Drag kings, explained by drag kings
Mo B. Dick, Maxx Pleasure, Sigi Moonlight, Johnny Gentleman, and King Molasses explain the evolution of drag.
Transcript
00:02My name is Mo B. Dick.
00:04The B stands for Bodacious
00:05I'm Maxxx Pleasure.
00:06Sigi Moonlight.
00:07Johnny Gentleman.
00:08King Molasses
00:09Also known as the sweetest and stickiest
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undefined:undefinedthe light hit me
00:31and I feel like I'm finally me.
00:33I feel the fullness of myself
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undefined:undefinedthe transformation of gender.
01:08The majority of drag kings are AFAB performers:
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undefined:undefinedvulgarizing it
01:28making it a farce, making it silly
01:31You know, you can create this character,
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undefined:undefinedAmerican rock stars.
01:45I definitely am going for the bad boy with
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undefined:undefinedlike a lot of cultural elements into my drag.
02:13Even the palm hat that I'm wearing now
02:17a lot of men from where my mom's village
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undefined:undefinedLatinx person.
02:37I just want to make sure that every time I
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undefined:undefinedand becoming an alter ego
02:57is what allowed me to finally accept
03:00and love myself for who I was.
03:03And I started using they/them pronouns
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undefined:undefinedsense of things.
03:19A lot of people don't know there's this
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undefined:undefinedVesta Tilley, Ella Wesner.
03:40To our knowledge, the first indigenous male
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undefined:undefinedagainst what defines being a woman.
04:11And then moving on into the 1920s,
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undefined:undefinedtrue blue pioneers.
04:29Like Stormé DeLarverie.
04:33Someone who just epitomized
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undefined:undefinedwas in 1972.
04:56It's “The Queen's Vernacular: A Gay Lexicon”.
04:59And in that, it defines drag king,
05:02So that was the first time that
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undefined:undefinedbigger and bigger but...
05:18they still got a way to go when it comes
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undefined:undefinedwe give the drama, we give emotion
05:47energy just like Queens do.
05:51Because we're not in the mainstream,
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undefined:undefinedthe power of misogyny.
06:08We are usurping male power and privilege.
06:10And that's still scary to people.
06:12Our patriarchal society doesn't really take
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undefined:undefinedwho won in New Zealand.
06:34Landon Cider in 2019 who won Dragula.
06:37Tenderoni in Chicago.
06:39Who won in 2021.
06:41I am hopeful.
06:42I'm optimistic.
06:44And in the meantime, we're not waiting.
06:46This new generation of kings that are coming
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07:11to fight for respect, because
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