Some drag queens may prefer to be referred to as " she" while in drag and desire to stay completely in character. Pabllo Vittar is a Brazilian drag queen, singer and songwriter. American drag queen RuPaul once said, "I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?" He also said, "I don't dress like a woman I dress like a drag queen!" Alternative terms Female impersonator įemale impersonation has been and continues to be illegal in some places, which inspired the drag queen José Sarria to hand out labels to his friends reading, "I am a boy", so he could not be accused of female impersonation. Drag is known to break down gender norms and can thus be seen as 'gender bending'. Drag has been argued to be an over-expression of the stereotypical female look. Trans men who dress like drag kings are sometimes termed trans kings. Examples of drag kings include Landon Cider. Drag queens' counterparts are drag kings: performers, usually women, who dress in exaggeratedly masculine clothing. Cisgender female drag queens are sometimes called faux queens or bioqueens, though both terms are problematic: faux carries the connotation that the drag is fake, and the use of bioqueen exclusively for cisgender females is a misnomer since trans-feminine queens exhibit gynomorphic features. Examples of trans-feminine drag queens, sometimes called trans queens, include Monica Beverly Hillz and Peppermint.
In a 2018 article, Psychology Today stated that drag queens are "most typically gay cisgender men (though there are many drag queens of varying sexual orientations and gender identities)". For much of history, drag queens were men, but in more modern times, cisgender and trans women, as well as non-binary people, also perform as drag queens. It may have been based on the term "grand rag" which was historically used for a masquerade ball. The origin of the term drag is uncertain the first recorded use of drag in reference to actors dressed in women's clothing is from 1870. Drag queens from Buenos Aires in 1995, advertising a nightclub