About the project: While this anthology is centered on “bio”-women performing gay male drag (the faux queen) it also encompasses all the diverse women who are performing drag: faux queens, bio queens, femme dragsters, high femme drag, burlesque performers, transgender women, and many others. While we have been in the drag community for quite some time, we are only just now beginning to emerge, impact, and fashion our spaces in discourses of drag, gender performance/identity, and queer consciousness. The faux queen anthology will engage with all aspects of women performing drag and highlight our diverse voices and our unique experiences within it: our personal definitions, our relationships (or lack-off) with drag queens, our lived and/or academic theories, our immaculate drag persona’s, and our insatiable need to be surrounded in excess and all things rhinestone and sparkly. As well as touching upon the not-so-glamorous side by considering questions pivotal to the faux and drag community: is there something deeper that we as bio women need to understand before we proclaim, “I want to be a drag queen” and/or claim our place in drag? What does our emergence in the world of drag mean for the drag queen? Are drag queens mimicking women or performing something else entirely? Is it necessary to be a lesbian and/or queer in order to perform drag? Is there a difference between transwomen performing drag and a “bio”-female’s performance of drag? Our goal is that this anthology ignites a dialogue that bridges us to one another, introduces us into discourses of gender performativity and gender identity, and ultimately deepens our connection to the fabulously flawless world of drag.
Who: We are looking for faux queens and women performers of drag including, but not limited to: bio-queens, female-female impersonators, high femme dragsters, burlesque, and transgender women. If you are a female performing as a drag queen or in “woman” drag, we want to hear from you!
What we are looking for: Everything!! From personal experiences/stories to academic theories of female performances of drag to those lived theories that you as individuals live day in and day out—anything that has impacted you in the world of drag. Some ideas could be:
- Personal stories and essays on why/how you came to drag
- Why you chose (or not) to identify as a faux queen
- Why you chose the identifier that you did to describe your performance of drag
- What does drag mean to you? How would you define the drag that you do?
- Poetry
- What does being a faux queen mean to you?
- How have you been perceived by the drag community? Do the drag queens in your area embrace what you do?
- Your experiences in the drag community
- Some of the reactions to your performances
- Funny stories: the craziest thing that’s happen to you on/off stage
- Favorite performances
- Is there a difference between burlesque drag and drag queen drag?
- Is faux queen more than a performance for you, i.e., do you have to perform as a faux queen in order to identify as one?
- Who are your favorite queens? Biggest influences?
- Tips for those new to the world of the drag. To the world of the faux. Best advice?
- Has your acceptance within the drag community changed as a transwoman?
- Can/is the desire to be a drag queen for the “bio”-female a transgender space? Why or why not?
- The first time you heard, read, or saw the term faux queen used
- Do you have a drag mother? If so, how did that relationship come about?
These are all just ideas to get your creative drag juices flowing! Please don’t limit yourselves with this list! We want your experiences, your creativity, and your words. We would also love pictures of your performances, your drag mother, your first time in drag . . . send it all! (But please don’t forget to include your name—drag or real—and some detail about the pictures.) Please forward this call for submissions to any and every one you think would be interested.
Anthology information: Publication date will be 2013 with a to-be-determined publisher. We will keep you posted on the project status.
Submission Guidelines: Open until closed. Please include a short bio of yourself along with any pictures and/or any other fun stuff your drag heart desires! .
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For inquiries: send any questions, comments, and/or ideas to
baskyy@fauxqueens.com
For submissions: e-mail your submissions to submissions@fauxqueens.com or mail them to The Faux Queen Anthology, PO Box 195212, Dallas, TX 75219
Website: www.fauxqueens.com
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