put Kareem in drag.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? All straight men, not only do they love drag, but they do their own versions of it.
100% agree.
Thank you. It's called cosplaying them.
It's cosplay. It's character work. I mean, take pro wrestling for an example, okay? We have grand entrances. We have outfit reveals. We have costumes.
There are literally pro wrestlers that look like this.
Halloween, that's drag for cowards. We have rock concerts, drag with guitars, anime conventions, drag with subtitles. We have artsy Brooklyn men, which that's definitely drag for trust fund babies that love to cosplay as the working poor.
Cook, baby.
Drag is everywhere. And like we love drag, right?
I'm doing drag right now.
Yes. Tell me about your drag persona.
Right now I'm uh, I'm cosplaying as a guy who goes to work.
Hell yes.
I'm a guy who goes to work. This suit is in my office. So when I go to work to do this, I change into this.
Yes. And we're performing masculinity.
I'm not—hey.
Okay. Well—
I'm not performing masculinity.
You are masculine.
And I am masculinity, too. And in a way, we're good masculinity. You know, I think masculinity also gets a bad rap, but masculinity in its good forms is good drag.
The untoxic.
Yeah.
You look sick. You look like you're like a Mad Max final boss.
If Mad Max worked at Home Depot and also as an MTA construction worker.
That's the new MTA construction worker outfit.
I think everyone would be happy. I think it would be sexy out.
The more I've done drag, the more I've realized that everything is drag. I mean, when I was playing sports growing up, I was like, "Okay, we're wearing these costumes, wearing tight pants. Fans in the stands are literally dressing up as us, cheering for us, wearing face paint." Like, the drag fandom was always there, baby.
Yeah, it's true.
Everyone loves drag. I just want straight men to realize that when they roll their eyes at drag queens, the problem was never my version of drag. It was their hypocrisy, cuz they love it and they do it.
I might try it.
Internet, should I put Kareem in drag someday? I would do it.