Seeing Double, Thinking Twice

The Toronto Drag Kings and (Re-) Articulations of Masculinity

Bibliographic Data

ID3667943
AuthorsJean Bobby Noble (York University, USA, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume43
Issue3-4
Pages251-261
Publication date2003-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Homosexuality (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0091-8369 • E-ISSN: 1540-3602
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j082v43n03_15
PMID12769283
OpenAlexW2061921400
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

Through a close reading of the performances of masculinity by the Toronto drag kings, this chapter argues that drag king shows parody the hyper-masculine star at his most contradictory and dialogic. Given that drag king performances parody both the contradictions of masculinity on stage, and the productive technologies of the star, king performances are essentially both meta-theatrical (performances about performing where lights, music, body language, dance all make the man) and meta-performative (performances which are at once conditioned by the performative reiterations which enable a fiction of identity in the first place). Finally, I explore the rather abstracted question of what cultural work the category of "drag king" does. I argue that it is a term which articulates a series of productive but necessary slippages in and through the contradictory and dialogic practices of identification. The bottom line is this: drag kings are situated in and play with the ironic no man's land between "lesbian," "butch," "transman" and "bio-boy" where the sell evident is neither

Psychology · Social Psychology · Theatre and Performance Studies

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