Drag Queens and Beauty Queens: Contesting Femininity in the World's Playground

The Miss America pageant has been held in Atlantic City for the past hundred years, promoting the city as a tourist destination. However, the Missd America drag pageant, held just a few streets away, is equally vital to the local community. Drag Queens and Beauty Queens explores the Missd America pageant and the gay neighborhood from which it emerged in the early 1990s as a moment of campy celebration in the midst of the AIDS crisis. It examines how the pageant strengthened community bonds and activism and how it has changed now that Rupauls Drag Race has brought many of its practices into the cultural mainstream. It also deepens our understanding of how femininity is performed at pageants, exploring the various ways that both pageants have negotiated between embracing and critiquing traditional gender roles. Ultimately, it celebrates the rich tradition of drag performance and the community it engenders.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n Length: 224 pages
\n Publication date: 30 December 2020
\n Publisher: Rutgers University Press
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For the past century, the Miss America pageant has been a cherished tradition in Atlantic City, serving as a powerful tool for promoting the city as a vibrant tourist destination. However, just a few streets away, a smaller yet equally significant event takes place—the Missd America drag pageant.

Drag Queens and Beauty Queens, a captivating ethnography by anthropologist Laurie Greene, delves into the world of the Missd America pageant and the vibrant gay neighborhood that gave birth to it in the early 1990s. Through its lens, the book explores the profound impact of the pageant on community bonds and activism, as well as its evolution in the wake of the cultural mainstreaming brought about by Rupauls Drag Race.

Greene's comparative analysis between the Missd America pageant and its glitzy cisgender counterpart sheds light on unexpected ways in which the two pageants have influenced each other. By examining the ways in which femininity is performed at pageants, the book offers a nuanced exploration of the various strategies employed by both the Missd America and Miss America pageants to navigate the complex terrain between embracing and critiquing traditional gender roles.

Ultimately, Drag Queens and Beauty Queens serves as a celebration of the rich tradition of drag performance and the vibrant community it engenders. It is a testament to the resilience and creativity of the LGBTQ+ community, and a reminder of the importance of embracing diversity and inclusivity in all aspects of society.

\n Weight: 358g\n
Dimension: 154 x 228 x 18 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781978813861\n \n