BEING FISHY, FEMININE AND FIERCE: YOUNGER QUEENS AND THEIR ACCEPTANCE INTO THE LOCAL DRAG COMMUNITY

Abstract

With the increasing queer representation in popular culture through television shows and movies, it is to no surprise that the drag community would also be increasingly more popular and visible. Shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race displayed its popularity when it expanded to having versions of the show in the United Kingdom and Thailand. With this rapidly changing context in mind, one might wonder if such global forces have any implication on the Singaporean drag community. This thesis is, therefore, an attempt to answer that question by looking at the Singapore drag community as a case study. It frames the discussion through the lens of younger drag queens who entered the scene as the drag scene enter this new cultural milieu. A new dawn where drag queens are now popular when they were previously ostracised. This is not to say that discrimination against them has ceased. Instead, it is an evaluation of the extent of that discrimination that local drag queens face. Moreover, given Singapore’s unique context where drag queens have to straddle between repressive laws as well as the newfound visibility it has found. This thesis hopes to provide a voice; a medium to which the experiences of the four younger drag queens could be expressed. This is a story of love, life, resilience and most importantly, liberation.