Wanna hang with royalty tomorrow night? Sure you do! We suggest you sashay on over to
Webster University's
Winifred Moore Auditorium at 8 p.m. and check out close-up look at drag culture in St. Louis. The flick,
Royally Genderfucked, is directed by Miya Norfleet-Aiken and Sarah Williams and screens as part of the
St. Louis International Film Festival. It's a great movie, and the crowd is sure to be lots of fun.
Taking in this intimate peek into the world of St. Louis drag culture
can't help but inspire viewers to consider investing in Ace bandages and
prosthetic facial hair. The short documentary follows a half-dozen
local dragsters, both kings and queens (men and women get equal time,
which is refreshing), through their fabulous lives.
Viewers get
to sit in backstage as penises are tucked, breasts are taped and fake
cocks and balls are packed into pants. Of course, there's plenty of
vamping to Lady Gaga onstage, too.
A particularly brilliant
technique has the subjects out of drag and talking about why they
perform on half a split screen while their onstage performances fill the
other half. Some drag royals go for complete impersonation of the other
gender, and some prefer the provocation of being not quite either.
"One of the things I like about drag is it has a tendency to fuck with people," one of the kings says. Hear, hear!