Drag Race televises discrimination in the LGBTQ+ community

STORY JAYDEN TRAN

ILLUSTRATION

ELLA MIZOTA-WANG

Rupaul’s Drag Race has cemented itself in the attention of mass media, popularizing the art of drag. The show has become a significant piece of representation in television for the LGBTQ+ community, having garnered Critic Choice Awards and Emmys for anything from reality TV to best host. The reality show highlights drag contestants in both challenges and on the runway.

The unfortunate truth behind Drag Race comes with how the directors and production team chooses to present specific artists. While its popularity has laid the groundwork for representation and further development of new shows across the world, it televises transphobic, fatphobic, and racist ideologies spread between the LGBTQ+ population. Drag Race, despite being hailed as positive representation for the LGBTQ+ community, perpetuates issues so frequently aligned with reality television shows. The show places a bias on pre-existing stereotypes within the community, tending to favor the “norm;” cis-gendered, white, skinny contestants.

This norm is revealed through the bias to queens such as finalist Gigi Goode, who was claimed by fans to be robbed on her run through season 12 after losing to Black queen Jaida Essence Hall. This is furthered with season 10 winner Aquaria, who won against self-proclaimed and coveted “big queen” Eureka O’Hara, revealing how contestants of color, size, and gender that do not match the stereotype of the typical queer person are shunned by the audience and production team.

In some years, the show sometimes looks past the identity of queens and recognizes an individual’s true talent through crowning winners that are not the norm of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, almost all queens crowned during 2019-2021 were Black, many of whom made it through the competition with ease. However, the question lies in the timing of these crownings; these victories align directly with social movements such as Black Lives Matter and the rising intolerance for social injustice.

The villainization of specific queens, especially those who are people of color, counteract the steps made to promote colored queens in later seasons. In earlier seasons of Drag Race, Black queens such as Tyra Sanchez or Phi Phi O’Hara were edited to portray the typical villain archetype, pitting performers of color against the white artists of the show. This theme follows through to the more modern seasons in fights between performers such as Derrick Berry versus Bob TDQ or The Vixen versus Aquaria, where the audience is shown microaggressions from the white queens while the Black queens are villainized for being understandably angry and upset.

As a show, Drag Race has done a commendable amount of work in showing the entertainment and extravaganza that can come with a subgenre of the LGBTQ+ community and ballroom culture. Famous drag artists hailing from the show – from Shea Coulee to Shangela – have worked in social justice advocacy and fought against government officials who claim drag grooms children. But in terms of representation, the values that Drag Race establishes in utilizing discrimination that is present in the community to promote drama counteract the very idea that the show is a platform for artistic expression.

In addition to these embedded biases, the hostility of the show’s environment creates a vulnerable setting that producers oftentimes capitalize on. Multiple contestants have spoken out and stated that directors have forced them to share inappropriate and traumatizing stories for a few crying clips in one episode. Queens such as Roxxy Andrews and Blair St. Clair have shared their discomfort in their pressure to share their trauma regarding issues like abandonment, body dysmorphia, and sexual assault. These are not isolated incidents as the years have revealed and these times of vulnerability \are an extension of the emotions that the performers undergo throughout the competition. During filming, contestants are under strict isolation, unable to contact anyone outside of their competition. In such a concentrated environment, hostility and heightened emotions foster vulnerability within contestants.

Above all, the genre of reality television shows are meant to be dramatic, entertaining, and engaging. The