Confessions of Real-life Cross-dressers

Confessions of Real-life Cross-dressers
Adopted from the video, Adams in Heels

“Annie” is a closet transvestite who cross-dresses to fulfill his own sexual desires. Since young, “Annie” has a fetish with women’s underwear and uses “Annie” as a role for him to portray his fantasy girlfriend. He feels that cross-dressing is not something to be proud of, and has felt embarrassment and guilt and tried to stop without success. As he fears getting found out by his friends, he has to cross-dress in privacy and thus feels very much isolated, as it is difficult to find other cross-dressers. “Annie” also feels that cross-dressing is a perversion that goes against society norms as it requires him to ‘steal’ female gender roles.

Helda’s drag queen career started as a performance for a club in Boat Quay. Since then, the audience’s compliments act as motivation for him and encouraged him to continue with this career. Cross-dressing as a drag queen has also led Helda to find his self-worth and think of himself as someone important. Helda feels that cross-dressing allows him to show two sides of him, his feminine side besides his masculine side. With regards to societal objections, Helda is a drag queen who performs for himself and will not stop because of what others think of him.

Erin is a transsexual has been indulging in femininity since young through influence from Sherry, her older brother who is a drag queen performer. Erin started cross-dressing as she felt like a woman, not a man at all. Despite facing violent objections from her family, Erin was determined to go for sex change operation which since then has allowed her to be who she really wants to be.

From Benjamin to Bernice
source: http://www.trevvy.com/scoops/article.php?a_id=51&c_id=3

Benjamin was a famous drag queen who went by the name 'Bernice' in the Singapore gay clubbing scene! He started becoming a drag queen due to his involvement in the Action for Aids project, but is now enjoying his career as one. In drag, he has to take on the mind of a woman and act like a woman. His career as a drag queen hence jeopardized his relationships with his friends and family as most of them were unable to accept him in women's clothings. Thus, Benjamin decided to retire from his drag queen career in 2007 and go back to his normal gay lifestyle and hopefully get into a relationship as "most gay men in Singapore are simply unwilling to consider a serious relationship with a drag queen".

Fun Facts!

here are some fun facts regarding drag queens!

[1]: Did you know there's a drag queen pageant in Singapore? V Entertainment and Play Bar & Club is organising a drag queen pageant, the Miss Drag Universe Competition 2008! The finals will be held at Play Bar & Club on the 29th of March, 730pm to 1030pm! It promises to be a night of beauty and talent!

[2]: Drag queens in our very own NUS?!?! yes you read it right!

photo courtesy of: http://www.sheares.nus.edu.sg/shout/?m=200709

A photo of our very own NUS drag queens! These courageous guys dressed themselves up into beautiful sexy women for Sheares Hall's 25th Anniversary Celebration Dinner! Must have been quite a sight for those who attended the event that night! Aren't they hot?!

[3]: Do You Know that Drag was an abbreviation! guess what does the initial D.R.A.G stands for?

Ans: It stands for Dress As A Girl !

[4]: Do you know that some Thailand movies actually positively protray usual negative stereotypes labelled by many societies, such as the drag queens, homosexuals and transsexuals! this is evident in one movie called 'Iron Ladies' as seen below.

(courtesy of http://www.greencine.com/webCatalog?id=23876)

[5]: Do you know that in Thailand, it is not uncommon to see the Thai boys wearing dresses, putting makeup and wearing lipsticks to school when they feel like!

Fieldwork Analysis

SURVEY ANALYSIS

Diagram 1: Percentage who understand the definition of a Drag Queen

Through our survey findings, we discovered that majority of 72% are confused or do not know the exact definition of a Drag Queen. This could be due to Singapore’s conservative and traditional society whereby the society does not encourage the proliferation of groups such as the drag queens that deviate from the social norm.
The confusion of what really defines Drag Queens can be further exemplified in diagram 2 below, where once again a huge majority of 85% of the respondents expressed difficulty in knowing whether Drag Queens are also transvestites or transsexuals.
Apart from Singapore’s traditional society, it could also be due to the lack of many Drag Queens present in Singapore, except for a few popular ones such as Kumar. Hence, most Singaporeans are generally ignorant about who Drag Queens really are.

Diagram 2: Percentages who know whether drag queens are also transvestites or transsexuals themselves

Diagram 3: Percentages who know of popular drag queens in Southeast Asia

Like what has been mentioned above, with only a minority knowing the exact definition of Drag Queens, hence it is not surprising to see that a minority of 35% heard of any popular Drag Queens in Southeast Asia. Of those that specified the Drag Queens they knew, most of the respondents included Jack Neo’s feminine role as the famous ‘Liang Xi Mei’ and ‘Liang Po Po’ in Singapore’s comedy shows as well as Singapore’s well-known Kumar.
In fact, a majority of Singaporeans should know the above two well-known figures in Singapore. The poor response of knowing of any popular Drag Queens is perhaps due to the general ignorance of what defines a Drag Queen, hence many of the respondents are unaware that these prominent figures are actually considered Drag Queens as well.

Diagram 4: Percentages of likelihood of Singaporeans discriminating Drag Queens in our society

As seen in the above diagram, only almost half of the respondents (45%) are unsure about whether Drag Queens are discriminated in Singapore. this is mainly due to the reason that most of the respondents do not know who Drag Queens are and there are very few drag queens in Singapore, hence they are unsure whether they will be discriminated.
A slightly larger percentage of 30% of respondents think that Drag Queens are discriminated in Singapore as majority of Singaporeans, especially the older generations, are generally unreceptive to changes and often unwelcome any ‘new’ social norms opposing their traditional norms defined by the society. Hence, any ‘new’ social norms that emerged and which vary differently from the assigned gender roles given since birth, will often be dismissed as ‘abnormal’ and discriminated. Often, negative stereotypes such as Drag Queens being ‘sissy’ and ‘disgusting’ are used to ostracise and outcast them even though Drag Queens may be a normal man outside performances.

Diagram 5:Percentages of respondents accepting Drag Queens as part of our society

It is surprising to observe that an overwhelming majority of 70% of the respondents accept Drag Queens as part of members of society despite the lower percentages who will accept them and not discriminate them in diagram 4. This could be due to the survey respondents being the younger generations who are generally more liberal and open compared to the older generations. This is likely to because of the forces of globalization and modernization, which is bringing in modern and liberal Western influences into conservative societies such as Singapore. Furthermore, the common reasons given by those who accepted Drag Queens as part of society are that they are merely making a livelihood and they do not cause much social problems or disorder to the society. Hence, they are willing to accept them as they are not doing anything that is harmful to society and their performances are also a form of entertainment and leisure functions for many of their audiences.






INTERVIEWS ANALYSIS


We conducted interviews with 5 interviewees, 2 above the age of 50 (older generation) and 3 below the age of 50 (younger generation) to find out their perception of drag queens in the Singapore society and to gain a more accurate representation of how perceptions towards drag queens changed from the more traditional thinking of the older generation to the more open-minded younger generation.

Nonchalance and Acceptance among the younger generation

The interview findings show that the younger generation generally does not care much for the drag queens, with all 3 younger interviewees showing ambivalent feelings towards them. As one of our interviewee, Liyanne, 25, said, “I don’t really care about them, since I don’t get to see them often. I don’t discriminate against them, it’s just another form of entertainment or means of living for some people.” Such responses are typical of the younger generation, whose lives are not very exposed to drag queens. Moreover, it is not a common everyday topic, hence adding on to the sense of nonchalance that the younger generation feels towards them.

However, the younger generation accepts drag queens as part of the society, and feels that we should not judge them just based on their careers as drag queens. Interviewee Dawn Au, 20, feels that,”…one should see them as a person first before we try to judge them!”. The younger generation is more readily acceptive of new ideas and feels that since no harm to the social order was done, drag queens should not be discriminated against.


Negative Responses & Empathy from the older generation

Our 2 older generation interviewees tell us of a generally negative response towards drag queens. Having more traditional thinking, they find it harder to accept men who cross-dress. As interviewee Mdm Lim, 65, said,” I know a lot of my friends who think they are very disgusting and “not man not woman”, don’t know what sex they are. A friend of mine, a man, thinks they are very sissy and even a disgrace to the men!”, it shows that most of the older generation do not accept them as men, with some even showing disgust at their cross-dressing and thinking that they could pass on the wrong values to the younger people.

However, Mdm Lim herself feels that respect should be given to the drag queens for having the courage to deal with insults and continue with their drag queens careers, hence showing that some of the older generation is open-minded enough to accept drag queens as part of society. Another interviewee, Mr Lok, also tells us that drag queens are very “poor thing” and that we should try to understand them as most of them lead a sad life outside their drag queens career. Thus, while most of the older generation shows repulsion towards drag queens, a sense of empathy could be felt for them at the same time.