Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Male to female transsexual talk (MTF) => Topic started by: Mahsa Tezani on November 08, 2011, 02:02:52 AM

Title: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Mahsa Tezani on November 08, 2011, 02:02:52 AM
I've always wondered why. But I have no idea who I should ask.

Btw, I meant some gay guys. Not all of them.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: AbraCadabra on November 08, 2011, 03:33:25 AM
Why, oh why?

Simply to give expression to their inner feelings - to make them feel good – AND also earn some money doing it. "Look mommy no hands" I'm a girl, he, he.

It be the opposite of the leather, chain and muscle gay-faction.
Those TVs I know... ARE gay males, i.e. "Queens", and the reason -due to their usually high visibility in public- that trans-women are constantly mixed up with them. It sucks if you are not a male-gay, but simply of female brain-gender, transsexual only.

And if you don't believe me doll... I'll ssscream and hit jou with my handbag!

Axelle

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Amy85 on November 08, 2011, 03:57:24 AM
Maybe it's just that sometimes playing dress-up is fun? I dunno, I don't think there's a lot to it really.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Chloe on November 08, 2011, 03:57:35 AM
Quote from: Mahsa the disco shark on November 08, 2011, 02:02:52 AM
I've always wondered why.

Masha, can't speak for "gay guys" but not all drag queens are gay. Many have gg wives and perform just because it is fun and they're NOT gay? A couple of 'ole PanAm friends of mine who own nightclubs in Jackson Heights (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=593208284#!/profile.php?id=593208284) and Columbia (https://www.facebook.com/groups/200487773340154/#!/FRIEENDSSMEDELLIN) sponsor MtoF Cabriolets all the time.

Makes what i'm doing seem quite dull & boring indeed!
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: JadeS on November 08, 2011, 04:09:36 AM
what's the point of this thread?
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Chloe on November 08, 2011, 04:41:22 AM
Quote from: J S on November 08, 2011, 04:09:36 AM
what's the point of this thread?

Oh? What's "the point" to transitioning? Does anybody really care if were "happy" with ourselves or not? Perhaps i'm just a SPAMMER drumming up some business?  Eddie did dedicate one of his festivals to me as a "coming out party" gay guys ARE fun to be around as there's always plenty of gg girls hanging as well!

lol Are YOU a "gay man who dresses like girls for fun?"
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: JadeS on November 08, 2011, 05:10:29 AM
this has nothing to do with whatever your post is saying, i was just wondering what this thread is about. I obviously have nothing against anyone's sexual orientation... so i don't know what you're really saying.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: JenJen2011 on November 08, 2011, 07:45:45 AM
'Cuz they love to be in touch with their feminine side.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Bird on November 08, 2011, 07:55:11 AM
Mahsa, your answer is in your question.

To avoid being cryptic: they do it for fun.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: tekla on November 08, 2011, 08:59:16 AM
fun, money, curiosity, performance, style, sexual thrills, masturbatory fantasies, role playing - same as straight guys who do it.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 01:56:30 PM
I think this is one of the biggest problems we have.  People hear the word transsexual and in their mind's-eye they see Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Drag and female impersonation are no better than blackface.  When I was young, I competed in two Ms Amateur contests, and came in last in both of them, because I was the least effective parody of a woman.

Gay men participate in drag (or enjoy watching it) because of underlying misogyny.  They are making fun of women, exposing the worst female stereotypes to derision, particularly vanity and sluttyness.  It's a way of mitigating the jealousy that they have of the fact that women get most of the great guys.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: spacial on November 13, 2011, 02:00:17 PM
Quote from: JenJen2011 on November 08, 2011, 07:45:45 AM
'Cuz they love to be in touch with their feminine side.

And they perhaps don't feel any pressure to prove their manhood. Though of course, some gay guys do.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Torn1990 on November 13, 2011, 04:11:18 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 01:56:30 PM
I think this is one of the biggest problems we have.  People hear the word transsexual and in their mind's-eye they see Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Drag and female impersonation are no better than blackface.  When I was young, I competed in two Ms Amateur contests, and came in last in both of them, because I was the least effective parody of a woman.

Gay men participate in drag (or enjoy watching it) because of underlying misogyny.  They are making fun of women, exposing the worst female stereotypes to derision, particularly vanity and sluttyness.  It's a way of mitigating the jealousy that they have of the fact that women get most of the great guys.

How dare you compare drag queens to black face. Black face is racism.
There actually is a character that  I would question is a trans women in Priscilla Queen of the Desert the word "transgender" hasn't always been available or accessible.
So an avenue to express gender variant people can be through performance. Your accusations against the drag queen community is in itself masculinist and elitist as a trans person you're not allowing for gender to be given space in that community.
There are drag queens who feel they lie on the transgender spectrum. If gender is in the mind, how can you be so presumptuous about someone's gender as a drag queen? it may be a "performance" but to assume what it does for them on the inside is completely misogynistic on your part. What of those drag queens that are trans and the only way for them to make money is to perform as a drag queen?

There is a difference between a gay man dressing in drag and a trans woman i get that but there's also a difference between a gay man and a drag queen. They are separate issues that i feel need to be focussed on in different unique ways. You clump them together and take a feminist perspective which i appreciate but in doing so you have ignored many members of the community that don't fit into your harsh description of a drag queen. i think these are separate gender issues that aren't ever accounted for.

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Annah on November 13, 2011, 04:14:36 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 01:56:30 PM

Drag and female impersonation are no better than blackface.  When I was young, I competed in two Ms Amateur contests, and came in last in both of them, because I was the least effective parody of a woman.

Gay men participate in drag (or enjoy watching it) because of underlying misogyny.  They are making fun of women, exposing the worst female stereotypes to derision, particularly vanity and sluttyness.  It's a way of mitigating the jealousy that they have of the fact that women get most of the great guys.

you totally lost me when you got to this point of your belief. Do you really compare dragqueen and dragking shows to that of white people making fun of black people??
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: supremecatoverlord on November 13, 2011, 04:49:54 PM
Quote from: Annah on November 13, 2011, 04:14:36 PM
you totally lost me when you got to this point of your belief. Do you really compare dragqueen and dragking shows to that of white people making fun of black people??
She may be implying that drag queens and drag kings are often what comes into the mind of the general public when people think of trans-people, even though they are not the same thing as us. I think she may be comparing it to black-face because it ultimately caused everyone that was associated with the African community not to be taken seriously. However, I don't necessarily agree with what she is saying because it's a very extremist standpoint. This is because I'm pretty sure that people in drag aren't in the business of mocking trans-people; if anything, they mock gender stereotypes through ostentatious and hyperbolic display. A drag show seems to challenge the ridiculous of what we see "gender" as more than portray it falsely. Early minstrelsy shows consisted white performers in black-face intentionally portraying blacks as simpletons. They did not make fun of the way people portrayed blacks, as more of our culture is borrowed from them than we think, but instead falsified the truth in order to negatively portray a race and therefore strengthened a racial hierarchy. I don't think drag shows make trans people look stupid, because the whole premise of drag shows is based off of gender stereotypes that already exist.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: kelly_aus on November 13, 2011, 05:18:41 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 01:56:30 PM
I think this is one of the biggest problems we have.  People hear the word transsexual and in their mind's-eye they see Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Drag and female impersonation are no better than blackface.  When I was young, I competed in two Ms Amateur contests, and came in last in both of them, because I was the least effective parody of a woman.

Gay men participate in drag (or enjoy watching it) because of underlying misogyny.  They are making fun of women, exposing the worst female stereotypes to derision, particularly vanity and sluttyness.  It's a way of mitigating the jealousy that they have of the fact that women get most of the great guys.

You are aware that the character of Bernadette in that movie was a transexual woman? And her character was based on a real transwoman?

And frankly, your attitude seems like sour grapes to me.. Of course, I'm coming from an Australian perspective, where Priscilla was just another great Aussie movie.. And where we've had drag shows that were popular amongst the general population for years.. Go look up 'Les Girls'... Over the years there has been quite a number of performers in that show who were trans, not guys in drag..
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Padma on November 13, 2011, 05:58:33 PM
Fundamentally, each gay guy who dresses up is doing it for a different set of reasons from the next one, so the best approach is to ask each one why they do it, and not assume that tells you anything about why the next one does.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:19:44 PM
I dare say it, because I believe it.

Whites making fun of blacks, men making fun of women.  Same difference.  The roots of drag-queen shows and female impersonator shows go way back, and those roots are misogynistic.  It's less so now, just like Amos N Andy was less racist than the old minstrel shows, but it's a difference of degree, not of kind.  Drag-king shows are a more recent addition, and not so rooted in hatred/jealousy.

Sure there are some transgender people who do it for a job, but these exceptions are exceptional.

Yes, I know the woman in Priscilla was trans, but she is hardly representative of the majority.  That was my point about the movie.  That's the kind of image that sticks in the public mind, not something more realistic.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Mahsa Tezani on November 13, 2011, 09:24:11 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:19:44 PM
  The roots of drag-queen shows and female impersonator shows go way back, and those roots are misogynistic. 

-1

I'm a part time drag queen/transgender performer(dancer) and to me it was discovering the darker side of my femininity. For a lot of gay men, it is embracing their feminine side.

And drag queen acting like women? More like gay men with too many mimos. Some do, some don't.

But truth is, when they werq it properly...they are better looking than most GGs and most of the TS's on this board.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: eli77 on November 13, 2011, 09:30:27 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:19:44 PM
Yes, I know the woman in Priscilla was trans, but she is hardly representative of the majority.  That was my point about the movie.  That's the kind of image that sticks in the public mind, not something more realistic.

Who the hell is representative? All I see are a bunch of people wandering in their own direction who happened to meet on one single characteristic. I don't think you are any more like me than Priscilla.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:34:39 PM
For starters, I think that the majority of trans people prefer not to draw attention to themselves.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Mahsa Tezani on November 13, 2011, 09:47:48 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:34:39 PM
For starters, I think that the majority of trans people prefer not to draw attention to themselves.

And yet they do....

The act of being trans definitely draws attention to oneselves, whether we want to admit it or not. We're not fully understood by the masses, and they notice no matter how well we pass.

But back to drag queens, being drag queens was a way many transsexuals became women. Candis Cayne, Calpurnia Addams, Jessica Savano, Amanda Leopore, Gia Darling, etc. are all prime examples and were a stepping stone for this gay men to discover their trueselves.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Anatta on November 13, 2011, 09:48:55 PM
Quote from: Mahsa the disco shark on November 08, 2011, 02:02:52 AM
I've always wondered why. But I have no idea who I should ask.

Btw, I meant some gay guys. Not all of them.

Kia Ora Mahsa,

::) Why do we all do things for fun[including gay men who for fun dress up like women] ? Well the most obvious answer....Wait for it......Drum roll..........TO BE HAPPY !  FUN=HAPPINESS...HAPPINESS=FUN....It's a no brainer  ;)

Metta Zenda :)
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Shana A on November 13, 2011, 09:54:19 PM
I know gay men that wouldn't be caught dead dressing like a girl. They are men. In fact, during transition I was uninvited to some gay gatherings, they thought my presence would draw attention to them and possibly out them to their rural neighbors.

Some (not all) who do drag are doing it as subversive commentary on stereotypical binary gender roles. Some who do drag are simply expressing a part of themselves, it is who they are. Why is someones' gender expression a problem?

Z
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Torn1990 on November 13, 2011, 10:47:13 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:19:44 PM
I dare say it, because I believe it.

Whites making fun of blacks, men making fun of women.  Same difference.  The roots of drag-queen shows and female impersonator shows go way back, and those roots are misogynistic.  It's less so now, just like Amos N Andy was less racist than the old minstrel shows, but it's a difference of degree, not of kind.  Drag-king shows are a more recent addition, and not so rooted in hatred/jealousy.

Sure there are some transgender people who do it for a job, but these exceptions are exceptional.

Yes, I know the woman in Priscilla was trans, but she is hardly representative of the majority.  That was my point about the movie.  That's the kind of image that sticks in the public mind, not something more realistic.

you have a lot of misguided passion in my opinion and your comparing something like black face to drag is so utterly offensive.
I have a hard time seeing that parallel so i'm going to leave it at that i affirm your perspective, i just don't get it. Two different legacies.
I just think nowadays instead of chastising people who are also marginalized we should work together.

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Anatta on November 13, 2011, 11:06:18 PM
Kia Ora,

::) http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Gay.jsp (http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Gay.jsp)

::) Be happy you didn't live back then-back then was definately no fun if you got caught ...

Metta Zenda :)
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Mahsa Tezani on November 13, 2011, 11:31:56 PM
Quote from: GinaDouglas on November 13, 2011, 09:19:44 PM

Yes, I know the woman in Priscilla was trans, but she is hardly representative of the majority.  That was my point about the movie.  That's the kind of image that sticks in the public mind, not something more realistic.

Watch TransAmerica or whatever that movie was called. That was pretty realistic. I relate more to Priscilla than the woman in Transamerica.

Yeah, did you know "Ticked off trannies with knives?" had nothing to do with actual transwomen?

The drag queens aren't out to humiliate transwomen... Most of them hold transwomen in high regard.

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: xXRebeccaXx on November 14, 2011, 04:26:10 AM
Quote from: Mahsa the disco shark on November 08, 2011, 02:02:52 AM
I've always wondered why. But I have no idea who I should ask.

Btw, I meant some gay guys. Not all of them.

Most xdressers are straight and do it for a variety of reasons.
Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: lilacwoman on November 14, 2011, 05:17:24 AM
I got an awful lot of flak for saying black face = drag queens.

simple reason so many are is beacuse practically all gays start out as little frillies then later on bury it and deny it while still being attracted to drag queens.

most TS start out as secret crossdressers not little Judy Garlands proto gays.

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: tekla on November 14, 2011, 09:23:58 AM
practically all gays start out as little frillies

Wow, you must have been a National Merit Scholar at the Institute for the Perpetuation of Absurd Stereotypes.  I bet you far more males got 'the ghey' on hunting trips - you know manly men out in the woods killing things and drinking beer - than on shopping expeditions.  If you were right - and you're not - the whole 'gay in the military' thing would be a non-issue since just about the last thing the Nancy Boys want is to join the Army or Marine Corps.  Nope, what worries the opponents (who, I hate to say it but...seem to be a bit more clued in than you are) is that lots of gay men, you know, manly men who want to run around killing things and drinking beer, like men for being men, and there are few places is no place more packed with manly men then a Marine Corps barracks or a Navy warship.  Wasn't it Lord Winston Churchill who said that the Royal Navy runs on 'rum, buggery and the lash'?  Of course, in many ways that was the selling point. 

For all the 'Judy Garland' stereotypes (and for the record I bet far more gay men are into opera and symphonic music, but that's a virtue of taste) I'll bet there are more gay male metal-heads than Judy poofters.

Title: Re: Why do gay men dress like girls for fun?
Post by: Mahsa Tezani on November 14, 2011, 01:19:05 PM
Quote from: tekla on November 14, 2011, 09:23:58 AM


For all the 'Judy Garland' stereotypes (and for the record I bet far more gay men are into opera and symphonic music, but that's a virtue of taste) I'll bet there are more gay male metal-heads than Judy poofters.

Hell yeah. More of them hang out in Folsom or Badlands as opposed to Marlenas and Divas.