Reading is fun-da-mental: Queering queer ‘safe’ spaces within drag culture

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

6-2023

Abstract

This paper explores how the queer subcultural practice of ‘reading’ can pave the way for a more ontologically open way of being. Reading involves the trading of insults between two or more marginal subjects in ways that create comedic value by identifying and parodying representational norms. It reveals a radical politics of inclusion that rejects the idea of distinction that underpins subject formation, and thus repositions the subject in-between representations. Because reading usually occurs within the queer ‘safe’ space of drag culture, it can be seen to have a queering effect on ‘safe’ space. I illustrate these ideas through an analysis of the reading challenge that has become an anticipated part of the programming of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The challenge asks contestants to subvert their already subversive subject positions, to parody representational injustices, and to therefore demonstrate how reading can be ‘fundamental’ to realising the political promise of queer theory.

Keywords

Difference-in-itself, representation, reading, safe spaces, RuPaul’s Drag Race

Discipline

Gender and Sexuality | Reading and Language

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Feminist Media Studies

Volume

23

Issue

6

First Page

2514

Last Page

2529

ISSN

1468-0777

Identifier

10.1080/14680777.2022.2062411

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2022.2062411

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