Gentlemen Start Your Engines: Gendered Aesthetics and the Structural Misogyny of Rupaul's Drag Race

Abstract

This dissertation explores the approach to gender equality in RuPaul’s Drag Race [RPDR] and the broader implications that this has for drag as an artform through exploration of the Neoliberal values of reality television and the policing of the female presenting body. For the sake of producing a concise argument as well as relevance to the gender debate the sources used will be in reference to North America, the UK, and European franchises of RPDR. The female voice is lost in the realm of drag media and the slowly emerging representation of cisgender female competitors in the UK, Europe, and Canada has caused great controversy. This, coupled with the advancing global political shift towards the right, suggests that now is the right time to conduct this research on the policing of the female and female presenting body both in and out of drag.