Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-v2bm5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-20T09:46:27.497Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Politics Should Be a Drag: Why Political Science Needs to Take Drag Seriously

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2025

Edward F. Kammerer Jr. Open the ORCID record for Edward F. Kammerer Jr. [Opens in a new window] ,
Melissa R. Michelson Open the ORCID record for Melissa R. Michelson [Opens in a new window]  and
Brian F. Harrison Open the ORCID record for Brian F. Harrison [Opens in a new window]
Edward F. Kammerer Jr.
Affiliation:
Idaho State University, USA
Melissa R. Michelson
Affiliation:
Menlo College, USA
Brian F. Harrison
Affiliation:
Center for American Political Engagement, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Drag has a long history in the LGBTQ community as a means of political engagement, activism, protest, and community building. Today, drag is popular in the LGBTQ community and in the rest of society. At the same time, it is routinely a target of conservative backlash against the LGBTQ community. Despite drag’s inherently political nature, political science has failed to engage substantially with the influence of drag. This article offers a justification and research agenda to bring drag into the mainstream of political science.

Type
Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , First View , pp. 1 - 6
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ayoub, Phillip M. 2022. “Not That Niche: Making Room for the Study of LGBTIQ People in Political Science.” European Journal of Politics and Gender 5 (2): 154–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, Rusty. 2017. From Drag Queens to Leathermen. New York: Oxford.Google Scholar
Brettschneider, Marla, Burgess, Susan, and Keating, Christine, eds. 2017. LGBTQ Politics. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Bruce, Katherine McFarland. 2016. Pride Parades. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. 1996. “Imitation and Gender Insubordination.” In Women, Knowledge, and Reality. Explorations in Feminist Philosophy, ed. Garry, Ann and Pearsall, Marilyn, 371–87. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Canaday, Margot. 2009. The Straight State. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Currah, Paisley. 2011. “The State of LGBT/Sexuality Studies in Political Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 44 (1): 13–16.Google Scholar
Currah, Paisley. 2022. Sex Is as Sex Does. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Alyssa J., and Kettrey, Heather Hensman. 2021. “Clear and Omnipresent Danger: Digital Culture Age Culture Wars and Reactions to Drag Queen Story Hour across Diverse Subreddit Communities.” Social Currents 9 (1): 25–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Heath Fogg. 2017. Beyond Trans. New York: NYU Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Drag Queens, the First Amendment, and Expressive Harms.” 2024. Harvard Law Review 137 (5): 1469–90.Google Scholar
Drushel, Bruce E. 2016. “In Service of Camp or the Campiness of Service: ‘The Court’ as Queer Civic and Fraternal Organization.” Journal of American Culture 39 (1): 33–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eastmond, Dean. 2017. “Bio-Queens Boo Sutcliff and Lacey Lou on What Female Drag Means to Them.” Teen Vogue, April 7. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/bio-queens-boo-sutcliffe-and-lacey-lou-on-what-drag-means-to-them.Google Scholar
Ellis, Justin R. 2022. “A Fairy Tale Gone Wrong: Social Media, Recursive Hate, and the Politicisation of Drag Queen Storytime.” Journal of Criminal Law 86 (2): 94–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eskridge, William N. Jr. 1999. Gaylaw. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, Nathaniel. 2017. Awakening. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.Google Scholar
Goodman, Elyssa. 2018. “Drag Herstory: This Drag Queen Was the First Openly Gay American to Run for Office.” https://www.them.us/story/jose-sarria-drag-queen-history.Google Scholar
Greene, Laurie A. 2021. Drag Queens and Beauty Queens. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Greenhalgh, Ella. 2018. “‘Darkness Turned into Power’: Drag as Resistance in the Era of Trumpian Reversal.” Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture 3 (3): 299–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Brian F. 2020. A Change is Gonna Come: How to Have Effective Political Conversations in a Divided America. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, Brian F., and Michelson, Melissa R.. 2019. “Gender, Masculinity Threat, and Support for Transgender Rights: An Experimental Study.” Sex Roles 80 (1): 63–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, Zackary W. 2023. “Shantay You Stay: Keeping Kids at Drag Shows.” Journal of Law & Policy, 32 (1): 123–63.Google Scholar
Hillman, Betty Luther. 2011. “‘The Most Profoundly Revolutionary Act a Homosexual Can Engage In’: Drag and the Politics of Gender Presentation in the San Francisco Gay Liberation Movement, 1964-1972.” Journal of the History of Sexuality 20 (1): 153–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Hirshman, Linda. 2012. Victory. New York: Harper.Google Scholar
Jansen, Charlotte. 2019. “How Has RuPaul’s Drag Race Changed the Contemporary Scene?” Elephant, November 6.Google Scholar
Jeffries, Joe E. 1993. “Joan Jett Blakk for President: Cross-Dressing at the Democratic National Convention.” The Drama Review 37 (3): 186–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Philip Edward. 2022. “Respectability Politics and Straight Support for LGB Rights.” Political Research Quarterly 74 (2): 935–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kammerer, Edward F. 2016. “Judicial Narratives and Same-Sex Marriage.” New England Journal of Political Science 9 (2): article 4.Google Scholar
Kammerer, Edward F. Jr. and Barreto, Amílcar Antonio. 2022. “American Nationhood in Transition: Sexual Orientation, Race, and the Media.” JAm It! Journal of American Studies in Italy 6:104–31.Google Scholar
Kammerer, Edward F. Jr. and Michelson, Melissa R.. 2022. “You Better Vote: Drag Performers and Voter Mobilization in the 2020 Election.” PS: Political Science & Politics 55 (4): 655–60.Google Scholar
Lvovsky, Anna. 2021. Vice Patrol. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marist Poll. 2023. “Biden & the Issues Facing the Nation.” March 29.Google Scholar
Masters, Jasmine. 2016. “RuPaul Dragrace Fucked Up Drag.” YouTube, January 28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf25Xzhpz_k.Google Scholar
McDonnell, Terence E., and Everhart, Katherine. 2024. “Cultural Form and Protest.” Mobilization 29 (1): 59–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michelson, Melissa R., and Harrison, Brian F.. 2020. Transforming Prejudice: Identity, Fear, and Transgender Rights. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Movement Advancement Project. 2024. “Equality Maps: Restrictions on Drag Performances.” https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/criminaljustice/drag_restrictions.Google Scholar
Murib, Zein. 2023. Terms of Exclusion. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Novkov, Julie, and Barclay, Scott. 2010. “Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and the Transgendered in Political Science.” PS: Political Science & Politics 43 (1): 95–106.Google Scholar
Orth, Taylor, and Frankovic, Kathy. 2023. “Who Do Americans Think Should Be Allowed to Attend Drag Shows?” https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/45562-who-should-be-allowed-attend-drag-shows-poll. YouGov Today, April 14.Google Scholar
Retzloff, Tim. 2007. “Eliding Trans Latino/a Queer Experience in U.S. LGBT History: José Sarria and Sylvia Rivera Reexamined.” Centro 19 (1): 140–61.Google Scholar
Rupp, Leila J., Taylor, Verta, and Shapiro, Eve Illan. 2010. “Drag Queens and Drag Kings: The Difference Gender Makes.” Sexualities 13 (3): 275–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sears, Clare. 2014. Arresting Dress. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Shenton, Jamie E. 2023. “#KeepKidsInnocent: What Twitter Discourse on Drag Queens, Disney, and Dolly Parton Teaches Us about the Intersection of Anti-Queerness with Parenting Politics.” Public Anthropologist 5 (1): 30–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slotnik, Daniel E. 2013. “José Sarria, Gay Advocate and Performer, Dies at 90.” New York Times, August 24. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/us/jose-sarria-gay-advocate-and-performer-dies-at-90.html.Google Scholar
Stone, Amy L. 2019. “Frame Variation in Child Protectionist Claims: Constructions of Gay Men and Transgender Women as Strangers.” Social Forces 97 (3): 1155–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strolovich, Dara Z., and Crowder, Chaya Y.. 2018. “Respectability, Anti-Respectability, and Intersectionally Responsible Representation.” PS: Political Science & Politics 51 (2): 340–44.Google Scholar
Taylor, Verta, and Rupp, Leila J.. 2005. “When Girls are Men: Negotiating Gender and Sexual Dynamics in a Study of Drag Queens.” Signs 30 (4): 2115–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, Verta, and Rupp, Leila J.. 2006. “Learning from Drag Queens.” Contexts 5 (3): 12–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Berg, Elbie. 2021. “Female Impersonation and Gender Ambivalence: Does Drag Challenge Gender Norms?” Image & Text 35:1–14.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, John. 2022. “Fox Spent More Time Attacking Trans People and Drag Queens Than It Did Covering the Second January 6 Hearing.” Media Matters for America, August 14. https://www.mediamatters.org/january-6-insurrection/fox-spent-more-time-attacking-trans-people-and-drag-queens-it-did-covering.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Melissa M. 2018. Queer Nuns. New York: NYU Press.Google Scholar