I’ve talked about my journey into drag before, but we’re overdue for an update on Tony Fo-Hawk. Also I believe if we keep talking about drag, we’ll eventually drive home the idea that it’s not going away. Sorry not sorry, transphobes.
Being predominantly a burlesque performer, I know my audience consists of adults. That ends up being most of Tony’s audience too. However, under both identities, I’ve appeared at all-ages fan conventions to present panels on topics, like the history of skateboarding or feminism in cosplay. There’s no stripping, provocative dancing, or even cursing in those panels (although there was a photo of a skater flipping the bird that I forgot about). Professionalism as a performer is knowing your audience. The accusations of drag performers doing sexually-charged numbers in the presence of children are false and rooted in the homophobia and transphobia. Expressions of people’s gender and orientation are not lewd just because they’re different from the status quo.
A lot of us millennials were exposed to drag since we were kids. We grew up with Mrs. Doubtfire and Mulan. Bugs Bunny and Team Rocket dressed in drag for their schemes. As adolescents, we watched (sometimes in English class) Romeo+Juliet, which featured Mercutio wearing a dress AND lip syncing, and the Twelfth Night-inspired films, She’s The Man and Motocrossed. Would Shakespeare, an author whose works have become literal tropes, have to be removed from the high school curriculum? Slippery slopes accompany the mountains that people make out of mole hills.
I was first exposed to drag queens specifically (and not
just crossdressing characters) through an ad featuring Spice Girl impersonators
during a family trip to Las Vegas. I
thought they were women. While that
might just be my obliviousness, some kids are innocent enough to accept what
they see and move on. Others may bluntly
ask questions, but they’ll also accept the answers you give them.
It's not exactly drag, but when I lived
in Japan, I put together a closet cosplay
of Trunks from Dragonball Z to
teach the kids about Halloween.
On the subject of my obliviousness, I recently realized I was doing drag since I was 13. In fact, I did it in class. As a weird, unsocial (and undiagnosed autistic) kid, I opted to go solo on projects when given the option. Sometimes I needed another voice, and when I got to do a presentation on action sports for my freshman Social Studies class, I created a fellow commentator modeled after the skater-BMXer bro I never had in real life. Although the extent of my costuming was tucking my hair under a cap, I was playing with gender and looking back, I can tell that he’s the predecessor of Tony Fo-Hawk.
The idea of Tony having family friendly acts was something I considered, as I can’t always say that I do burlesque but want to share the fact that I am a performer. Plus friends who have kids or just aren’t night owls could see me at daytime events. I became more encouraged when I had a kid show up for my panel on skateboarding, titled “Tony Fo-Hawk’s Pro Skater Panel”, at All-con 2020 and enjoyed it. Then I learned about Karl Watson’s children’s book, My First Skateboard, and decided to read that if I ever got invited to do drag storytime.
Kimber Fox gave me that opportunity last year for Carrollton Pride’s drag storytime. I was super stoked
because I want to share my love of action sports with everyone. The kids were a great audience, and the
parents were equally entertained. The
experience had me thinking about coming up with more family-friendly routines
for Tony. It would challenge me to not
rely on stripping for an act. Of course,
Tony’s punk aesthetic makes picking songs a bit tricky, but as I’m still
keeping my performances to one every couple of months, I have time to
brainstorm.
According to some people,
Danny Fox-Trot and I should
be arrested for reading to kids.
Drag is for everyone. I’ve seen a couple of acts from kids who just enjoy dressing up and putting on a show, like my friends and I did when we pretended to be Spice Girls (and I later decided that I preferred learning boyband dances). No one is being forced to attend a drag show, and kids have phones and tablets to engage with if they had to be present with their parents. Back when I had to accompany my parents to their social events, I brought a book. Children are great at ignoring what’s around them.
These attacks on drag are part of a larger political game that basically supports the genocide of transgender folks. As these hateful lawmakers try to turn back the clock on civil rights, drag has become revolutionary and a way for more privileged members of the queer community, as well as allies, to share their support. We’re seeing musicians do that in Tennessee, which has already passed a drag ban (although guys in dresses could hardly be considered drag). Let’s not forget that two key figure of the Stonewall uprising were drag performers, Marsha P. Johnson and Stormé DeLarverie. We’ve been fighting since the beginning, and we’re not backing down.
