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The Drag King Book
First book on drag kings--women who dress up as men
160 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1999
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388 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 15, 2008
Perfect for my queer coffee table...
June 15, 2011
The authors talk with drag kings from Paris (limited), London, San Francisco and New York. I wanted to check out this book for 2 reasons, the first being the photography (Del LaGrace Volcano) and secondly to learn more about drag kings. What I find fascinating is that the reasons why these women dress in drag is as varied as the women themselves. Some very great insights and thoughts expressed, I'm really feeling like I'm getting an insiders look into the world of drag kings.
April 7, 2008
This book is a fairly academic discussion on the phenomenon known as "drag kings"- women who cross-dress and perform as men (the opposite version of drag queens). In a series of essays, interviews, and photographs, Judith Halberstam tries to get to the heart of drag kinging.
Like others have said, the text is hit-or-miss. If you're a Gender Studies major, an intellectual, or wanting to write an academic paper on gender-bending, female masculinity, the cultural significance of drag, etc., etc., you'll want to read the text.
If you're like the rest of us- puriently interested in those hot boychicks who gyrate on stage to George Michael with their glue-on-beards and sock-stuffed pants- look at the pictures. Oh, the pictures. In color, in black and white, as straightforward portraits, candid behind-the-scene shots, in posed pieces, some heavily artistic and others just documentary in style, they are so gorgeous and captivating that I dare anyone to not love this book, regardless of how you feel about drag kings. The pictures work on so many levels- from just being pretty things to drool over, to pieces of art separate from their subject, to deep statements made by the art of photography about what it means to be a drag king. I enjoy them on every level. Well done, Del LaGrace Volcano!
I will say, though, that the interviews are enjoyable reading for everyone, allowing the kings to actually speak for themselves without the academic lingo and social criticism and whatnot. Definitely don't miss out on those.
Overall, if you like drag kings, you MUST OWN THIS BOOK.
Like others have said, the text is hit-or-miss. If you're a Gender Studies major, an intellectual, or wanting to write an academic paper on gender-bending, female masculinity, the cultural significance of drag, etc., etc., you'll want to read the text.
If you're like the rest of us- puriently interested in those hot boychicks who gyrate on stage to George Michael with their glue-on-beards and sock-stuffed pants- look at the pictures. Oh, the pictures. In color, in black and white, as straightforward portraits, candid behind-the-scene shots, in posed pieces, some heavily artistic and others just documentary in style, they are so gorgeous and captivating that I dare anyone to not love this book, regardless of how you feel about drag kings. The pictures work on so many levels- from just being pretty things to drool over, to pieces of art separate from their subject, to deep statements made by the art of photography about what it means to be a drag king. I enjoy them on every level. Well done, Del LaGrace Volcano!
I will say, though, that the interviews are enjoyable reading for everyone, allowing the kings to actually speak for themselves without the academic lingo and social criticism and whatnot. Definitely don't miss out on those.
Overall, if you like drag kings, you MUST OWN THIS BOOK.
October 20, 2019
Picked this up on a whim from the Gender & Sexuality section at the Main Branch of the Ottawa Public Library (shout-out 306 in the Dewey Decimal System). It was really interesting to read a book about drag culture from 20 years ago given the contemporary mainstream obsession with RuPaul's Drag Race. There were lines like “Drag Kings have been featured everywhere recently” that were kind of sad to read 20 years in the future. Like, damn, drag kings never got their mainstream due, but maybe that's okay and queer art and culture should stay underground and not be commercialized and sanitized for the hetero masses? IDK! Anyways, all of the photographs in this book were amazing and I am really happy that this book was published as a historical document of its time and place.
BONUS FACT: Harry Dodge is featured super heavily in this book, who I was first exposed to by reading The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson earlier in the year. Everything is related, etc.
BONUS FACT: Harry Dodge is featured super heavily in this book, who I was first exposed to by reading The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson earlier in the year. Everything is related, etc.
October 2, 2021
Definitely The Drag King Book is a classic in queer literature and a primary source in the trajectory of the Drag King phenomenon throughout the 90s. Super essential and necessary, my infinite respect and admiration to Professor Halberstam (with other very important pioneering essays in the discourse of female masculinity) and the photographer and artist Del LaGrace Volcano. The book, with the color photographs and the testimonies about the performances of the late 80s and 90s, is a true gem, and should be further edited, translated and made available in bookstores and ebook format.
P.S. a Drag King and art historian doing her final thesis on drag king performance.
P.S. a Drag King and art historian doing her final thesis on drag king performance.
February 21, 2008
The text is disappointing; the photos aren't. It seems most of the text is spent trying to reconcile the author's preconceptions with what they discovered, which is at times frustrating. Overall, however, totally worthwhile.
October 23, 2023
Cool, pas aussi théorique que ce que je croyais, par contre les photos sont superbes !
November 6, 2024
Interesting inteoduction in the drag king world.
May 2, 2021
This book is a ride, and I loved every second of it. Together with photographer Del LaGrace Volcano, Jack Halberstam explores the beautifully queer and complex world of Drag Kings.
The Drag King Book echoes Halberstam’s earlier work on female masculinity when trying to locate special forms of masculinity apart from cis-men, that are present in the performances of Drag Kings:
“Some Kings see Drag as only a theatrical performance without any transgender aspirations or butch inclinations off-stage. Others see the Drag identification as a safe space to live/play out gender fantasies and identify as butch or trans. Some others don’t take off the “costume” and pass as men in everyday life or “make their drag persona into an extension of their butchness.” (p.83/86)
And also includes other minority masculinities:
“When transgender Drag Kings put on male drag, they thoroughly detach masculinity from men and even maleness from men. Even gay men have been putting on male drag lately and the effect is to merge a performative masculinity with the flaws and inconsistencies of their ordinary masculinities. […] The Drag King gives us insight into the vagaries of normal masculinity, its own set of peculiarities, its own way of making those peculiarities seem mundane. We can call this the drag effect and take it out of the drag club into everyday life as a strategy for restaging everyday life.” (p.152)
Hermaphrodyke, trans-butch, drag butch, butchdyke, drag king, boydyke, trannyboy. Those are some of the many self-ascribed terms the authors and protagonists identify with. This small list shows what this book tries to theorize – the vastness and complexity of gender identity within queer/lesbian/drag spaces. Gender ambiguity and gender diversity apart from the Drag King stage play an important role, and the question of legitimacy and “realness” become a big part of the book. In the chapter titled “Drag King Gender,” the author talks to different Drag Kings who perform a certain queer masculinity apart from the stage, take male hormones and who identify themselves as being somewhere on the transgender spectrum but still feel a strong sense of belonging to the queer dyke community. Especially Svar Tomcat’s views on what being trans and taking T means to him was quite enlightening. He expresses the feeling of never having identified with being female, but at the same time never having had the “wrong body” experience which so many other trans people describe. For Svar, testosterone became a gateway to finally grow from a tomboy type “boyishness” to a certain “manishness” within his own poly-gendered reality. Later in the book, he recalls an instance of being accused by other trans people of not being “trans enough” and simply making his (and other Drag Kings) “transness” into a game, thereby diminishing the experiences and problems of “real” trans people. Svar’s story mirrors today’s debate between so called transmedicalists (who often refer to themselves as transsexuals to make their hormonally and surgically altered bodies the only sign of legitimacy) and transgender people (who can sometimes identify as genderqueer/nonbinary and don’t always use hormones or surgery but still claim a trans identity – rightfully so). This “battle of realness” has been going on with different protagonists in different parts of the queer community for decades now, but this divide can also be seen throughout leftist spaces – this whole thing is really frustrating.
"Drag King performances are neither essentially rebellious and inherently transgressive, nor are they simply a harmless attempt to dress up the feminine in new garb. Some Drag Kings confront us with the limits of gender, others confirm the intransigent nature of categories that we would like to wish away. Some Drag Kings are performers looking to make a buck, others are the heralds of queer future. Above all, they are contradictory, confusing – and intentionally so.” (p.41)
(Also, I was really happy to see Austrian artist/filmmaker Ashley Hans Scheirl featured throughout the book!)
The Drag King Book echoes Halberstam’s earlier work on female masculinity when trying to locate special forms of masculinity apart from cis-men, that are present in the performances of Drag Kings:
“Some Kings see Drag as only a theatrical performance without any transgender aspirations or butch inclinations off-stage. Others see the Drag identification as a safe space to live/play out gender fantasies and identify as butch or trans. Some others don’t take off the “costume” and pass as men in everyday life or “make their drag persona into an extension of their butchness.” (p.83/86)
And also includes other minority masculinities:
“When transgender Drag Kings put on male drag, they thoroughly detach masculinity from men and even maleness from men. Even gay men have been putting on male drag lately and the effect is to merge a performative masculinity with the flaws and inconsistencies of their ordinary masculinities. […] The Drag King gives us insight into the vagaries of normal masculinity, its own set of peculiarities, its own way of making those peculiarities seem mundane. We can call this the drag effect and take it out of the drag club into everyday life as a strategy for restaging everyday life.” (p.152)
Hermaphrodyke, trans-butch, drag butch, butchdyke, drag king, boydyke, trannyboy. Those are some of the many self-ascribed terms the authors and protagonists identify with. This small list shows what this book tries to theorize – the vastness and complexity of gender identity within queer/lesbian/drag spaces. Gender ambiguity and gender diversity apart from the Drag King stage play an important role, and the question of legitimacy and “realness” become a big part of the book. In the chapter titled “Drag King Gender,” the author talks to different Drag Kings who perform a certain queer masculinity apart from the stage, take male hormones and who identify themselves as being somewhere on the transgender spectrum but still feel a strong sense of belonging to the queer dyke community. Especially Svar Tomcat’s views on what being trans and taking T means to him was quite enlightening. He expresses the feeling of never having identified with being female, but at the same time never having had the “wrong body” experience which so many other trans people describe. For Svar, testosterone became a gateway to finally grow from a tomboy type “boyishness” to a certain “manishness” within his own poly-gendered reality. Later in the book, he recalls an instance of being accused by other trans people of not being “trans enough” and simply making his (and other Drag Kings) “transness” into a game, thereby diminishing the experiences and problems of “real” trans people. Svar’s story mirrors today’s debate between so called transmedicalists (who often refer to themselves as transsexuals to make their hormonally and surgically altered bodies the only sign of legitimacy) and transgender people (who can sometimes identify as genderqueer/nonbinary and don’t always use hormones or surgery but still claim a trans identity – rightfully so). This “battle of realness” has been going on with different protagonists in different parts of the queer community for decades now, but this divide can also be seen throughout leftist spaces – this whole thing is really frustrating.
"Drag King performances are neither essentially rebellious and inherently transgressive, nor are they simply a harmless attempt to dress up the feminine in new garb. Some Drag Kings confront us with the limits of gender, others confirm the intransigent nature of categories that we would like to wish away. Some Drag Kings are performers looking to make a buck, others are the heralds of queer future. Above all, they are contradictory, confusing – and intentionally so.” (p.41)
(Also, I was really happy to see Austrian artist/filmmaker Ashley Hans Scheirl featured throughout the book!)
July 17, 2007
The first queer book I ever owned. Oh, the nostalgia.
August 1, 2008
this book disappointed me. i think the text is poor and i was frustrated with the depictions of drag kings, or the lack of diversity in representation of kings...
December 28, 2007
i read this for a class and i got a lot of insight into a facet of life i didn't know existed.
January 9, 2010
I found the writing hard to follow but an interesting pictorial book at any rate.
October 3, 2007
the pictures are awesome
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews