Submission by Megan Beard, TNG contributor

“Women have existed in the art of drag for a very long time as object, as that which is imitated,” explains California-based drag performance artist Monique/”Fauxnique”, Jenkinson, drag performance artist and the first woman to win the Miss Trannyshack Pageant. “Biological females performing in lady drag are claiming a place both as performed object and as performing subject.”

Bio Queens, Faux Femmes, F2F (female – to – female) drag queens, whatever anyone wants to call them, one thing remains the same: these are biological women (born with lady bits at birth) who were also born for glitz, glam, and drag. Long the domain of men masquerading as women, or women masquerading as men, a new perspective has been developing at the arty fringes of the conventional drag scene for well over two decades, but only in the last few years have these women started to gain their rightful acknowledgement as Female Drag Performers.

Faux Femme forbearers can be found in the larger-than-life personas developed by Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles (and her green nail polish), Mae West and her hyper-sexual and bawdy quick wit, Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria; not to mention Ana Matronic of the Scissor Sisters, who got her start doing drag in 1996 at legendary drag performance venue Trannyshack in San Francisco. Boys fought and continue to fight for the right to be as fabulous as they want to be; girls on the other hand, are given the right to be princesses, but with some unfortunate strings attached. If girls want to be princesses when they’re little, that’s great, even encouraged, however when they start to grow up they become aware that only the prettiest can continue to hold the crown. Suddenly, this fun game of over-the-top dress-up glam begins to have more serious implications. Instead of getting dolled up in exquisite chiffon, the focus tends to shift and girls are  told that they need to get real about this being a girl business. Monique has this to say:

“I had a pretty idyllic childhood, and then got very, very serious about ballet when I was ten until I was seventeen, and if you want to know about the issues that present challenges to teenage girls who are on the track to becoming ballerinas, see the movie Black Swan. I’m only half joking. I conquered a lot of the ballerina issues upon shifting focus to contemporary dance and going to college – opening myself to a wider concept of what it meant to be a dancer, and beginning to want to be an artist who creates, not just one who interprets. Taking that responsibility, that agency of becoming an artist changed me more than anything. Starting to do drag only further developed those artistic practices. Drag has certainly helped me deal with some body issues, helped me take myself less seriously, broadened my concept of feminism and cured me of a lot of insufferable preciousness that bogged me down when i was in my early to mid-twenties. And I have met some of my dearest and closest friends through this community.”

While lots of girls love their femininity and want to flaunt it, many discouraging instances abound from allowing them to do so because it is considered a negative trait in a woman to be outspoken, sure of herself, and comfortable getting attention. Conversely, if the woman decides to do something more complex than just remove her clothes and live up to the “slut stereotype,” she is also discouraged. All these various modes of discouragement and encouragement leave a girl feeling confused, awkward, and inhibited. The spotlight is essentially removed from them. So, how do women get back that sense of inhibition and empowerment back in the picture? For some, drag is the answer, and in order to achieve that, it takes channeling that uninhibited pretty princess from our sandbox days.

“What I was doing when I was six or seven is a lot closer to what I do as Fauxnique than some of what I did in my early days as a choreographer,” Monique explains, “I definitely view children’s dress-up as a form of drag. The last time I went to Disneyland (about a year ago) I had a lot of fun playing ‘count the princesses’ – little girls dressed in their princess drag for their day at the happiest place on earth. There were tons. And some in wigs, sparkly shoes, the whole nine. America, you are encouraging your daughters to be drag queens!”

A point of controversy that has been put on the table by those in the drag community coming from the more old school mentality is: How is this drag when the person on stage is essentially performing as their birth gender? Brussels, Belgium-based performance artist, Jessica Batut (previously featured in the article ‘En Travesti’), performs a drag act as Jessica Rabbit, “I don’t see who I portray on stage as the person I was born as. She is another species than myself,” Jessica explains, “it seems to me that there are probably some biological males who feel more spiritually closer to this idea of femininity than I ever will. That creates this challenge: to portray a persona that is the exact opposite of who I am, to work against my natural state of being and my personal level of comfort.”

Some question the validity of how a “real” woman could be viewed as a drag artist. Comments such as, “I don’t get it, does she just feel this way?” abound. Monique has this to say, “I’d love first to take this opportunity to separate thought, feeling, art, and community, because though they overlap and are often contingent, they are not necessarily one in the same.  My feeling is that of course biological females have a role in the drag community! And they always have, it just hasn’t always been embodied and onstage. That quote, ‘Does she just feel that way?’ was someone’s actual response to a friend’s explanation of what I do. I think (though I’m not sure) the asker was meaning to ask about what my gender identity was, if this was a deep, identity-based practice or lifestyle, or if it was about performance. I thought it was a really funny response, and put it in the opening monologue of Faux Real!”

The Indie Queer Scene is a place where morphing and mutating are not only vital, but encouraged. It is only through peeling back the layers of gender binaries, traditional male and female iconography, not to mention a healthy dose of gender fuckery does it risk stagnation. For every girl born with a drag queen in her heart just waiting to be set free, there is the flip-side of girls who were never 100 percent at ease with their role as a woman and femininity and who have found the avenue to explore that discomfort by embracing hyper femininity as Cabaret Performance and a political act.

“I find it more difficult to play a woman than to play a man,” Jessica says, “it is very different inside. For me, part of it was discovering a stranger. ” Biological role-play is a key aspect for both performers, “All of my performance comes from my experience as an individual and a biological female and culturally-conditioned woman, “ Monique explains, “but I don’t think my experience represents that of women, per se. I tend to focus on the cultural aspects of femaleness and femininity. I am interested in how we are conditioned to perform as females. I did a solo show called ‘Crying in Public,’ and while it did not really explore biology, I think it touched on the question of whether crying easily is a biologically female trait.”

Describing the biological implications found in her performance, Jessica comments, “Sometimes in the middle of my performance I tell the audience I have to pee, I go into a corner and pee standing up like a man. The audience laughs, but begin to feel confused as to what I actually am,” Jessica explains,” when I remove my stockings and they see the hair on my legs, this for some reason, they find the most shocking, as if women aren’t supposed to be born with hair on their legs.”

Monique adds, “I definitely don’t see the same fascination that some of my male counterparts do in portraying the more biological aspects of womanhood – i.e. menstruation and pregnancy. I have gotten naked onstage in the drag context, so in that respect, I think I am using my bio female body, maybe to surprise those in the audience who may have assumed I was a man, as some have, and do.”

Speaking on the idealic female fantasy, Jessica says, “I found the solution for my gender exploration through becoming Jessica Rabbit –this incredibly sexual and seductive symbol. Bobby is Part One, and Jessica Rabbit is Part Two. With Bobby and Jessica Rabbit, I play two extreme gender roles and the codes that those encompass. Personally, I feel that my actual being floats in the middle between these extremes, but I still feel that I have these two sides bouncing back and forth inside me. She allows me to fall into fantasy, to dress-up and play make-believe. The wig, the fake eyelashes and the high heels feel unnatural to my own being, and to put on this female persona is a personal challenge to myself, even though I am a woman.”

Everyone has their own reasons for putting on a pair of heels. Some do it out of habit, some do it to feel glamorous, some as pure performance, while others don’t do it at all. Whatever the reason, it is superfluous. In a time when now more than ever women’s rights and bodies are again being dragged into the spotlight, these bold performers have reversed the direction of its glare and taken control over their own stage to share their own truths. Not every girl is a princess, but every girl and boy has the right to wear the hell out of a tiara if they so choose.

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