Findings and Discussion
Each of the queens within this documentary are performers. In some fashion and to some degree they invest their identities into their performance of drag, fashion, and voguing. Much like these art forms with which these individuals engage, they are performers of their diverse linguistic repertoires. Through their language, they are able to index multiple identities at once, including those of being queer individuals and being people of color. Rusty Barrett describes in Indexing Polyphonous Identity in the Speech of African American Drag Queens (1999) how black drag queens are able to perform their language in such a way that it indexes multiple identities at once, and that the techniques by which these queens accomplish this performance are often greater than the sum of their parts. Nonetheless, it is still significant to see how these pieces function in the scope of the overall context of drag and ballroom culture in order to comprehend how they collectively contribute to these queens’ performances, both artistic and linguistic.
PHONOLOGICAL ITEMS
SIBILANCE PRODUCTION
Through the typical progression of how linguistics divides language, from the phoneme-level to a more pragmatic and discursive interpretation, we can begin to find items that index the identities of these drag queens that exist in the phonology of their speech. One of the most well-documented and described of these items is that of sibilant production. Erez Levon in Sexuality in Context: Variation and the Sociolinguistic Perception of Identity (2007) demonstrates that sibilant length is an effective marker for gay-male speech. Additionally, Kathryn Campbell-Kibler shows in Intersecting Variables and Perceived Sexual Orientation in Men (2011) how /s/-fronting is a salient marker of gay-male speech in individuals. Campbell-Kibler also demonstrated that these productions were perceived as less “masculine” than other productions of /s/.
In the context of the analysis of this documentary, the presence of this “gay lisp” is present amongst each of the individuals in question. This comes as no surprise due to ballroom culture’s origins in the queer community. The sibilance production of these performers is a clear marker of their queer identities; however, how does this feature function in relation to their ethnic identities? Elaine Chun describes how AAVE is often employed amongst other ethnic groups in order to project an image of masculinity (2001), thus associating AAVE with masculinity. Of the six individuals in from Paris is Burning featured in this analysis, four of them are black individuals. It might be presumed that their access to AAVE would provide them with the ability to call upon the masculinity that is associated with this variety. However, Campbell-Kibler explains that the “gayer” a speaker seems, the less they appear to be masculine. Since the sibilance production of /s/ apparently has a blocking element on the perception of masculinity in speakers, we can attempt to understand how this process is featured within the documentary.
In general, the black performers in question actually embrace this effect of lower-perceived masculinity. Pepper LaBeija and Octavia St. Laurent are both black drag queens who engage with the ballroom scene in categories that often require competitors to present as femininely as possible. Octavia also explains at length that she identifies as a woman and that “I fully hope to become a full-fledged woman of the United States”. As such, we can see how these performers are able to navigate, employ (or not), and embrace certain features of phonological system to present a specific image or identity that they wish to acquire
PRAGMATIC DEVICES
"READING"
“Now you wanna talk about reading?
Let’s talk about reading.”
- Venus Extravaganza
One of the hallmarks of ballroom culture is the dance form of voguing. Outside of drag and general ballroom practice, voguing is a cultural practice that has since entered the mainstream consciousness with references in pop-culture such as Malcolm McLauren’s music video for Deep in Vogue (1989), in which Willi Ninja is featured, as well as Madonna’s Vogue (1990). Willi Ninja describes in the documentary that, “Voguing came from shade because it was a dance that two people did because they didn't like each other”. This calls to attention the practice of shade, which exists as a derived form of the speech act of reading. Dorian Corey’s analysis of these concepts within the documentary is featured in the following video:
Corey’s description of reading provides insight into how this ritualistic insulting functions within the ballroom community and larger queer community in general. Patrick Johnson in Snap! Culture: A Different Kind of “Reading” defines the practice of reading as having two roles, one serious and one playful. Johnson explains that the serious role of reading functions to put someone in their place, while the playful one exists as a form of ritualistic insulting. Dorian Corey clearly describes the divide between these two types in how the more serious role is used more when queer individuals interact with straight people. This can be seen with the statement,
“If it's happening between the gay world
and the straight world, it's not really a read.
It's more of an insult, a vicious slur fight”
This linguistic strategy has clear ties to other minority groups that perform ritual insults, notably in this context – black communities. The benefit of this practice in marginalized communities is described by Carmen Fought in Language and Ethnicity, in which she states that, “humor can be used as a way of fighting, subverting, or at least drawing attention to social injustice” (2006). Since a majority of the performers and individuals seen throughout the documentary belong to the both the black and queer communities, the rise of this form of ritual insult can be seen as a type of defense mechanism against individuals and institutions, as well as asserting intimacy when performed in a playful role
Fought also explains that ritual insults draw their significance from recurring themes within the community such as poverty. Another theme that has a highly significant role in the ballroom community is that of drag, and as such, individuals can often be “read” for the quality or style of their drag. This is apparent when Dorian describes that reading often involves finding a flaw to highlight in another’s appearance, such as their tacky clothes. It is also visible when Freddie Pendavis reads another individual for wearing too much makeup. Dorian Corey makes the point that,
"[I]f I'm a black queen and you're a black queen, we can't
call each other black queens, 'cause we're both black queens.
That's not a read, that's just a fact.”
This provides insight into how members of both communities of color and the queer community must navigate this practice of ritualistic insulting. Dorian Corey asserts that a read must highlight some component that is not overtly obvious. Additionally, the reader must not hold the same quality for which they are reading another. The preference for reading someone based upon their physical appearance, rather than upon the identities that the individual holds, is also present in the production of Venus Xtravaganza. In this interaction, she reads another for being “an overgrown orangutan”. This interaction is met with laughter and pertains much more to the playful role that Johnson describes than the serious function of reading. Finally, we see Pepper LaBeija reading a group of (presumably) straight individuals. This interaction aligns with how Johnson portrays the more serious role of reading, as the group is fairly silent at the beginning of the interaction. Shortly after, Pepper takes a more playful approach to reading the group, calling specific individuals her “sister”, “cousin”, and “girlfriend”. This once again plays into the role of reading acting as a defense mechanism for the people featured within this documentary, as well as drawing attention to social injustice.