The cosmetics and outfit are pretty self-explanatory, but the duct tape might need some clarification.
“Women don’t have male genitalia. In order to go with the feminine stereotype, we sort of have to tuck,” said Blake Danford, 17, a Fullerton high school student. “It’s not a very comfortable experience. It’s kind of like wearing a wig; you just get over it after a while. It just kind of stops bothering you.”
And when you’re performing in front of hundreds of people, getting “over it” is kind of required.
While Danford is not doing everyday high school activities, he is on stage as the drag queen Miss Rhea Sunshyne.
“A lot of people don’t understand what drag is, especially in mainstream culture,” Danford said.
To put it simply, a drag queen is a man who dresses up as woman to perform. Danford added that many people don’t understand why some men choose this lifestyle.
But Yovanne Villanueva, 21, a biochemistry major at Cal State Fullerton, said he knows why.
“Drag queens are basically all little attention whores,” said Villanueva.
Villanueva performed as Mistress V with Miss Rhea Sunshyne at a drag show that took place last month.
The drag queen lifestyle isn’t exactly a shy one.
“If you dress up in high glam from head to toe and step out on stage in front of hundreds of people, then you’re not doing it to hide,” Danford said.
It isn’t easy, either.
“It takes a real man to dress in drag because it’s so difficult,” Villanueva said.
But the effort it takes to transform into a woman is worth it.
“It’s so hard getting ready, doing everything that you have to do,” Villanueva said, “but we love to do it.”
Villanueva and Danford performed April 19 at CSUF’s Queer Student Association’s drag show, Bootylicious: Rocky Horror Picture Show, with other drag queens such as Jon Garcia, 24, who is known as Nikki Licious Halston when he is dressed.
On average, it takes Jon Garcia one full hour to apply makeup and about 10 minutes to “tuck” in order to become Nikki Licious Halston.
Illusion is everything to drag queens, said Garcia, and there are a lot of factors involved to maintain that illusion.
“It’s not just about the hair and makeup,” said Garcia.
That’s where tucking comes in.
“You can’t look like a beautiful woman and have a lump down there,” Garcia said.
Besides tucking, Garcia also uses the duct tape to create hips.
Dressing in drag goes beyond the look.
“What I really like to do is open people’s eyes,” Danford said. “A lot of people have these preconceived notions of what they think a drag queen is … way over-drawn eyebrows and hair piled miles above their head, but that’s not exactly what drag is.”
The drag show put on by QSA is a great environment to see what dressing in drag is all about, Danford said. From different ages, styles and ranges of the drag spectrum, the audience saw all types of drag.
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