• From: Bush country
  • Registered: 2011-12-10

Topic: Gender for drag performers

I'm curious as to what guidelines we have on this. For those who don't know, a drag performer (most often referred to as a drag queen or king) is a person who performs in costume as a character of the opposite gender. My question is this: how do we go about listing them in the gender field? I noticed RuPaul (the most famous drag queen I can think of) is listed as female, though she/he is biologically and legally male (and appears as a man on TV). Any thoughts/suggestions?

  • From: Tartu, EE
  • Registered: 2010-11-24

Re: Gender for drag performers

http://musicbrainz.org/doc/Style/Artist

"Use the gender the artist identifies as. Use "other" if the artist identifies as something other than "male" or "female".

The "other" gender option is meant to represent a gender that is neither male nor female, and is not intended for use with entities for which the concept of gender is illogical, such as companies."

So, the question I guess is "what does this artist identify as". I understand that's not always a question with an obvious answer though.

  • From: Oakland
  • Registered: 2009-04-07

Re: Gender for drag performers

My (admittedly limited) understanding of drag is that it says nothing about ther performer's gender identification. It's just a performance.

On the other hand, some would argue that everything is just a performance. :-)

  • Registered: 2012-04-30

Re: Gender for drag performers

I'm a theologian, not a cultural theorist or psychologist, but I work with people in both disciplines and catch the edges of conversations about this topic. I understand that most transvestites (including drag performers) would self-identify as their biological gender and are heterosexual; most, not all by any means. Not that sexuality is a recorded field here.

Drag performers who are sis-gendered and those who are trans-gendered will respond differently to this question. I know at least one biologically male drag performer who is sis-gendered and thinks of himself as male, but self-identifies as "she" during performances.

This is all to say that the question of gender is horridly confusing at best and I'd appeal to "artist intent" wherever possible. For example, if RuPaul and RuPaul Andre Charles both exist (performance/legal names respectively) then I'd do RuPaul as "female" or "other" and RuPaul Andre Charles as "male." But I'm by no means an expert here.

  • Registered: 2011-06-06

Re: Gender for drag performers

sbontrager wrote:

if RuPaul and RuPaul Andre Charles both exist (performance/legal names respectively) then I'd do RuPaul as "female" or "other" and RuPaul Andre Charles as "male."

I'd do it like this as well.