Work It: An Ethnography of Drag Performance in Washington, DC

Ray LeBlanc

Advisor: Roger N Lancaster, PhD, Cultural Studies Program

Committee Members: Rachel Lewis, Cortney Hughes Rinker

Online Location, https://gmu.zoom.us/j/5304110378?omn=98970494885
April 24, 2024, 12:30 PM to 02:30 PM

Abstract:

Drag performers are seizing more paying opportunities and making it work “full-time,” reflecting what journalists and scholars proclaimed a "drag boom." Investigating Washington, DC's drag scene, I blend interviews, ethnographic and autoethnographic narratives, and an eclectic range of cultural texts to explore the political-economic dimensions of drag performance. I argue drag performance is post-Fordist work and diagnose how the gig economy, rainbow capitalism and changes in social media have contributed to recent transformations in the scene and prompted new risks and rewards. The work of drag performance can be exploited by business owners, show producers, parents at Drag Story Hour, and politicians to signal virtues of diversity and inclusion. Representation is equated to politics through neoliberal frameworks of social justice. Finally, throughout this dissertation I present real-world solutions for activists and drag performers: that gigs should always have formal contracts; representation is not politics; and the freedom of speech will not protect drag performance from being considered adult entertainment.