Addie Kogan: Drag is art and self-expression

Published: 05-08-2023 3:20 PM

J.M Sorrel's column [“Misogyny as entertainment and entitlement,” Gazette, May 3] fails to recognize that the people who started drag were gender non-conforming people of color. They were not cis men, seeking to appropriate femininity from women, but trans and gender non-conforming people assigned male at birth, seeking to express something about themselves. This something was dangerous and making it into comedy or something performative was a pure subversive joy and survival. Just as butch lesbians have a very different life experience from femme lesbians. The same is true for effeminate men and gender conforming men. Drag is art, a form of their self-expression and most importantly it is a vital expression of survival in a world that is hateful to both women and gender non-conformity, especially transfemme identities which embody both.

Addie Kogan

Northampton

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