Being vulnerable

One thing Ru Paul says is that we are all born naked and the rest is drag. That’s how I’d like to sum up my journey. The first time I actually performed as a drag artiste was at Kitty Su in 2019. Section 377 had already been abolished and I had the time of my life. But we as a society need to stop caricaturising drag artistes. Let’s treat them with the respect they deserve, and remove the ridicule, fear and internalised patriarchy in women themselves. When we talk about cis het men, we talk about them sexualising drag queens. There is nothing wrong in being sexual, we are expressing  our sensuality. But there is a fine line between respecting that sensuality as art and wanting to exert power, be it in the form of money or physical strength over a human being just because of the vulnerability they are expressing through their sensuality. Also, when it comes to RuPaul, he has been slammed as a transphobe. But if you dig deep into YouTube, you will find him as a person in their 20s walking down the street with a camcorder and asking transvestites what they feel about their lives. My point is that the cancel culture that our generation has so vehemently taken up is really vicious. Don’t base the entirety of a human being’s character based on one mistake they have made online.

Bidisha Mohanta aka Badshah Mayur, 25