Running head: RESEARCH LOG

Research Log
Emarah Holder
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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Citation: Taylor, V., & Rupp, L. J. (2004). Chicks with Dicks, Men in Dresses [Abstract].
Journal of Homosexuality, 46(3-4), 113-133. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
Date Accessed: 3/29/16
Type of Source: Secondary Source, Journal Article
Inquiry Questions Answered: Does drag help men express themselves or do they create
someone they would like to be? Do you think that when men put on makeup to become drag
queens that they take on a new persona? Why or why not? Do men take on a different identity
when in drag versus when they arent in drag?
Keywords: drag queens, homosexuality, identity, expression
Summary + Commentary:
In Chicks with Dicks, Men in Dresses the authors Verta Taylor and Leila J. Rupp have
observed and analyzed a group of drag queens known as the 801 Girls. The article focuses on
answering many questions about the drag lifestyle. The main question in the article was What
does it mean to be a drag queen? Some performers saw doing drag as a theatrical identity and
creating new personas while others saw drag as wanting to be both a woman and a man. The
article provides an insight to the performers lives on the stage as well as off.
I think that the article was very helpful in answering my inquiry question of Do men take on a
different identity when in drag versus when they arent in drag? I was able to understand how
they see themselves, learn that different performers see themselves in different ways and the
complexities of what it means to be a woman or a man.
Citation: Strudel-Scheiner, J. (2011). Gender Performativity and Self-Perception: Drag as
Masquerade. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(13), 12-19.
Date Accessed: 3/30/16
Type of Source: Secondary Source, Journal Article
Inquiry Questions Answered: Do men take on a different identity when in drag versus when
they arent in drag? Does drag help men express themselves or do they create someone they
would like to be?
Keywords: gender performance, self-esteem, drag
Summary + Commentary:
In Gender Performativity and Self- Perception: Drag as Masquerade the author of the article
strives to explore many of her hypotheses. She hypothesizes things such as: drag queens have
low self-esteem as gay men, drag queens are hyper-feminine men, and that drag queens with high
feminine scores will have higher body-esteem when in their drag persona compared to their male
persona. The article goes on to defining a drag queen as a self identifies man who has no desire

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to live as a woman nor become a woman. The author sees drag performance as a way for the
performer to negotiate gender. The article suggests that drag was created to blur the lines of
gender roles and allow one to make their own identity. Towards the end of the paper Scheinder
says that gender is a performance and that we play into our gender roles by the way we dress
whereas drag queens separate their male persona from their drag character.
One of my inquiry questions that was clearly answered was Do men take on a different identity
when in drag versus when they arent in drag? The article says that drag allows men to create an
illusion of being confident and fearless and the men are able to let go of societal pressures of
what they should and should not wear. Although as a man they may be shy when they go into
drag they become more confident and some men create a new persona for personal expression.
.
Citation: Conger, C. (2012). How Drag Queens Work. Retrieved March 29, 2016, from
http://people.howstuffworks.com/drag-queen2.htm
Date Accessed: 3/29/16
Type of Source: Article
Inquiry Questions Answered: Do men that perform in drag aspire to be a woman?
Keywords: performance, history, culture, lifestyle
Summary + Commentary:
This article begins to explain the history of drag and talks about important events like the
Stonewall Riots that allowed drag queens to perform today. The author speaks in depth about the
term drag queen and where it originates. The article mentions a part that I thought was most
important which was that not men that perform drag are gay and also that not all men that
perform drag want to become a woman. Drag queens have always been misrepresented as being
transgendered or transsexual, which is true in some cases but not all. The author suggests that
drag queens see themselves as illusionists and drag is their craft.
The article helped me to answer my inquiry question as well as teach me more about the history
of drag. Drag queens do not aspire to be women. They are always misinterpreted for crossdressers and transvestites but they are not. There are many men straight and gay that do drag just
because they enjoy the spotlight.

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Citation: Feraru, V. M. (2013, August 21). A Day in the Life of a Queen -- A Drag Queen, That
Is. Retrieved April 05, 2016, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/victor-lopez/a-day-in-the-lifeof-a-queen_b_3783013.html
Date Accessed: 4/05/16
Type of Source: Article
Inquiry Questions Answered: Does drag help men express themselves or do they create
someone they would like to be? Do you think that when men put on makeup to become drag
queens that they take on a new persona? Why or why not? Do men take on a different identity
when in drag versus when they arent in drag?
Keywords: LGBT community, drag, lifestyle
Summary + Commentary:
In this article, the author speaks with a drag queen by the name of Paisely Parque and the male
name of Chad. Chad speaks on his experience as a drag queen and drag pageant winner. He
admits to doing plastic surgeries in order to have a more feminine face and procedures drag
queens take in order to look like a woman on stage. Chad also speaks on the lack of acceptance
within the gay community towards drag queens.
The article was very helpful in answering many of my inquiry questions. Does drag help men
express themselves or do they create someone they would like to be? This question was
answered, in Chads case drag helped him to express himself and find a way to come out of the
closet and accept himself as a gay man.
Citation: B. (2011). Judith Butler: Your Behavior Creates Your Gender. Retrieved April 05,
2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc
Date Accessed: 4/5/2016
Type of Source: YouTube Video
Inquiry Questions Answered: Does society influence our gender identity?
Keywords: gender, performativity
Summary + Commentary:
In the YouTube video, Judith Butler talks about her theory of gender performativity. She first
describes the difference between performance and performativity. Butler says that when gender
is performed we take on a role and we are acting. When she says gender is performative she
means that we speak, act, and walk to give off the impression to those around us that we are a
man or a woman. She theorizes that nobody really is a gender from the start and that gender is
culturally formed but it's also a domain of agency or freedom and that it is most important to
resist the violence that is imposed by ideal gender norms, especially against those who are
gender different, who are nonconforming in their gender presentation.

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Im not sure if I agree with Butlers theory but this was able to give me some insight on my
inquiry question. Judith Butler sees gender as something that was imposed upon us forcing us to
act a certain way to fit into our gender role.
Citation: Lee, C. (2013, October 18). The Media. Retrieved April 04, 2016, from
http://www.fvckthemedia.com/issue22/whats-political-about
Date Accessed: 4/04/16
Type of Source: Web paper
Inquiry Questions Answered: How does the drag culture relate to gender identity?
Keywords: gender presentation, drag queens, history
Summary + Commentary:
This article went in depth about drag history and also the performance of drag queens. The
author suggests that drag is political because it parodies gender stereotypes and gives the idea
that gender might be a performance. The article talks about the depictions of drag queens in the
LGBT community. The article talks about drag as a use of entertainment. Something that could
be funny and people laugh with or laugh at.
The piece helped me to answer my question by saying that drag makes it possible for gender to
be a performance. Men are able to dress, put on makeup and act like women and women also do
the same as drag kings. It shows that gender is fluid and can be more than just male or female.
Reflection: I enjoyed my research on this topic so far and I have a lot more research that I would
like to do in regards to my topic. When I first began my research I focused on drag identity in
relation beauty. But as time progressed and I continued doing my research I found gender
identity of drag queens to be a more fitting inquiry topic. I started off with the question Does
society influence how we express our gender identity? Then I thought of how I could relate it to
drag queens. The world of drag creates a space in which there arent many roles you have to have
in your gender. Drag kings and queens are able to be whoever they want to be and do whatever
they want to do. While reading through my articles and journals I found it very interesting that
some women see drag queens as mocking female gender stereotypes. The drag culture actually
strives to do the opposite and want to enlighten women on the ridiculous stereotypes and gender
roles that they have been placed into. I found my research to be very helpful in answering my
inquiry questions and being able to make my topic better. I was able to learn a lot about the
LGBT community, drag queens and also gender roles in modern society.

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