‘I haven’t cried in years…’ It’s a phrase we’ve all heard, right?

I’m endeared by people who say it, often with a mix of embarrassment/confusion. ‘What’s up with that?’, they seem to say. ‘Why can’t I cry?’

Most of us would agree crying’s healthy. I, for one, wish I cried more. I can usually rely on shows like Drag Race and All Stars – where stories of overcoming adversity pop up in the middle of ridiculous, cartoon-like drama most episodes – to generate a few tears.

However, the overemphasis on Farrah Moan’s emotional state on this series of All Stars, by the show’s video editors, by the other queens, by fans, is generating a different emotion in me.

Namely, irritation.

Farrah does not ‘play up’ to being emotional. She whines. She complains. And she channels immaturity with tongue firmly in cheek, and to great comedic effect. She’s like an off-duty Disney Princess.

It’s a joke. It may not the type of highly researched, painfully over-rehearsed comedy of more calculated queens. But it works for her.

I think that’s why when Farrah (quite understandably) expressed genuine emotion after her talent show performance on this series went awry, and when her luck generally started to turn, eyes started theatrically rolling.

‘You cry when the wind blows’

I found her fellow queens telling her to buck up, rein it in and ’STOP CRYING!!!!’ uncomfortable to watch. How would you cope under that sort of pressure? How would anyone?

‘You cry when the wind blows,’ a follower told her this week.

‘No,’ the since-eliminated queen clapped back, savvy with hindsight. ‘I cried when I completely bombed a performance on national TV that I spent thousands of dollars on and hours and hours rehearsing for.’

Makes sense, doesn’t it?

’Since I left AS4,’ she added, ‘these girls have been crying every episode and no body [sic] is talking shit about it in their confessionals or online. Must be nice to get to freely feel your emotions on TV every episode without being called annoying.’

Why are Farrah’s emotions received differently to other queens? My theory – and it sounds preposterous, given the show’s about femme-praising – is that most people can’t resist a spot of femme-shaming, even those who should really know better.

The world of Drag Race and its fandom is not free from the same contamination of misogyny that permeates everything else. I enjoy the show more than I used to, but I still feel pretty ambivalent a lot of the time, not least when toxic masculinity seeps in via the bloodsport-like sense of competition.

Fortunately for her, this brutality is not a language Farrah speaks – and all power to her for that. *Crying face emoji*

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