"Obviously drag has different intentions and my drag has always been about gender illusion." Credit:John Davis How painful is that? It's all relative because there are so many other things going on. To me it doesn't feel painful as I've been doing it for 18 years. The most painful parts are the high heels, which can become unbearable. Then I tuck, which is turning my male genitals into something that will look female under a swimsuit Yes! How do you do that? I can't get my head – or balls – around it. [Laughs] If you're born with testicles, they descend from a cavity inside into the scrotum. They go back up there when you're cold, scared or if you're lying on your back when you ejaculate.

So when you tuck they're not being pulled behind? No, that would hurt when you sit down. They sort of just pop up, almost between your skin and pelvis bone. It's natural and doesn't hurt. Then the penis goes between the legs. If I'm wearing a swimsuit or anything revealing, I use two kinds of tape: a delicate paper surgical tape from the pharmacy so nothing slips out the side, and another tape from Bunnings to take things from front to back and snatch it all away. I love knowing part of your glamour relies on equipment from a hardware store. It does! You identify as somewhere towards the middle of the gender spectrum. At the same time, many people insist there are only two genders.

There's biological sex, which is made up of not just external genitals, but your chromosomes and hormones. But when we talk of gender, they're the agreed ideas that societies have for how the sexes should behave. If you look around the world, we see there are completely different expectations for men and women. Times change. People who cling rigidly to gender binaries are more than welcome to. But for a lot of young people, we're seeing that our gender roles don't have to be dictated by a set of rules made by society. We can do whatever feels natural to us. SEX Did you feel you had the education you needed to equip you for the world of sex? When it came to having sex with men, there was no education. There were no queer role models, no gay role models, no gay people on television. Nothing. Did that mean you had to feel your own way through?

When I first had sex with a man, I was 18 and I thought, "Well, I'm not going to get pregnant, and he's not going to pregnant, so we obviously don't need condoms." It was friends who had to tell me, "Ah, there are things other than babies you can catch from having sex without a condom." You've gone from someone who was quite naïve about sexual health to a sex educator on social media. How did that happen? I felt it was incumbent on me to understand and educate others. I was always hungry for information and wanted to know more. On the American reality TV series RuPaul's Drag Race, you mentioned that you'd had sex in and out of drag. What is it like to have sex in drag? I've seen attraction manifest itself in so many fascinating ways. Lots of straight-identifying men have been attracted to me as Courtney. I've also had experiences as Shane with men who identify as straight. I've had boyfriends I've dated whom I met as Courtney, but then dated as Shane. Courtney can certainly act as a glamorous stepping stone across the pond.

DEATH Run me through your will. Who gets your drag? I wrote it so long ago that I can't remember who gets what. Different people have put dibs on my good human-hair wigs. Possibly, one day – if I keep on this trajectory – there could be a costume exhibition. If there was a legacy prize set up in your honour, where would you want that money to go? Education. Something for young queer people who can't afford the education they want. Or it could be about gender and sexual education at large, through different organisations. Many gay organisations focus on liberating gender and sexuality minorities in places where people aren't afforded the same privileges we are in the West. Right now, there are more than 30 Commonwealth countries where it's effectively illegal to be gay, and in one of them you can be put to death.

Are you scared of death? As I get older, I'm more comfortable with the idea of dying. I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in a heaven or afterlife. I believe that once I die, that's it. How do you want to be sent off? Buried in a cardboard box under a tree. Whatever has the least environmental impact. Just return me to the earth. A party would also be fun. diceytopics@goodweekend.com.au