Queens of Pop and misogynist queens

Queens of Pop, two gay brothers from Manchester of Youtube pop parodies and Smiffy's wigs, have withdrawn from Manchester Pride because of the furore surrounding their Will.I.Am parody video.
The offending video has since been removed but basically they changed the lyrics from his (frankly awful) song 'Bang Bang' to that of him being a massive homosexual and getting up to all kinds of gay naughtiness.
It wasn't the outing that caused the most offence (Will.I.Am, we all know love...) but that two caucasian boys blacked up in a Black & White Minstrel Show style with added jazz hands. They also implicate that all gay men have to offer the world is STDs and casual sex with the line “give all of the aliens AIDS”. We really don't need to reinforce this idea, the Daily Mail have that stereotype locked down.
I've had my eye on the Queens of Pop for a while and quite like their Girls Aloud video but they generally portray pop princesses as grotesque female stereotypes. Why not the same online ho-ha over that? There was no public petition or outcry for their Atomic Kitten parody (where they send up Kerry Katona as a drug addled mess). Why do we (and rightly) get so uppity and offended when someone ridicules race, but not gender? Is it because we've become accustomed to men in wigs being nasty about women that it has become an accepted norm?

While I respect the camp of trad drag (the tradition of a queen in a solid helmet wig, diamanté necklace and sequinned gown) unfortunately many have their view of women stuck in the 70s. I recently saw a show at one of the gay show bars in London where the established queen did karaoke for 40 minutes (not necessarily a bad thing) but the banter was painful and awkward. It all focused on cocks, naff sex talk and being hateful about lesbians. Again and again ad nauseum. I wasn't offended by the lesbophobia, it just wasn't funny. And dated, oh so dated.
This is my issue with the offending Queens of Pop video, it wasn't funny. I've no problem with offensive comedy, I adore Brass Eye for example. All comedy is based on someone or something being laughed at or mocked, but if you're covering a controversial subject, it needs to be smart, knowing and funny, not cheap unhelpful clichés that have been repeated endlessly.

Where does this culture of misogyny among trad drag come from? Is it because of their sexuality (frequently gay) that they are repulsed by women? Do they prefer to keep women at arms length as distant beings, without having to deal with the reality and unfamiliar nature of female biology? (FYI, despite looking like plastic sex dolls, all your favourite pop stars bleed. Oh the horror!?)

Misogyny is at the route of homophobia. It's no coincidence that as women have gained more strength and equality in the west, rights for queer people have improved. There is still a lot of work to be done in both camps but surely the whole point of drag is to champion strong, fabulous and incredible women, not deride them for a limp, tired laugh?
Whatever your relationship with women, we all came from a vagina, get over it.

Lets hope the Queens of Pop can learn from this incident and think a little more about the messages they are sending as they influence the next generation of drag.
And please invest in some decent makeup girls, you're (in)famous now.

x

No comments:

Post a Comment