“Drag, Panto and Genderfuckery” with Nick Cherryman

Queer Lit

Join Nick Cherryman (University of Warwick) and me for a giggle and a bit of jolly gender jamming in this episode about drag, performance and pantomime. Nick (aka Ibi Profane) gives us some highlights of drag history, explains what posthuman drag might be and why even that is still gendered. Non-British listeners (and holiday enthusiasts) also get a brief intro to panto dames, why they can be so much fun, but also why they can potentially reinforce problematic assumptions about trans* people. With sparkling examples from Björk to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and a heartwarming story about a young queer woman, a drag queen and a burger, this episode will be the treat you need.
Texts, people and shows mentioned:
queer/disrupt
https://www.queerdisrupt.com/
“Ibi Profane's Dragged Through History”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PwjcKemYHk
Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto
JerBer Jones
Dragula
Hungry (@ishehungry)
Björk: Utopia, “Virus”, “Mutual Core”, Vulnicura, Biophilia
Andrew Thomas Huang
Stonewall
Marsha P. Johnson
Sylvia Rivera
STAR: Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries
GLF: Gay Liberation Front
Mark Ravenhill’s Mother Clapp’s Molly House
RuPaul
Cheddar Gorgeous
Juno Birch
Ginny Lemon
Alaska Thunderfuck
Bob the Drag Queen’s “Suspiciously Large Woman”
The Queens of Perpetual Indulgence
Conchita Wurst
Jack Halberstam
Heather Love
JVN’s Getting Curious
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home
Catherine Castro’s Appelez-moi Nathan
Jul Maroh’s Blue is the Warmest Colour
It’s behind you! So you better start your engines and follow @ibiprofane, @NCherryman, @queerdisrupt, @queerlitpodcast and @Lena_Mattheis on Instagram or Twittter. Aaaaahhh!
Questions you should be able to respond to after listening:
1. Nick and I briefly reference Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto and the term ‘posthuman’. Please find a definition and an example (this can be artwork, drag, literature, theory, popular culture or whatever you like) for the ‘posthuman’ and look up what the Cyborg Manifesto is all about.
2. Please create a little glossary of terms that relate to drag or being trans and write a very short definition (can be in key words) for each one. Example: “‘Transvestite’ is a term was historically used to describe people who wore clothing of a gender not assigned to them at birth. The term often conflates crossdressers, transgender people and people performing in drag.”
3. Can you think of an example of genderfuckery in a literary text?
4. What is a Molly House? Which specific one does Nick mention and where were they located?
5. What is problematic about pantomimes? What does Nick say about the differences between performance spaces and public spaces in this context?