When I sat down to write this, I asked ChatGPT, “What is class drag?” It had no idea, but it did encourage me to explore other “specialised or localised contexts where the term is used.” If you Google “class drag” you get a bunch of results about drag racing and drag queens. Similar results pop up on Reddit and TikTok. I’ve always known that sex workers are pioneers of sociological theory, but now I have proof.
While the concept of class drag, or appropriating the characteristics of another economic class for social, personal, professional, and/or financial benefit, is not a new one, it is one that has been pioneered and perfected by sex workers. Class drag is especially common amongst full-service sex workers, escorts, erotic dancers, strippers, and any role that requires a specific fantasy for client investment and engagement. I’m hesitant to describe what online content creators and adult film actors do as class drag, not because they’re incapable, but because their roles are temporary, by nature. For an escort or dancer, the act is the job. Further, the act is the selling point that gets the job.
Jokes about elite courtesans, professional companions, and other well-regarded (if mocked) colloquialisms are so ubiquitous that one could slap together an ad-hoc hooker Halloween costume if so inclined. Key items include, but are not limited to: a red or black, mid-calf length dress like Dress the Population’s Nadia; a nude pair of Very Privé Christian Louboutins; a Cartier Love bracelet; an Agent Provocateur Lorna set; a designer tote bag – without ostentatious logos – like the Michael Kors Gilly, a tennis square french manicure, and a dog-eared, paperback copy of something equally notable and pretentious like Kafka’s Metamorphosis or Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
For an escort or dancer, the act is the job. Further, the act is the selling point that gets the job.
Outlets, knockoffs, dupes, and reproductions are not only acceptable, they’re encouraged, so long as they’re equally understated and nondescript. Think quiet luxury. You’re a trophy, an acquisition, a pretty totem to be seen, not heard. If you’re particularly ambitious, a knockoff Birkin or Kelly is an excellent option for formal events, but only if you remember to casually mention that it was gifted by a favourite gentleman caller, who you never name but always remember fondly. Most important, however, is the act. If you’re expecting to be taken out in public on a proper date, you have to play the part. You have to wear the air of sophistication and good breeding like a pair of well-loved, premium leather loafers. None of that legal minimum, Genuine Leather shit because this isn’t Pretty Woman and he won’t be charmed by your naivete or down-to-earth humility. If you’re hoping that he’ll become a repeat client, you will be expected to know the difference between the salad fork and the shrimp. I recommend taking etiquette classes so you don’t embarrass yourself or him.
It’s extremely helpful if you can legitimise your decision to tolerate men for money by reminding him that you’re only doing this to pay for school. Remind him that you’re not like other hookers and you’re better than a real whore because you’re an academic. Make sure that he knows you can hold his interest and have intelligent conversations about Socrates and the global economic impact of the Columbia Road Flower Market. And, by god, don’t be afraid to mention how empowered you feel by reclaiming agency over your own sexuality in a patriarchal, misogynist world that only values you for your body so you might as well capitalise on it. This has the dual benefits of soothing his battered ego, miserable at the prospect of paying for sex, and making him feel less like a piece of shit for objectifying women because he has sisters.
This isn’t Pretty Woman and he won’t be charmed by your naivete or down-to-earth humility.
As far as class drag goes, the enlightened escort trope is probably the least inoffensive, if the most mockable. Is it annoying? Yes, absolutely. It becomes especially insufferable when the cosplayer in question forgets to shed the persona and begins believing their assorted holes are plated in 24K gold. (And before I’m accused of pocket watching, or knocking someone’s hustle, I distinctly remember the “my blowjobs are worth thousands of dollars because I have a doctorate degree” discourse.) But the vast majority of us, the best of us, know where the boundary is between real and client-facing behaviour. But there are those who flip the old standard on its head and appropriate poverty as a lifestyle choice.
If you’re familiar with the practice of class drag, poverty cosplay probably isn’t the first iteration that comes to mind, but maybe it should be. There’s a veneer of understanding, if not respectability, that comes with feigning knowledge of the upper crust to widen your prospects as a sex worker. Not so in the inverse. Pretending to occupy a lower class is widely understood to be gutter behaviour and almost as bad as rate shaming or mocking another sex worker for being poorer than you. Almost.
It’s a tactic that’s especially popular with researchers [derogatory] and it is, to me, akin to the way drongos mimic other animals in distress to steal food. Those of an academic bent may find themselves feeling especially put out by the close knit, and generally suspicious, nature of the sex worker populations they aim to study. Whisper networks, bad date lists, and group chats are all tactics used to warn other workers of encroaching academics and journalists making the local/regional rounds via email, DM, etc. (Don’t ever pretend to book time with a sex worker for the purpose of asking them research questions. Screenshots of your messages will exist in perpetuity and you will forever be branded a time-waster and a dickhead.)
“I was just hoping to get your [unpaid] thoughts on [insert current existential threat here] as a sex worker. Also, if you could [do the work for me and] pass this along to anyone in your networks that might be interested, I’d greatly appreciate it.”
The snowball (chain, referral) sampling method of research is effective, when done properly and with appropriate consideration, but too many attempt to speedrun their way through it and find themselves facing down the unintended, opposite reaction. Confronted with this dilemma, or hoping to avoid it in the first place, the urge to do poor people cosplay might feel insurmountable. Surmount it anyway. Mount that bitch and ride it over Asshole Mountain because you will get caught. If you want to hit the pole or the stroll to legitimise yourself as an expert in your field, I have to imagine that leading with that will earn you greater respect and regard amongst your peers instead of outright lying. However, pretending to be part of an exclusive club, where membership guarantees you a lifetime of second-class citizenship, for personal gain is not just a shitty thing to do. It’s actively harmful and it’s the worst kind of exploitation. Taking advantage of a false sense of camaraderie and a manufactured shared oppression for personal gain, academic acclaim, or dubious expertise is a violation of the consent of the sex workers responsible for your success. It unequivocally makes you the asshole.
The urge to do poor people cosplay might feel insurmountable. Surmount it anyway. Mount that bitch and ride it over Asshole Mountain because you will get caught.
Despite never having participated in class drag, I can understand the impetus to do so, from either side. But while one side of the coin can best be classified as a survival tactic, the other can only be defined as manipulative. One act is, at worst, deeply irritating to everyone forced to endure it, both on and offline. The other is, at best, the commodification of another person’s worst experiences for material gain, reducing them to an anonymized collection of data points and/or traumatic anecdotes with little regard for their complex humanity.
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