#I've already finally figured out I'm somewhere on the ace/enby spectrum-

[earako]

Cousin: you might have a touch if the 'tism

Me: .....*takes the RAAD-R test

.....f u c k -

[midnight-scrivener]

I know you made like a long post with lots of sources on drag kings and you also used the word "drag things" which i love as an enby but how do I know if I actually want to do drag? Like i think the biggest barrier is me being ace so while i have no problem with others flaunting it on stage that's not me. Do you have a ref on types of drag bc all i've seen is Drag Race which is too competitive and high-stakes for me and like overwhelming?

Hello! Sorry, I know this is a super long time coming 🥲 thank you so much for being patient!!!

I love the growing movement of Things in the drag community! I always get excited when I see a new one. What are they performing? Gender. Which gender? .... Yes.

There are all kinds of drag, and not all of it is sexy! Me personally, I usually wear long pants and full suits, No! Skin! Allowed! Not a risque stitch about it. And if it makes you feel better, I also am on the ace spectrum, so being Ace doesn't preclude you from putting on a little moustache and doing a funny little dance onstage!

This might not be the most helpful, but it's also true... The only real way to figure out for sure if you want to do drag, when you're already on the fence, is to do drag. If you're old enough to go out, I'd go to different clubs and drag events in your area. Or even check local pages on Facebook and Instagram for Drag Brunches! Brunches teeeend to be more family friendly than nightclub shows, so they might have more examples of the kinds of drag you're looking for. And your local community will have open stage nights where new performers can test out acts. That's a great, low-stakes way to figure out if performance is for you!

In terms of resources for different kinds of drag, Dragula is the first one that comes to mind. It's also intense, but in a different way than Drag Race, and I find that Dragula showcases many more different flavors of drag than Roople's shows tend to, including kings and things. The main show is available on Netflix and Shudder, and I highly recommend seasons 2 and 3. On Shudder, there are also several spinoff shows that I haven't seen (too poor), but I believe are more of a showcase of drag than a pageant competition. Real community drag has very little in common with television pageants, but no one has figured out a way to make anything other than pageants sell on tv, so that's all people see.

I also ran a VERY!!!! slapdash casual low-budget show on Twitch in 2020 to help people make more money when clubs were closed because of the pandemic, and the drag I ran was much more like what you'll tend to see in a local scene. Let me know if you're interested and I can send you a couple episodes! Keeping drag shows up on YouTube is a nightmare because of copyright issues.

But I really think the best advice I can give you is to go out and meet people. Local community drag will ALWAYS be more varied and interesting than any show I can recommend, and even if you're just going to sit in the audience and watch, it'll give you a much better idea of whether this is something you could see yourself doing! And talking to performers will make great friends for you, and also open up mentor opportunities as you build your persona up!

But yeah, Dragula is a great Drag Race alternative (with a disclaimer for horror content). Hugo Grrrl was also on a drag pageant show in New Zealand called House of Drag, which is floating around somewhere on the internet, and I remember really enjoying! Pageants will always be pageants, but some are more varied than others. Either way, I hope some of this was helpful to you! Your local community will always be your best resource, but finally the drag we're seeing on TV is starting to reflect the drag we see in real life ☺️

Feel free to hit me up about anything else! I'm happy to help 🥰

--Robin Ransom