Queer Representation in the Media

 I wanted to use this module as a nod to queer pioneer RuPaul Charles! RuPaul was the first drag queen to really appear in the mainstream media, with his song Supermodel charting on the Billboard Hot 100. He later became the first drag queen to be the face of a makeup campaign when he was the face of MAC cosmetics in 1994. This was so early for its time, considering drag was relatively underground until the early 2000s. Drag is female impersonation, and I actually noticed something that relates to the module where we discussed domestic violence and the term jezebel. In Ru's song "Call Me Mother," she says, "Titties so plentiful, fishy queen jezebel," saying she looks so feminine people mistake her for a jezebel, but in this case, she is reclaiming the term to talk about how fierce she is. Oftentimes, people project harmful stereotypes about drag, such as that they are mocking women or that they are all sex workers. More recently, people have been upset at libraries that participate in drag race story times because they think they are pushing their beliefs onto children when in actuality, the only thing they are promoting is diversity, love, and community.

Although the LGBTQ+ community has made great strides towards equality in the past few decades, they are sadly still far from it and face frequent discrimination, for example, conservatives being mad at Dylan Mulvany for making a 30-second video ad BudLight paid her to do. Ways we can promote and support the LGBTQ+ community by representing them in the mainstream media. Another is to also not spread misinformation like many people do. Being queer does not make you inhuman, and drag is not a crime, simply a form of expression, and it is sad that many people disagree to this day.