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Abstract

Despite its burgeoning popularity in recent years, “drag queen” is a relatively new concept to the Thai public. This qualitative study aims to investigate how the meaning of drag queens in Thailand is being constructed through their narratives and to look into how being drag queens affects their lives, especially regarding the experience of discrimination and abuse. Ten professional drag queens, aged 19 to 34, who based their activities in Thailand, were interviewed via phone calls in semi-structured in-depth interviews. Two participants identified as transwomen, while eight identified as gay. The interview recordings were transcribed, and the transcripts were analyzed with a hybrid approach of theoretical and inductive thematic analysis. The participants regarded drag as a form of artistic expression through physical bodies and described four important characteristics of drag queens that they had been constructing through their performativity: (1) the performing element, (2) transformation, (3) over-the-top quality, and (4) individuality. Sexuality was discussed as an important factor in being recognized as a drag queen, with the majority of participants supporting transwomen’s inclusion. The participants’ experiences related to being drag queens were grouped into seven themes: (1) happiness from being drag queens, (2) investing in drag, (3) family acceptance, (4) love lives, (5) discrimination and abuse, (6) drag queens’ limited space, and (7) Thai people’s attitude towards drag queens. Many participants had been rejected by their parents because of their sexuality and/or because they had become drag queens, but all had reconciled prior to the data collection for this study. Most gay participants experienced difficulty in establishing romantic relationships, in which femmephobia seemed to be at play. Despite acknowledging the growing, yet still limited, acceptance from the public in recent years, the participants reported discrimination and verbal harassment against them or their peers in public spaces. Drag queens, by transforming themselves between men and women and combining both masculinity and femininity in their performances, arguably challenge the conventional definition of sexuality and the concept of gender binary. They also seem to challenge the meaning of other sexualities whose definitions have been constructed by expressions of masculinity and/or femininity, especially the traditional concept of gay men.

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