Four renditions of doing female drag: Feminine appearing conceptual variations of a masculine theme

Abstract

Departing from many contemporary writers ’ and researchers ’ homogenous conceptualization of the transgendered as a gender subversive enterprise, this paper explores the conventional ways that female impersonators do gender and sexuality by donning women’s attire. Drawing upon my ethnographic experiences in a dozen different drag settings over the past eight years, I highlight the apparent differences and striking similarities of those doing female drag. By locating female impersonators within the matrices of gender and sexual performance, identity, and embodiment, a multifarious viewpoint of this activity results that better illuminates participants ’ contextual motivations for undertaking what the dominant culture otherwise often defines as a stigmatized presentation of self. Out 157 1

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