death of drag
Drag Is Misogyny Disguised as Art—and its BORING!
By Marsh (Edi) Baptise
Watching everyone gush over Emilia Perez as it swept up four Golden Globes was nothing short of nauseating. For movie night, we decided to give this supposedly groundbreaking musical a shot, only to find it so unbearable that we couldn’t even make it to the end. In all honesty, we saw the clip that Genevieve Gluck posted on Twitter and ran to watch, and boy were we disappointed. How such an atrocious film managed to snag so many awards is a mystery that defies all logic. Women have long been conditioned to accept the idea that imitation is the highest form of flattery, but I strongly disagree. Imitation is not flattery—it’s a desperate display of mediocrity, and this film embodies it completely.
When it comes to men who jump into drag and later self-identify as trans-identified women, this becomes glaringly obvious. It’s no surprise that mediocre men flock to drag or claim trans identities—they see it as an easy path to applause and recognition. What’s more troubling is how society, particularly other men and fearful women, rushes to heap praise upon them, despite many being wholly undeserving of such accolades.
This dynamic doesn’t elevate women; it undermines them, reducing womanhood to a costume while rewarding those who treat it as nothing more than an act. The acceptance of drag is how we all got here, and I have to say that I am tired of it. I am exhausted. Exhausted by the glorification of drag, by the reduction of women to an art form, and by the unearned recognition handed to mediocre men who slap on wigs and makeup, declaring themselves worthy of applause. This isn’t empowerment. It’s misogyny in its most insidious form.
Drag has been heralded as subversive, as a celebration of gender fluidity, and as an art form that challenges societal norms. But let’s be honest: it doesn’t challenge anything. Instead, it perpetuates tired stereotypes, reducing women to caricatures of our most objectified traits—exaggerated makeup, provocative clothing, and dramatic gestures. In doing so, it mocks rather than honors the complexity and struggles of real womanhood.t’s nothing more than a performance, and frankly, everyone is tired of it. The men in dresses, hailed as stunning and brave for pairing a beard with a gown, are anything but. They’re opportunists who would never have been in a position to be called brave if they hadn’t thrown on a fucking dress.
While these performances garner applause, real women—facing systemic oppression, violence, and exploitation—are sidelined. The privilege is glaring. Men who might have faded into obscurity elsewhere are celebrated for “performing” femininity. They are showered with awards, TV deals, and packed audiences, while actual women labor tirelessly in the shadows to keep the spaces we’ve built for ourselves alive.
What’s worse is that drag has become a gateway to a troubling phenomenon: the growing belief that men who perform femininity deserve access to the spaces women have fought to create. Drag performers, emboldened by constant praise and unchecked audacity, increasingly claim legitimacy in women’s spaces—not as allies, but as replacements. And society is enabling it.
We’re living in an era where even voicing this concern comes with a steep cost. Women who critique drag or question its implications are labeled with whatever derogatory term men decide to throw at us—TERFs, bigots, or worse. This silencing tactic is deliberate. It creates a climate of fear, where legitimate critiques of drag and its impact on women are drowned out by accusations and name-calling. The result? A free pass for men to encroach on spaces that were meant to protect and uplift women.
Drag feeds directly into the ideology that performing femininity is the same as embodying womanhood. This logic paves the way for trans-identifying males to demand inclusion in women’s sports, shelters, bathrooms, and even leadership positions in feminist movements. The spaces women have built for ourselves, often through immense struggle, are now open to invasion under the guise of inclusivity. Meanwhile, the real struggles of women around the world remain ignored. Women are still fighting for basic rights—freedom from violence, access to education, control over our own bodies. 