We speak to two stars of Ru Paul’s Drag Race – Sharon Needles and Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 – about women, drag and looking like Britney

Text Michael Segalov

Drag queens often get a bad rep when it comes to being "good" feminists, with accusations that misogyny is rife within the gay male and drag communities. Words like “fishy” describe a queen who can pass as a biological woman, while gay culture is often critiqued for fetishizing masculinity above all else. Then you’ve got those who argue drag is just a parody of femininity, mocking women, both characteristics and the aesthetic; the butt of a joke made by men, in an arena that women often feel uninvited. Some argue that drag has nothing to do with the lived female experience. These queens can hang up their heels at the end of the night, an opportunity not afforded to women day to day. This will ring true for some, but there are plenty of of drag queens who claim that it’s the amazing women in their lives that inspired them to do drag, that drag is rather a deconstruction and a parody of the ridiculous image women are supposed to achieve, and that drag, most certainly, is for women too. We caught up with Sharon Needles and Alaska Thundefuck 5000, two of the world’s most infamous queens who made their name on Ru Paul’s Drag Race. As they put on makeup prior to a big Halloween party at Revenge in Brighton, we settled down to talk about women and drag.

Is there something innate in drag that’s misogynistic? It’s an accusation that gets levelled at the scene

Sharon Needles: It can be perceived as misogynistic, and I can understand why, but I don’t think there’s any drag queen who intends it to be. Most drag queens dress up as super women, as an over exaggeration of the female form, because we like women, usually powerful women. I think that’s why we are so over exaggerated; we are an amplification of the women who empowered us in our youth. The most powerful woman I know is my mother, and she doesn’t wear any make up at all. We’re exaggerating the western consumerist culture that happens to plague women more than men; and thank god, because it’s so much prettier. Alaska Thunderfuck 5000: If it’s a mockery of anything, it’s a mockery of consumerism, how absurd is it that right now, as we speak, I’m glueing pieces of plastic to my fingers. Why is this available in a store, why do we encourage people to do it? By exaggerating it and doing it as men, I think we can help highlight that this isn’t what makes a woman a woman. Take using “fishy” to describe a queen who looks like a biological woman – do you think that it’s important that drag says goodbye to these terms? Sharon Needles: No! Not at all! Drag queens are themselves a minority; groups like us all over the world have their own cliques, their own culture, language and phrases. Not all drag queens but certainly the ones who empowered me, are people who pushed buttons, and poked fun at society from Leigh Bowery, to Lady Bunny and Divine. I like socially impolite assholes, and these were my idols. We are drag queens; we’ve already been the butt of the joke, picked on for our whole lives. Our culture is ours, and it’s complicated, let’s fix the shit around us before turning on our phonetics. But doesn’t it create a perception that drag is merely mocking femininity? Alaska Thunderfuck 5000: Since I was a kid, I’ve always been skinny and frail framed. I felt powerless as a child, but I always saw so much power in femininity and female sexuality. I was always drawn to beautiful women. We don’t mock anything innate about femininity, but some of the trappings that come alongside. How have women in your life contributed to your drag? Alaska Thunderfuck 5000: I’m inspired by Divine certainly, oh, and Britney Spears. I look exactly like her. Please make sure you get that in the interview, I look 22 years old, and exactly like Britney. Sharon Needles: I think my mother deserves a name check too. Now mum didn’t teach me to how impersonate women; the last woman any drag queen would want to look like is my mother! But what we learn from our mothers is how to be powerful, strong bitches, and know how to get what we want. We both had pretty resilient mothers who’ve been through the wringer themselves. We learnt to be assertive.

“By exaggerating it and doing it as men, I think we can help highlight that this isn’t what makes a woman a woman”