US Anti-Drag laws

Post Reply New Topic

What are you confused about ?

Surely you comprehend the concept of what a Drag Queen is and what story hour at a library is and that the two together are a simple mashup.

Where’s the confusion?

Are you opposed to children watching old episodes of M*A*S*H because Klinger cross dressed and wore makeup? Or bugs bunny because bugs did the same?

Adults in costumes have been entertaining kids for generations. Barney in a dinosaur suit, Ronald McDonald as a clown, Mr. Dressup in various outfits, Big Bird as a bird etc.

Then why doesn’t DeSantis ban all the Warner Brothers Cartoons where Bugs Bunny dresses in drag?

I cant help but feel that the idea of a man in women's clothes isn't "confusing" until AFTER someone is indoctrinated to believe that a man in women's clothing is something "unusual" or "weird" or "wrong". A kid who hasn't yet been taught such things would likely just see a person in clothes. Same as how kids will happily run around naked until they're TAUGHT that it's "wrong".

Of course, it's possible that by "confused", what you really mean is, "confused into thinking it's acceptable to dress in drag" - that waiting until they're "old enough" means "waiting until they've been fully taught to believe its wrong" - and that "things not being what they seem", simply refers to the notion that "dressing in drag is bad!", despite it "seeming" to be acceptable, by proxy of seeing someone in drag, in public.

Now, I don't doubt for a moment that it's "genuine". While you may not "lose sleep" over it, the fact remains that you're still 'losing time" over it. Spending an awful lot of it arguing something you claim is no big deal.

Why is anything confusing? Either you're a master of it or you aren't. I'm not a master of a man who doesn't necessarily want to be a woman, but wants to dress up as one and be clear about the fact that they are a man. A man who wishes to be a woman and dresses as such is not confusing to me. I might still be able to tell they're a man, but I'm respectful of and cognizant of the effort they put into it. It represents a longing I can empathize with.

I have never known a woman who looks the way a drag queen portrays a woman to be. To me, draq queens present femininity as a form of satire and I don't understand that. It doesn't exist the other way around and I don't appreciate the slight. I see no reason for it, I don't understand it.

Umm, yes it does. Never heard of, or seen, a Drag King, have you?

It’s as you say, the other way around, only they do actually exist. Biological females performing as caricatures of males just as males perform as exaggerated versions of women in their dress & especially makeup.

People have tried to prohibit, regulate, or even tax activities they find 'sinful'.  Back in the 1920s, it was the "Yellow Menace"; in the 1930s, it was alcohol consumption; in the 1940s, it was the Red Menace; in the 1950s, it was Rock-and-Roll; in the 1960s, it was "Free Love"; in the 1970s, it was porn on cable TV; and in the 1980s, I remember people trying to prohibit, regulate, and tax the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.  There was a popular misconception that playing D&D would lead to practicing witchcraft, devil-worship, animal sacrifice, and other 'sinful' things, thus triggering a moral panic that has not yet abated, but only shifted in focus.

Now we have people who fear that a man in a dress will somehow inspire children to engage in all manner of 'sinful' activities -- the same sense of moral panic triggered by D&D is driving today's spiritually ignorant people into calling for persecution, regulation, and prohibition of male-to-female cross-dressers, and without any logical (and certainly not provable) reason for doing so.

(I have also noticed that no one seems to have 'demonized' women wearing traditionally men's clothing.)

I believe that it is safe to assume that there are people out there who feel so threatened by world events that they simply MUST look for an easy target to hate -- a target perceived as physically or mentally weak, deviating from what is considered 'normal', and doing no measurable harm -- which is what bullies do.

So now we have bullies and wannabe bullies picking on men in dresses for being different.

Bullying sucks, no matter how self-righteous the bullies may believe themselves to be.

There was nothing remotely sexual about the way that Klinger did it.

There’s nothing remotely sexual about drag queens reading story books to kids, either.

There’s nothing inherently sexual about drag queens performing for adults, either. They’re not strippers; they’re entertainers/dancers/lip synch performers/comedians etc. Go to a drag show and see for yourself, or at least watch some episodes of Ru Paul’s Drag Race or something.

Sorry, but I don't buy that confusion is bullying. Bullying is a word people whip out when everyone doesn't sign on.

Never heard of and never hope to see... I wouldn't go see a drag king either.

Perhaps you should brush up on the definition of bullying. It's applicable here just as Fnord described.

Your loss! They're ~about as entertaining as drag queens. I say about as they tend not to get as many shows booked so don't usually have the experience & practice to perfect their art. But they're always good fun just like drag queens - even bad drag queens just starting out who are nervous and don't have great material or improv skills just yet. Thankfully shows usually book several who all work well together so there's a variety of experience and talent levels.

Why would I brush up on bullying? It's not bullying to prefer one thing over another. This is turning into the typical circle jerk of libs. The yes, yes, yes'sirs. The one NO is a bully.

The world is not obligated to make sense to you in order to exist. Your confusion is not a valid excuse to tell other people what to do. They do not exist for you to empathize with, or not empathize with, at your convenience. Your approval is not necessary for other people to exist, even if you "don't understand".

As has been mentioned, it does in fact exist the other way around in the form of Drag Kings.

Now that we've cut through the crap of dog-shows and nudist camps, and established that it's really just cos "you find it confusing, and don't like it", it's pretty hard to argue that it's nothing more than personal prejudice on your part.



Yeah yeah...

The one "no" starts to encroach on bullying when they expect their "no" to be catered to over everyone else's "yes". Claiming that it's "just a circle jerk of yessirs" is nothing more than an ad-hominem attack. It adds nothing, it proves nothing. And also pushes that boundary of bullying.

Adds nothing and proves nothing -- that about sums up all of Persephone29's side of this discussion.  How many people have to prove such assumptions incorrect and such opinions inappropriate before the possessors finally admits to themselves that their perspectives on the subject are simultaneously antiquated and oppressive?

That is a rhetorical question, of course, because it seems extremely unlikely that anyone holding and expressing such opinions and assumptions would ever admit to being wrong, even though the facts speak otherwise, when they are both blind and deaf to facts.