I watched the film about Jamie because I wanted to know more about where he was coming from, I didn't understand drag queens as a phenomenon, and I still don't. However, I had new respect for the lad's courage.
He had two ambitions: to become a drag queen, and to go to his school prom in a dress. He found a club in Newcastle which had a drag revue running and the person running it helped him create a routine.
The news about him wanting to go to the school's prom in a dress got out - I suspect his father leaked it to them, as no one else we saw seemed likely to, and his dad wasn't happy with the idea.
There were rows with the mother and his supporters in the family because he'd wanted to go to this dance for ages and they'd been supporting him to that end, and after seeing his dad and being cautioned by the school, he decided not to do it.
Then he did his drag act after inviting all his friends from school and they loved it. They all wanted him to go to the prom as 'Fifi' his alter ego. Finally, he decided he would and he and his best friend, a girl, went together collecting a whole bunch of other girls on the way. They stopped for photos in the park and they all wanted to be photographed with Fifi.
At the school, the cameras weren't allowed inside, although one of Jamie's friends had a small camcorder and did some footage. The upshot was the school said no, so all the pupils refused to go inside. The school had a rethink and changed their minds, so Jamie did get to the ball. The courage of the boy and his contemporaries was encouraging.
The final downer, however, was the boy's dad texted him to complain about him going against his advice and as good as saying he didn't want to see him again. Jamie shrugged and said he'd cope. The closing shot was of him walking down the street in full drag in skyscraper heels and a glittering dress. I wish him luck even if I still don't understand him.
It's available on BBC iplayer at least in the UK.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012p4kc/Jamie_Drag_Que...
Angharad.
Comments
Drag
This is my problem. I cannot understand the crossdressing mentality because the only crossdressing I have ever done is as a man. Yes, I can see how the ides amy be 'sexy' for some folk, but not for me.
What worries me about Jamie is exactly that: why does he want to wear a dress? I know why I do.
Oi, drag queens...
I don't get them, either. Although, there are a great many of them around the world. What's the draw of a hyperbole of the feminine experience?
You have to admire his self-advocacy, though. So, his father is a prick. So is my step-father. Life goes on without "phobic" jerks getting in the way, most of the time. I'm not certain of the law in the UK regarding "gender expression", but, here in the US, a boy can be denied access to Prom for wearing a kilt, for crying out loud! Only in certain states (like Washington, where I live) can one get away with this, citing the state statute protecting discrimination on the basis of "real or perceived gender expression". They are very few, but, thanks to the advocacy of organizations like the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), the times are changing. We've still got a long way to go.
Bravo to "Fifi" for attending "her" Prom in a dress with the support of "her" friends. I wish I had that luxury when I was 16.
*le sigh*
I know a few drag queens.
If anyone should have learned to be non-judgmental by now, it is I, but there are still times when something catches me.
Personally, I don't think it should matter what either gender wears, and if that were true, there would never have been SRS for me. And I think that if more of us could be free to find our own centers it would be much nicer. It is very difficult to just throw the knowlege of a life time away.
I hope that he lives to find a comfortable place in life.
Gwendolyn
Uhmmmm
Gee! Sometimes it's uncomfortable being a cross-dresser on this site.
I come here to escape a world where people question my lifestyle.
This thread seems to be moving toward the abyss.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Crossdressers
Angela, please understand I at least intended no criticism or nastiness about CDs. All I am trying to say is simply that I do not 'connect' to the idea. It is as simple as that. This is certainly not a place where such people should ever find condemnation.
there's Drag and there's....
I can cope somewhat with the parody performance thing, even if the chi chi ever so clever names make me roll my eyes and grind my teeth. Hey who am I...
I think the more general CD though is much quieter and trying to relive a memory or simply relax by stepping away from the male for a bit. No problem, it might not be me but it's not that far away in some respects. There's enough divergence in the TS side of things for me not to worry too much about a guy choosing to go 'girl' for a while. The old arch of character/behaviour across male to female is a pretty wide one with a LOT of little gradations.
Didn't watch the movie or whatever, he's still a kid trying to work himself out I think. Takes guts however you look at it. Good luck, but the whole Fifi thing..... shrug.
Kristina
I don't know what's so hard
I don't know what's so hard to understand about this?
Fifi has his/her feminine side and want's to express it. He has an intollerant school and decides to shove them their intollerance in their face.
In the end they had to live with him beeing cd and going to the prom in drag.
I'm kind of amazed that his peers didn't give him crap, but since he is that popular with the girls, they might have accepted that it is smarter to be a good sport about it.
I hope I didn't get anything wrong, but I can't see the video (wrong region *puke*)
It's kind of strange seeing the lack of understanding here, but I guess it is somewhat understandable.
Well you girls have a fixed gender (role) but the wrong body, a CD might do it for different reasons, like a vague gender, sexual gratifiation, to get in someones face, or something else.
Excuse me?
.
...Did someone just say "Drag Queens?"
National Hot Rod Association
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
I suspect...
I suspect there are as many reasons why people wear clothing that "society" decides belong to the other gender as there are people that wear them.
There ARE transsexuals that have little/no desire/need to wear skirts/dresses and others who will exclusively wear them.
I don't think any of us can get into the head of any other and truly UNDERSTAND where they are, what motivates them, etc. We're limited by this communications media we call "language" to try to get the ideas across. Do transsexuals and cross dressers have some things in common? I certainly think so. But there are differences as well. Neither is SUPERIOR to the other nor inferior, for that matter. We're all people.
Anne
Life imitates art?
The prom part of this tale has a striking resemblance to the prom scene in Sarah Lynn Morgan's Emily, a story I would recommend.
For me, if it doesn't upset the horses, then "whatever floats your boat". Some people take their life choices to extremes; although drag queens may be the extreme end of cross-dressing, for me that reflects neither positively or negatively on cross dressers who want to get on quietly with their lives - in all its aspects.
Angela, you stay here and keep posting... pretty please? I enjoy both your stories and your comments.
Xi
Perhaps the bit I don't understand
about drag artists is their exhibitionism, the clothing, makeup and gesture are all excessive and some are deliberately designed to caricature the worst stereotype of female - at the same time saying, look at me, I'm a man in dress. But if that's what they enjoy, I won't stop 'em any more than I understand them.
As for elevating clothing to a fetish equivalent - sorry - not my thing, now a bicycle...
Angharad
Angharad
Mmmmm
...Proofide...Brokks...titanium...
Jamie the Drag Queen on Youtube
The BBC link to this documentary didn't work in my area, but someone has put it on Youtube since then.
Seems like a nice enough kid, knows what he wants and doesn't want in terms of gender identity
and presentation, seems comfortable hanging with his mom and girlfriends, and from what I watched
so far doesn't seem to mock women through grotesque exaggeration in his act; though I wonder
how much of his accent was regional and how much his own theatrically gay enunciation.
Here's Part One of three parts the other two should be easy to find from there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euQCT48Z_as&feature=related
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
Accent
My brother is gay and camp, and lives within a very few miles of Jamie. That is a local accent. Jamie could be my brother in his younger years.