Mainstream novelty: Examining the shifting visibility of drag performance

Abstract

This mixed-methods analysis seeks to understand the shifting visibility of drag performance in the wake of RuPaul’s Drag Race and increasing mainstream exposure. Using a publics/counterpublics framing popularized by Michael Warner, this work argues that RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a drag “public,” while drag at the local level has shifted from insular subculture to counterpublic. This shift is marked by both a new and different hierarchy of drag performance that has altered the drag scene on all levels. This hierarchy imposes standards and expectations about how drag, as an embodied art on the local level, “should” look which influences drag’s reception.