Learn the difference between Drag Kings and Queens in 3 min 👠

Are you curious about drag queens and kings but having trouble understanding the differences between them?

• A drag show is a form of entertainment performed by drag artists impersonating men or women.

• A drag show involves performers singing or lip-synching songs while performing a pre-planned pantomime or dancing.

• There might also be some comedy, skits, and audience interaction.

• Drag has deep roots in Western culture, specifically in theater, when women weren’t permitted to perform on stage so men would play female roles.

• Drag performers were featured as far back as ancient Greece and carried on through Shakespearean times.

Drag Queen

• Typically (though not always) an AMAB (assigned male at birth) performer dressing and creatively expressing themselves in an exaggerated feminine style.

• Dress in exaggerated women’s clothing and makeup to assume female roles and presentation.

• While most drag queens are men (often gay or queer men), an increasing wave of cisgender women (assigned female at birth) or transgender women arebecomingdrag queens.

Drag King

• Typically (though not always) an AFAB (assigned female at birth) performer dressing and creatively expressing themselves in an exaggerated masculine style.

• Dress in exaggerated men’s clothing and makeup to assume male roles and presentation.

• Many drag kings are women, but there's a lot of fluidity in terms of how performance is defined and how performers define themselves

• Not as well-known in popular culture.

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Photo courtesy of Flickr

• Being respectful of a drag performer’s genderis the same as being respectful of anyone else’s gender.

• If you’re not sure which pronouns to use when referring to someone, just ask!

• Don’t assume that someone in drag is transgender, or vice versa .

• Don't refer to a transgender person’s presentation as drag, because it suggests that their deeply held identity is just a show they're putting on — which is untrue.

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