Big boys in big girls’ shoes: the significance of Sharon Needles & RuPaul’s Drag Race

By Stratty June 12, 2012 #Aaron Coady, #BeBe Zahara Benet, #bullying, #Cameroon, #cultural clash, #drag, #drag families, #drag queens, #Drag U, #gay, #gay families, #gay identity, #gay stereotypes, #iconoclast, #Lifestyle, #Modern Family, #Pandora Boxx, #Phi Phi O'Hara, #Raja, #Raja Gemini, #reality TV, #Rebecca Glasscock, #RuPaul, #RuPaul's Drag Race, #RuPocalypse, #Shangela, #Sharon Needles, #Tatianna, #Tyra Sanchez

It’s not easy to explain how RuPaul’s Drag Race – especially season 4 – is more than just a bunch of big boys in big girls’ heels, to paraphrase contestant Willam Belli.

On one level, the appeal of Drag Race is simply that it’s a really entertaining reality show, smart enough to adopt the good bits of shows like America’s Next Top Model and Project Runway but with a wink-wink cleverness that stays just this side of satire. (It’s Drag Show’s surreal spin-off, Drag U, that is the truly devastating parody. Also, unicorns.) There are winners and losers, (Read more…)