Rawr.

giftedboi:

xxboy:

immolatedsquid:

genderqueer:

xxboy:

…The festivities pit guys like “beefcake urban cowboy” Tuck Mayo, “facemask-wearing” Sawyer Scissor, and barber Khane Kutzwell against one another in categories such as talent, swimsuit, and realness.

(I hope the “realness” category doesn’t mean what I think it means — passing.)

Re: Genderqueer: I attended the event, and I’m not sure what happened, but they never mentioned the realness category, and they finally presented an award for “Mr. Congeniality/Realness” that they then referred to as “Mr. Congeniality” (which they gave to Princess Tiny and the Meets, who wore a dress and another lace ensemble that did not lend themselves to a passing award). I’m guessing that they figured out that it was going to be a problem and did away with it.

i’m pretty sure the “realness” was an homage to the vogue-esque drag ball culture of the 1980s. realness was one of the categories in the balls, which were high-glam pageants of sort for drag queens. so i don’t think it had to do with “passing” in the heterosexist/cis world, but was more of a nod to the trans pageants of the past.

PS i know about this from watching Paris is Burning, an amazing documentary. Check it out y’aaalll.

I’m 99% certain that “realness” in this context is in the sense of the balls (frankly, I rarely hear it outside that context, with the notable exception of bad first novels).
Balls historically are gay events, but in the WASP-y version of sexuality, they’d probably be best described as “queer” events, and they still go on all over the country. Part of why Paris is Burning is so recognised is because of the whole voguing -> Benny Ninja -> Madonna connection, and - as you well know - the 80s were a fabulous time for strutting around in crazy things :-)

(If you’re interested in drag ball culture, I would also recommend Gay New York by George Chauncey and Imagining Transgender by David Valentine, both of which are quite good and discuss drag balls at length.)

I’ve seen Paris is Burning, but it’s still highly problematic in that context. I agree that it was “a nod to the trans pageants of the past”, but the trans pageants of the past used realness as a category signifying adherence to heterosexual cisgendered norms. In the film, when they showed the two women (who were transgendered and lived their lives as female, and were not drag queens who were imitating women for that night, like many of the others) competing in the realness category, the competition was entirely based on who could pass better as a cisgendered woman. The crestfallen look on the face of the woman who lost because she didn’t look “convincing” enough in her gender is a good enough reason to do away with the category, IMO.