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Girlfriend:: Men, Women, and Drag
"Drag is a loaded topic, triggering ferocious responses in a wide variety of people. There are men (both straight and gay) who abhor drag for its flamboyant display and find it alarming that the transition from masculine to feminine can be made by means of something so facile as a change of clothes, and others who are seasoned spectators, who go out and look at drag queens the same way some guys watch Monday Night Football. As for women, there are those who consider drag queens their soul sisters, and others who feel insulted by drag as a mean-spirited, sexist caricature. There are intellectuals (men and women alike) who champion drag as a laboratory for what is known in academic circles as 'gender studies.' And finally, there are those who consider drag decadent, perverse, reprehensible."
But no matter what you think of it, there can be no denying that drag is everywhere--The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Dennis Rodman and Howard Stern; Hedwig and the Angry Inch--and in Girlfriend this fantastic world of gender-bending is explored by former New York Times Magazine style editor Holly Brubach and celebrated photographer Michael James O'Brien.
Brubach, once described as a writer "who could make a safety pin sound fascinating," covers the drag scene in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rio, Tokyo, and Bangkok, introducing us to a wonderful group of vivid personalities who bring cross-dressing to life in the unique style of each city. Girlfriend features individual artists and group Wigstock; the annual drag queen invasion of the Pines on Fire Island; the banda d'Ipanema's parade through the streets of Rio during Carnaval; a "Diamonds Are Forever" party in Japan. O'Brien's photographs portray a world of great diversity--witty, flamboyant, touching, and enormously imaginative.
Girlfriend is a brilliant and insightful look at the people and places that create this vibrant culture. In the end, this guided tour tells us as much about our own received notions of gender as about the imagination and artistry of the men and women who dress as members of the opposite sex. Girlfriend is a passport to a new world, one brimming with creativity and joie de vivre, contradiction and irony.
But no matter what you think of it, there can be no denying that drag is everywhere--The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Dennis Rodman and Howard Stern; Hedwig and the Angry Inch--and in Girlfriend this fantastic world of gender-bending is explored by former New York Times Magazine style editor Holly Brubach and celebrated photographer Michael James O'Brien.
Brubach, once described as a writer "who could make a safety pin sound fascinating," covers the drag scene in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rio, Tokyo, and Bangkok, introducing us to a wonderful group of vivid personalities who bring cross-dressing to life in the unique style of each city. Girlfriend features individual artists and group Wigstock; the annual drag queen invasion of the Pines on Fire Island; the banda d'Ipanema's parade through the streets of Rio during Carnaval; a "Diamonds Are Forever" party in Japan. O'Brien's photographs portray a world of great diversity--witty, flamboyant, touching, and enormously imaginative.
Girlfriend is a brilliant and insightful look at the people and places that create this vibrant culture. In the end, this guided tour tells us as much about our own received notions of gender as about the imagination and artistry of the men and women who dress as members of the opposite sex. Girlfriend is a passport to a new world, one brimming with creativity and joie de vivre, contradiction and irony.
- GenresPhotographyQueer
178 pages, Hardcover
First published April 20, 1999
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 27, 2014
A Thoughtful But Somewhat Flawed Look At Drag
This book approaches drag very broadly, and that's its biggest flaw. The author seems to group everyone in the same category, from performing drag queens to transgender prostitutes. There's not sufficient explanation of the dramatic differences between these groups. It's not all just drag.
When you look past that one flaw, the author does spend a lot of time analyzing gender, masculinity and femininity as cultural constructs versus birthrights, and where everyone who defies gender fits within their particular culture. In terms of culture, this book is very ambitious. The author travels the world, devoting a chapter to each city's drag scene (and I use drag scene loosely, as does the author). This approach means the book is fast paced, and it does allow for interesting comparisons. Ultimately, it's one of the more thoughtful books, not just on drag, but on individuals who move away from gender norms in general.
The photos are fantastic, but they seem somewhat removed from the text. You have to go to the back of the book to see the subject of each and figure out how it relates to what you've been reading.
This book approaches drag very broadly, and that's its biggest flaw. The author seems to group everyone in the same category, from performing drag queens to transgender prostitutes. There's not sufficient explanation of the dramatic differences between these groups. It's not all just drag.
When you look past that one flaw, the author does spend a lot of time analyzing gender, masculinity and femininity as cultural constructs versus birthrights, and where everyone who defies gender fits within their particular culture. In terms of culture, this book is very ambitious. The author travels the world, devoting a chapter to each city's drag scene (and I use drag scene loosely, as does the author). This approach means the book is fast paced, and it does allow for interesting comparisons. Ultimately, it's one of the more thoughtful books, not just on drag, but on individuals who move away from gender norms in general.
The photos are fantastic, but they seem somewhat removed from the text. You have to go to the back of the book to see the subject of each and figure out how it relates to what you've been reading.
Displaying 1 of 1 review