Drag Isn't Just A Job

Drag Isn't Just A Job...
LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 19: Cast member and winner of season six of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Bianca Del Rio arrives at a viewing party for the show's finale at the New Tropicana Las Vegas on May 19, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 19: Cast member and winner of season six of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Bianca Del Rio arrives at a viewing party for the show's finale at the New Tropicana Las Vegas on May 19, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic)

In nearly every ancient indigenous culture, drag queens were praised as spiritual masters—shamans who communicated between the physical and spiritual realms. The job description is more or less intact from those times. We still wear a thick, colorful layer of ceremonious paint on our faces; we still have elaborate headdresses and ornate clothes that suggest sex, stature, and femininity. In fact, the ritual is much more precise—five seconds at any Suzanne Bartsch party would hand your average Peruvian shaman his goddamn life. However, in 2014, we can’t help but find ourselves subject to society’s well-seasoned patriarchy, and it’s one that threatens our very existence.

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