Rescue the drag queens first
The BBC is obsessed with drag. It currently has a long, photo-rich piece on men dressed up as parody women, which must be somewhere around its 5 thousandth piece on the subject over the past month.
For Danny Beard, though, the real magic of Hastings’ work is about championing the diversity of local drag queens who haven’t been given – or don’t want – a platform like Ru Paul’s Drag Race.
Ah yes, championing the diversity of local drag queens. Not championing the diversity of local women – god, how boring would that be??? – but of men mocking them.
I wonder why the BBC doesn’t have a parallel obsession with blackface?
Could just be that one or two (hundred?) well-placed BBC staff are drag queens themselves, and staying in and lying low rather than coming out. That fits with their ignoring of (ignorance of?) genuine women.
Whenever I’ve brought up the comparison between drag and blackface in real life, I’ve gotten scandalized, incredulous looks.
I’m sure. We are NOT supposed to point out how insulting drag is. Women don’t matter.
It’s like telling Dorothy, “Pay no attention to the man spitting in your face.”
I’m not sure what the bigger breach of conduct is: pointing it out or seeing it at all.