RuPaul’s Drag Race is an incredibly popular show, and is the only context many people have for drag as an art form – outside of homophobic and transphobic depictions they may see in other shows, often played as a joke, or fear-mongering stories in the news. That places the heavy burden of representing drag to the masses, squarely on the show’s shoulders. It also means that when Drag Race includes bigoted commentary or prompts, it has a disproportionate impact.
A noteworthy portion of drag queens are sex workers and trans people, often being both. Drag Race has a history of refusing to allow trans contestants to participate and of whorephobic commentary. This is not surprising given that RuPaul is the host, and he has always lacked sensitivity regarding these subjects.
Drag Race has a history of refusing to allow trans contestants to participate and of whorephobic commentary.
RuPaul first made a name for himself as a performer in the 80s and 90s – during a time of extreme struggle for the queer community, with Reagan, Thatcher and the HIV/AIDS epidemic – often in settings where he was surrounded by trans drag queens and those selling sex. He worked as a go-go dancer and has spoken candidly about how that included charging men to touch him while dancing. This kind of work which is adjacent to stripping, isn’t always viewed as sex work, is how many drag queens get into selling sex. RuPaul, however, seems to make a point of separating himself from those who did.
RuPaul has openly spoken about how he took the aesthetics of sex workers and added them to his drag, saying that he changed to “what I like to call, Black hooker drag”. Though he speaks about this in a positive way, following up with saying “I live for prostitutes,” he goes on to describe how once he “hit the big time” he switched his style again to something more ‘glamorous’. It is clear that to RuPaul, the experiences of so many drag queens selling sex to survive, is just something for him to monetize and throw away when it suits him. A fashion statement without any commitment to allyship. A costume.
In 1992, during his above mentioned “black hooker drag” era, RuPaul went onto Manhattan Cable to film a segment interviewing street based sex workers. The language used is dated, and was filmed before the term transgender had been broadly adopted, so trans women sex workers were often grouped together with cross-dressing men at the time using the same terminology. What is clear is that these street based sex workers were gender non-conforming people, many dressed in outfits very similar to the drag RuPaul wore for the segment, and that RuPaul finds it funny to ask them invasive questions about their worst experiences with clients.
RuPaul’s particular brand of whorephobia is not as overtly hateful as that of those who condemn sex workers as immoral or disgusting; instead it carries a veneer of positivity as a cover for exploitation. These insensitive comments towards and about sex workers were not due to simple ignorance or a lack of knowledge, since corrected and relegated to RuPaul’s past. Instead, they set the scene for a pattern of bigotry against sex workers which continues throughout his career to this day.
From the very beginning of Drag Race, episodes have been littered with whorephobic jokes. As early as season 2, the mockery of sex workers and lack of respect for the very real danger we face became the butt of the joke of an entire episode.
The episode is initially announced to have a theme of burlesque, which turns out is just to mask and sanitize that the tasks revolve around pole-dancing and street solicitation. RuPaul announces that the task for the episode involves earning as much money as possible, between the stage… and the streets. On stage, the task revolves around pole-dancing for tips from the all-male crowd, and on the streets the drag queens are “hustling” to sell cherry pie gift certificates. The queens spend the entire episode in what I can only describe as sex worker caricature costumes.
From the very beginning of Drag Race, episodes have been littered with whorephobic jokes.
As a sex worker, the entire episode is deeply uncomfortable to watch, from the reactions of the public on the streets to the obvious fear and discomfort of the contestants, who are then framed as not being confident enough for the show if they express that fear. Being visibly gender non-conforming on the street is a situation which puts many people in danger, and this is noted by Pandora Boxx who does an impression of what she assumes the thoughts are of the panicking bystanders by saying “Aaah! It’s a t----- girl, it’s a t-girl!” In 2010 when this show aired, RuPaul had made no progress at all from his insensitive and exploitative interviews from 1992 – except that it appeared he had removed the actual sex workers entirely.
However, it’s not quite true that RuPaul took the concept whilst getting rid of the sex workers; many Drag Race contestants are or have been sex workers themselves. Appearing on Drag Race, despite being a significant opportunity, was difficult for contestants to fund. To be on the show, performers have to provide their own wigs and outfits, all of which costs money. Some were sex workers long before appearing on Drag Race, like Willam Belli and others continued to sell sex to fund their appearances on the show, like Jiggly Caliente and Rock M. Sakura.
On top of the inappropriate tasks given to contestants, the constant jokes making reference to sex work feel all the more uncomfortable when we consider the struggles whilst selling sex that many of the queens had to hide to be on the show. Sakura recalled feeling embarrassed and lying that she was a full time queen rather than engaging in sex work whilst on Drag Race season 12. It’s no surprise that she would feel that way when RuPaul routinely compares contestants to street based sex workers in a mocking manner.
As recently as the current season of Drag Race, season 16, RuPaul is still seen making these whorephobic jokes. He jokes “don’t tell me you’re a stranger to working the sidewalk” to Sapphira Cristal, after telling her to “work it” while asking her to pose for the photo challenge. Later that same episode, Michelle Visage reacts to a runway look with the comment, “fashion model reveal to… whore”. These are not one-off incidents, and watching any season of Drag Race will demonstrate that.
Something that is important to note is that many of the contestants make these jokes themselves, or use terms like “prostitute” or “hoe” or “hooker” to describe how they look in drag. In many cases, these drag queens later open up about having been sex workers. When I hear a queen on Drag Race make one of these kinds of comments, I tend to give them grace and assume they are making these comments as a member of the community themselves. The problem arises when someone like RuPaul, who has the power in the situation, use the topic in a way that is deliberately insulting or embarrassing to those who take the financial risk to appear on Drag Race.
These are not one-off incidents, and watching any season of Drag Race will demonstrate that.
I can already hear the arguments some people will make in defense of RuPaul, such as ‘he may not use the right language but his heart is in the right place’. My response to that is simple; if he means what he says about supporting sex workers, why is it that the only terms we hear him use are derogatory, and why is it that the queens who go on his show don’t feel comfortable talking about their sex work, current or historical?
The problem becomes all the more stark when we compare the US Drag Race, to versions of the franchise with other hosts. Like Drag Race France or Canada or Mexico or Philippines, and see how much better they are at just not treating their contestants this way. Jiggly Caliente going on to judge on Drag Race Philippines, after speaking out about her experiences in sex work, is amazing progress for the franchise! And something RuPaul likely had a say in, though he cannot be given credit for her success. One of the best things about the other Drag Race franchises, after all, is RuPaul’s absence.
Of course, it is not only selling sex that RuPaul has made contestants feel like they have to hide. In 2018, RuPaul stated that he would “probably not” allow a trans contestant on the show who had medically transitioned. He clarified further that he felt coming out as trans would not disqualify someone, but that procedures like breast augmentation were an issue. Soon after, due to the backlash, he took this back and apologized. Many drag queens came out in the aftermath of this, discussing their experiences halting their transitions for Drag Race, or staying closeted for longer so that they could compete.
Trans women had competed before, though covertly. It was Peppermint coming out on her season, that prompted RuPaul to share his opinions about trans people on the show. Though he was vague at the time and commenting broadly about trans people, it was clear the statements were aimed at trans women specifically. Until season 7, an anti-trans slur was used as a play on the word “e-mail” despite many complaints. So this wasn’t his first controversy related to transphobia.
In the following years, many more openly trans women and non-binary queens joined the cast of the show, emboldened by RuPaul’s promise that he intended to include them following his public apology. Eventually, this also lead to the inclusion of transmasculine contestants. RuPaul gave his reason for including trans men in Drag Race as being that he was following the lead of the new generation who keep “changing” drag. Trans men doing drag is nothing new and really isn’t a change, but we’ll take inclusion where we can get it!
In the following years, many more openly trans women and non-binary queens joined the cast of the show, emboldened by RuPaul’s promise that he intended to include them following his public apology.
Gottmik was the first openly trans man to appear on Drag Race, in season 13. Two years later, for season 4 of Drag Race Canada, Denim became the second. The inclusion of trans men in Drag Race sparked extensive online debate, much of it filled with transphobia, yet season 13 of Drag Race treated Gottmik with respect and did not sensationalize her trans identity. Conversations were left in about pronouns, using she/her for trans men in drag in the same way she/her was used for the cis men in drag on the show, and though trans men were a late addition there didn’t seem to be quite the same bumpy road as there had been with RuPaul’s treatment of trans women.
Throughout the time Drag Race has been airing, progress has been made for both trans representation and discussions about sex work, though one more than the other. My frustration is not aimed solely at RuPaul, but at the fact that RuPaul’s Drag Race is so often the focus when speaking about drag at all. There are many amazing trans performers, drag kings and queens, queens who are open about their history with sex work, and artists who are wonderful allies and don’t feel the need to drop slurs into their acts for shock value.
RuPaul is not the queen of drag, he’s just a drag queen. There are many who are just as talented as he is, and more. We don’t have to look to someone so willfully flawed to provide us with all the trans and sex worker positive drag ever. Trans sex workers have been doing drag for a long time, we simply need to pay attention.
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