The overly constraining terms “male” and “female” no longer suffice to define gender —not within the world of drag, at least.
Friday night’s drag performance, sponsored by Del Otro Lado, UNM’s Gay and Straight Alliance, smashed societal boundaries regarding gender definition and the common fallacy that, in the drag world, only men dress up as women.
The show featured a variety of lip sync performances by drag kings, like Seymore Johnson, the Afro king and Sterling Maxwell P.P.D., or Professional Pimp Daddy. Each performer, clad in his best drag gear, danced his heart out while passionately pretending to sing songs appropriate to his drag-inspired theme. Meanwhile, audience members were invited to join in, preferably if they had a buck or two to donate to the performer.
The performers did a damn good job at getting audience members involved. The event, held in Kiva Auditorium, got to be pretty intense and even though the performers kept their clothes on, the event was comparable to a wild night at a Chip n’ Dales show — the audience was into it.
The event attracted a diversity of audience members, all of seemingly different tastes and interests. Justin Stewart, chair of Del Otro Lado, thinks that audience members are attracted to events like these because “it’s something fun, it’s something that they wouldn’t do. It’s kind of daring because we live in a society that’s still got a little Puritan idealism.”
Audience member Beth Ward is a College of Santa Fe student who came because she’s interested in drag and would like to get more involved.
“Gender is so specific in our culture right now and it’s kind of crashing our minds,” Ward said. “It’s kind of fading it out. It’s like you can be male and female at the same time and, in a way, that’s comforting.”
Yet, more importantly, the performance seemed to bring up important questions that are often left unasked. For instance, if the typical “male” and “female” don’t necessarily fit in at events like these, then what, exactly defines gender?
It depends on who you ask. Veda Renfrow, a.k.a. performer Sterling Maxwell, P.P.D., and a UNM junior studying media arts and music gave her interpretation.
“It’s how you see yourself,” Renfrow said. “It’s not necessarily the pieces you were born with or the parts of your body, it’s how you relate to the outside world, what you get on the inside and how you feel most comfortable presenting yourself.”
Stewart says gender is “what’s in your heart, what’s in your soul.”
The performers present these issues in order to inform people that drag isn’t a freak show, it’s an artistic choice and an expression of one’s self. Renfrow said the most common misconception about her dressing in drag is that people often think she wants to be a man.
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“I don’t want to be a man; I’m comfortable being a woman, but this is how I perform,” she said. “This is how I express myself, how I present a whole other side of myself. If I’ve had a crappy day as Veda, then I can go out as Sterling and have a great night because it’s a whole other feeling.”
When asked if Renfrow feels constricted by societal stereotyping, she replied, “There’s an element of being cautious because this is a world where people tend to judge and hate, unfortunately. To go out into public and to be really proud is something that’s very courageous, very important, too.”
Del Otro Lado is a nonprofit organization that sponsors events centered on community awareness. They present a gay or lesbian film every Thursday night in the Women’s Resource Center. For more information or to get peer support, visit the Web site at www.unm.edu/~dol.
