RuPaul’s Drag Race has had us living our best lives since 2009. This legendary show helped open the door of drag, LGBTQ+, and black queer culture for the mainstream to glimpse into the conventions, habits, rituals, and attitudes of these fabulous subcultures.
For those not (yet) familiar with Drag Race, the show is centred around a line-up of drag queens, who compete for the crown of America’s Next Drag Superstar. Singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, and most importantly, sewing skills will be put to the test. And it’s not just fans who love it; the groundbreaking show has garnered four Emmys over the last 10 years.
Drag Race has become a cultural snowball as well, influencing everyday language and internet behaviour and actually dictating a large part of mainstream culture today. The vocabulary used by drag queens came from as far back as drag balls in the 1890s, after decades of intermixing of language, slang, and subcultures. By the time the infamous drag documentary Paris is Burning started their seven-year filming, drag culture was already a firmly established subculture with a vibrant history and a particular vocabulary. Don’t believe us? Check out these unforgettable sayings that were popularised by RuPaul’s Drag Race!