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Minimalist absences and Derridiean deconstraction in the films of Hong Sang-soo
Audrey Scotto le Massese
No abstract available
★ 5.0 (1)
View paper →Review: Responsa: Literary History and Basic Literacy
Haym Soleveitchik
AJS Review·1999
No abstract available
★ 5.0 (1)
View paper →Staging Dissents: Drag Kings, Resistance, and Feminist Masculinities
Jae Basiliere
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society·2019·5 citations
The relationship between feminism and drag king performance is complicated. While many drag kings hail their performances as feminist, feminists critical of drag king performance often accuse drag kings of valorizing hegemonic masculinity, reinforcing patriarchal norms, or engaging in the subjugation of femininity through performances that use masculine tropes. In particular, strains of radical feminism that reify the connection between gender presentation and biological sex are unable to imagine a female-born person’s relationship to masculinity that is not about access to male privilege and the assertion of patriarchal ideologies within lesbian spaces. In opposition to this trend, many drag kings understand their performances as specifically feminist because they create a subcultural language and feminist-centered spaces. This counters the claim that femininity and biology correlate directly to each other and rejects the impulse to draw strict boundaries around the category of “woman.” This article intervenes in this conversation by asserting that drag king masculinity has aspects of feminist performance embedded in its structure. Drag kings manipulate gendered agency through both parody and reappropriations of hegemonic masculinity in ways that have the potential to act as subversive feminist performances. In light of these factors, I contend that even dominant masculinities can do the work of feminism when written onto the bodies of drag kings. Further, I propose that we reimagine the language we use to talk about drag king identity more generally. Most analyses of drag king culture follow J. Jack Halberstam’s understanding of drag kings as a representation of female masculinity. I suggest, instead, that we shift from talking about drag kings as embodying female masculinity to talking about drag kings as engaging feminist masculinities.
★ 5.0 (1)
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