Zamora 1

Yesenia Zamora
Professor Beadle
English 115
December 6, 2016
Gender Expectations are such a DRAG
In and out of media, men have certain expectations and criteria that society expects them
to meet. Out of the media and in normal society, from a young age boys are taught to be tough, to
play with masculine toys, to not show any kind of weakness, and to not be feminine. In the
media men are either set to portray powerful business men with successful careers, or shown to
appeal to a feminine audience with sexualizing their bodies and being praised for looking tough
and masculine. But in certain instances these ideals for media representation are broken. Danny
Noriegas photo spread for Queen Magazine as his alter ego Adore Delano, breaks out of
traditional masculine portrayals and steps on new ground to break gender norms in the media.
As a successful Drag musician who first appeared as his male self on American Idol in
2008, Danny gained popularity in 2014 as the charismatic drag queen Adore Delano on Rupauls
Drag Race season 6. Danny Noriega reveals in the documentary This is Drag by Mark Kenneth
Woods that: Drag for me is like almost a super hero mask when I was younger, I would wear
makeup after being bullied when I was younger and it made me feel like another person
(Woods). With this Danny was able to embrace his femininity and creativity which isnt easily
achieved when being his male self. Danny felt that his creativity stemmed out so much to be
bottled up into one gender, and it makes him feel liberated to be something/ someone else for a
change instead of living life normally through societies boxed ideas of what a man should be.

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Danny Noriegas ideals come to life in his photo shoot for Queen Magazine. Breaking
away from the average male photo shoot such as showing a savvy professional business man or a
handsome sex symbol, and stepping down from the clich media half naked photo-shoots, Danny
instead appears in full makeup, with his hair done up, and dressed in elegant gowns. This Photo
Spread gives the audience the full illusion of a typical elegant woman. In the imagery and color
scheme the photo shoot sets up the mood to show what isnt always quite seen in any type of
shoot, male or female. Set in cool colors of different hues of blue and purples it gives the shoot a
stern and sophisticated drive to go along the elegant and powerful concept done for this
shoot. Dannys photo spread is visually being used to show the growth one can make when being
watched by a larger audience, and that even when being a punk rock symbol ones individuality
can break away from sexualized media. Danny chose to show a mature and statuesque version of
himself and his self-growth as opposed to his messier punk drag looks. The photo shoot has
Danny as Adore in two different gowns to show a beautiful feminine figure on a six-foottall man, dripped in jewels from his head down to his body embodying a luxurious woman. This
photo-shoot exposes to its target audience that female characteristics can be a form of art,
growth, and creativity in ones self by breaking out of traditional masculine portrayals by using
the art of drag to embrace a males feminine characteristics.
Not long ago the concept of masculinity has found itself as a focus in the gay
community. Male gays althoughcategorizedas a whole, it contains its own subcultures. One
being the tabooest and less looked upon, the Drag community. The Drag community consist
ofcisgenderand transgendered individuals who perform and entertainwithinthe community as
drag queens or kings. Mostly found at late hours of thenightperforming in gay nightclubs, Drag
performers impersonate the opposite gender, performingexaggerated characteristics and features

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of that gender through musical, comical, and theatrical shows. Although being well known for
its creativeness it is still highly looked down upon. Dominance and masculinity is looked for and
praised within the gay community just as it is in society in general. The idea of dominance shows
how reinforced the stereotype of the ideal man is in any type of community. Stereotypes of the
ideal man begins to notify the world that no matter what type of person you are, if you identify
as male there is some certain criteria youd have to meet. This concept in the gay community has
its own name, categorized as straight-acting. Which in the LGBTQ+ community straightacting is one who does not show the typical appearance or mannerisms found within the gay
community. In The Association Between Gay Men's Stereotypic Beliefs AboutDrag Queens
Their EndorsementofHyper masculinity by CJ Bishop, Mark Kiss, Todd Morrison, Damien
Rushe, and Jaqueline Specht pinpoints the concepts consequences: "A masculine disposition
("straight acting") and anti-feminine attitudes have become desirable traits among some members
of the gay community (Clarkson, 2006). As a result, drag queens have yet to experience the same
level of acceptanceas "straight-acting" gay men; indeed, some have expressed feeling minimized
and discounted by a gay community that now seemingly prefersmasculineideals (555). Further
showing the reader that the community lately leans more towards a more masculine and strong
type of man versus one who is more flamboyant and feminine. Also that no matter the kind of
category, people are constantly looking for a masculine figure to look up to and be like. Relating
to Danny Noriegas shoot as someone who is highly ranked in the gay community he goes
against both heterosexual and homosexual ideals for men and expresses the flamboyance that is
looked down upon. Danny breaking away from these new founded roles may impact others in the
gay community who wish to not follow a manly role and break away from the fear of femininity.

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Society has been impacted to gain a fear of having any type of feminine features and/or
characteristics which begin to causea situation calledFemi-negativity. Femi-negativity makes
society think that anything associated with femininity is bad or isnt up to par with concepts
associated with being a man or masculine. This quote from No Way My Boys Are Going To be
Like That: Parents Responses toChildren'sGender Nonconformity" by Emily Kane touches on
parents anti-feminine views on their sons: "Along with these icons of feminine gender
performances, and arguably directly linked to them, is the other clear theme evidentamongsome
parents' negative responses toperceivedgendernonconformityon the part of their sons: fear that
a son either would or would beperceivedas gay." (96). This quote givesas example that before a
young boy can decipher whether or not he is gay, there is a fear brought upon from early age
showing that hyper masculinity needs to be practiced. Evenwithinthe gay community, holding
onto ideals from the heterosexual community begins to create more barriers for the men who
come out as homosexual and do not want to be overlooked as more feminine apart from being
gay. It begins to start a never ending cycle of having a negative aspect on the idea
offemininityand trying to make it purely a manly mans world. Looking at Becoming
Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender " by Aaron Devor we see that:
Societydemandsdifferentgender performances from us and rewards, tolerates, or punishes us
differentlyfor conforming to, or digression from, social norms" (35). If one strays away
from following this masculine identity, they are held onto to certain consequences. Just as Danny
Noriega states about being bullied, everyone is sought to be the way gender is represented in the
media such as what they red or see. Traditional portrayals seal in a dangerous environment for
those who do not wish to practice thee norms and stray away from defined gender definitions.

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There are various benefits to having a set of traditional roles in the media on gender,
allowing others to seek and act upon the ideals tese masculine roles give out. Masculine roles
should not be forced upon and punished into our society for only men. Gendred xpectations are
becoming a concept thats learned and absorbed through every generation. Following up into the
article Advertising-induced Social Comparison and Body-image Satisfaction: The Moderating
Role of Gender, Self-esteem and Locus of Control by HaroldOgden, we learn why society tends
to follow one another on these bias ideals: " According to the original social comparison theory,
human beings have a drive to evaluate their opinions and abilitiesthroughcomparisonswith
others, especially in the absence of objective standards" (52), showing that thesestraightacting
gay men act and present themselves in this light of amanlyman in order to compare
themselves within the views that heterosexual men are looked up to be, and use this to disregard
flamboyant and expressive gay males the way heterosexual men might do to women or to gay
men. Looking at a community that is built on being prideful and different is still stuck on longestablished social patters and have adjusted it to become their own norms. Impacts such as
Dannys photoshoot which strays away from what other males specifically gay males are doing
acts as a stand against these ideals. Dannys actions act as a voice and figure for other men gay or
straight who do not want to conform to traditional roles and embrace all types of expressions
without labeling them to a certain specific gender.
Although running along those lines of teachings there isnt much truth to them. Between
all these new ideals, flexibility in gender, and its vast spectrum, even those who do not meet
these masculine requirements have begun to make a difference. Even though the drag subculture
and its femininity in the media is looked down upon by both the heterosexual and its very own
homosexual community it has always sought to shed light on various topics. Now becoming a

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part of the main stream its fulfils impacts from within and outside of its own community. Thanks
to the platform such asRupaul'sdrag race and social media, Drag has now made it into the main
stream and educating the viewers around the world about the beauty of drag, self-love, and
acceptance. This acceptance being welcomed by family, one's self, or your very own community.
With Danny Noriegas photo shoot as Adore Delano can show that there is no reason to forcibly
benefit from traditional roles, and be able to find fluidity in the spectrum of masculinity and
femininity which doesnt have to be foreign within society. We as people should learn that there
does not have to be a black and white category where one category one ups the other. Everyone
should be able to feel free and comfortable to express themselves without being categorized with
a certain gender due to traditional portrayals shown in the media.

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Work Cited
Bishop, CJ, Mark Kiss, Todd G Morrison, Damien M Rushe, and Jaqueline Specht. The
Association Between Gay Mens Stereotypic Beliefs About Drag Queens and Their
Endorsement of Hyper masculinity. Journal of Homosexuality, 61.4, 2014, pp. 554-567.
Web.
http://www.tandfonline.com.libproxy.csun.edu/doi/pdf/10.1080/00918369.2014.865464?
needAccess=true
Devor Aaron. Becoming Members of Society: The Social Meaning of Gender. Composing
Gender, edited by Rachel Grenor and John F. OHara, Bedford St Martins 2014, pp. 3543
Kane, W. Emily. No Way My Boys Are Going to Be Like That: Parents Responses to Children
Gender Non conformity. Composing Gender, edited by Rachel Grenor and John F.
OHara, Bedford St Martins, 2014, pp. 91-97
Ogden, Harold. Advertising-induced Social Comparison and Body-image Satisfaction: The
ModeratingRole of Gender, Self-esteem and Locus of Control. Journal of Consumer
Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 15, 2002, pp. 51-67. Web.

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http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/204706840/fulltextPDF/5A3BCC5655654
0B7PQ/1?accountid=7285
Woods, Mark Kenneth, Noriega, Danny. Director. This is Drag. OutTV. 2015
Queen.zine, If you think you've seen the last of the stunning @brianziff photos of our cover girl
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and check out our new specials! *LINK IN BIO*. Photographer: @brianziff Make up:
@mynxiiwhite Wardrobe: @riowarner Hair: @helluerrr. January 3, 2016. Instagram