Gender Passing / NYC Drag Scene

Gender Passing

          Almost everyone has seen a movie with a plot along these lines: A woman, denied entry to some male realm, decides to disguise herself as a man. In this way, she gains access to the army (Mulan), the stage (Victor/Victoria), educational opportunities (Yentl), or maybe just a good soccer team (She’s the Man). In the course of her adventure, she may become attracted to a male friend, though any blurred lines of gender or sexuality dissipate when her deception is revealed. In the end, she almost invariably switches back to presenting as female.

          Of course, all this is fiction—a familiar narrative that has been told and retold since well before Shakespeare’s time. Yet there have been real figures in history, both male- and female-bodied, who have dressed and lived as another gender. Their reasons for doing so ranged from socioeconomic advantage to the chance to marry whom they loved. Unlike their fictional counterparts, few of them transitioned back, and many were outed only after their deaths.

          At the moment, this potential topic is very broad. I would find my focus according to the availability of primary sources. It would be ideal to narrow my scope to the stories of a few individuals—a challenge, given that most of the stories I’ve found thus far are secondhand anecdotes. Here are some questions I might touch upon, depending on the available material:

- How did these individuals interact with society? How did more conventionally gendered people, especially those who knew their secret, react to their transgression of gender norms? Are there patterns in these interactions that correspond to the culture and era of those involved?

- What trends emerge when contrasting the experiences of male- and female-presenting people? Did male- and female-bodied people have significantly different reasons for transitioning, given the male privilege that would be relinquished or gained?

Available Sources:

Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press, 2008.

Garber, Marjorie. Vested Interests: Cross-Dressing and Cultural Anxiety. New York: Routledge, 1992.

Wish list:

To pull this off, I would need a detailed primary account of gender passing in the U.S. The Cavalry Maiden by Nadezhda Durova is the sort of thing I’m looking for, but it takes place in Russia, not the U.S., so I'd have to find something else.

NYC Drag Scene 

         Another possible topic would explore the New York City drag scene—the emergence of drag balls and houses, the language and culture of drag, the personal experiences of drag artists. Because of the greater availability of data, I would probably focus on the 1960s-1980s. This coincides with the period when black drag queens began hosting major drag events. The prominence of Latino and African-American participants in the scene raises questions about race and intersectionality. How did queer people of color become associated with the drag culture of this period? How does performance factor into the construction of gender and race? Is there overlap between transgender and drag identities, and if so, what are the implications of placing one’s identity on the stage? How do oral histories contradict or modify popular impressions of drag culture?

Available Sources:

“Oral history interview with Charles Comedy ("Kip Turner Brice"),” Rainbow History Project Digital Collections, accessed January 11, 2016, http://rainbowhistory.omeka.net/items/show/4939023.

Meyer, Moe. An Archaeology of Posing: Essays on Camp, Drag, and Sexuality. Madison, Wisconsin: Macater Press, 2010.

(Earlier historical background)

Wilson, James F. Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2010.

Wish list:

As many oral histories and personal accounts as I can get my hands on.