Dragfest festivities defy gender norms

[Shana A]

Dragfest festivities defy gender norms

By hadleyjolley / March 11, 2010

http://whitmanpioneer.com/feature/2010/03/11/diversity-in-drag/

After dancing in the strobe-lighted darkness, the crowd gathered in a horseshoe for the drag competition to begin. Roxanne von Cummings, reigning Miss Gay Washington, instructed the contestants to pick out good drag names. Since many had based their costumes on characters, the competitors included Wolverine and the Goblin King on the drag king side, and Hannah Montana and Cruella de Ville—the eventual winner—on the drag queen side. Cummings introduced one competitor as "The Bitch of the Ball," and one student married both a pun and Disney reference by performing under the name "Twinkerbelle." The competition ended with a performance from Cummings.

Every year, Whitman's Coalition Against Homophobia plans the Day of Drag, which encourage students to wear gender-nonconforming clothes all day, and Dragfest, a themed dance party. This year, the theme of Dragfest was Disney. The coalition's goal is to introduce students to a part of gay culture and get them to question their ideas about gender norms, promoting a more diverse understanding of gender and gender performance.