Gender is a Drag
| 23 February 2010
Irina Korzh talks to Drag School founder Rei Alphonso.
Meet Rei Alphonso, a young Australian activist and performer, who set up the worlds’ first Drag School for GLBTIQ youth. Whilst pursuing a career in academia overseas, Rei realised that life skills obtained outside the constraints of a university hall were far more valuable than theory alone. All it took is a unique idea and tonnes of dedication.
Using the platform of drag performance Rei explores the issues surrounding gender and sexuality with interactive ‘playshops’, forming the basis of this drama education program. Drag School offers the freedom for students to recognise the diversity of expression within gender and that sexuality is something that needs to be cherished and explored, not concealed or conformed to.
Drag School recently presented Dragstravaganza- a photo exhibition and performance by the young graduates. The gallery above Dante’s, a café in Fitzroy Melbourne was fuelled with intensity and faces exploded with proud smiles as they watched the youth perform so comfortably, feeling so free in their own skin.
“I wish I did this course when I was younger”, said one of the spectators, “Amazing and powerful”, proclaimed another.
Irina: What inspired you to create Drag School?
Rei: I knew that I wanted to do something revolving around youth education in areas like sexual ethics, identity and gender… I toyed with a few methods and then I hit on this idea of drama-based education. Things like identity and gender are difficult to teach in a traditional classroom setting. Interactive drama workshops where you are engaging your body, your mind, and your voice make the information more meaningful.
How do you define yourself in terms of sexuality?
Genderqueer : I tried on femme, I tried on butch, I tried on boi and I found that the most comfortable area for me was this grey area.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I draw ideas, theories and brain food from writers and researchers but in terms of giving me inspiration – my friends and family – the people I surround myself with. It’s taken me a while to build up the group of friends that I have. They are my tribe.
Raising two young children with your partner, what are your views on family and relationships?
I think that families should be autonomous and independent and they should be able to evolve. That’s what I like about my family is that we are not shackled by biology or any contractual obligation - we really chose to be a family.
What do you think is important about raising children?
As “radical” as we are in our day to day child raising, I do think it’s very important to give your child a real world education. I want them to engage with people from all walks of life. It’s no use raising them in a bubble of any sort. I want to give them the tools to observe the world and engage with it critically and consciously, with their eyes open. I don’t want to wrap them up in cotton wool.
What is your concept of drag?
There is this great Patty Smith quote “as far as I am concerned every gender is a drag” and that’s something I really do believe in. We perform gender in so many ways from voice to posture and from dress to mannerisms. I’ve done double drag where I drag in hyper femme… Gender fucking, wearing a beard and a ball gown, realising that there is a whole lot of gendered performance is something I got drawn to… drag is everything!
I read that males dressed as females are looked at more aggressively then females dressed as males, what are your thoughts on this?
I think that any femme identified people in our culture, because we live in a thriving patriarchy, are perceived as weaker, so for male bodied person to dress as femme is interpreted as a step backwards but for a female bodied person to give a masculine identity is a step up. I really find the idea of gender binary or gender as a line really uncomfortable. You have male at one end and female at the other end and I really reject that concept. I prefer to see identity as a sphere where everything moves fluidly.
What are you trying to teach youth through Drag School?
The most important thing for me is to move away from these traditional concepts of drag and to show these young people that all gender is performative. There is a whole spectrum of behaviour here and you have access to all of it. And here are some skills and tools and do whatever it is you want to do. And if a female-bodied female-identified person comes to drag school and decides that her drag persona is a 1950s housewife with a pink apron and pincurls so be it! It is still “putting on” a gender - consciously dressing up and performing something. Gender norms, assumptions - this underpins everything. Being conscious about it and interrogating it and being a bit cheeky and choosing to have fun with it instead of having these rules dictate your behaviour is so important.
How do you think Drag School will help adolescents?
From my own experience, I know that when you are coming out and when you are becoming conscious of your queer identity – you look around and you go – how do you enact this, how do I perform this, how do I let people know that I am queer, and you look around for role models and ideas and they are really limited. And I just want to say wherever you are, whatever you want to play with, whatever you feel comfortable as, whatever you want to perform – you have every right to access all of it. Be as butch as you like, be as femme as you like, change it up – you don’t have to be this one fixed thing... there is no ‘right’ way to be queer.
What future do you see with Drag School?
I would really like to run it in regional areas. I think there are a lot young queer people in regional areas who are very under resourced. I think it’s important to give them some joy and validation. They don’t have access to the scene – where are they supposed to get their pride from?
What is the most important in terms of social change?
We all have this constrained unwritten book of rules. You can’t walk down the street and scream for joy and you cant collapse into a puddle of tears in the middle of the street because you’re sad. If female, you can’t dress in high heels and a skirt and be recognized as queer. You can’t dress in a way that’s interpreted as masculine and insist people recognise your femininity. I think personal autonomy is incredibly powerful and important. People who own their bodies and desires on their own terms wont be told who to vote for, they wont be told who to fear, and they wont be dictated to. If you own yourself and your body then that fundamental power reaches to the rest of your life. I am going to live and act and interact with people on my terms and it’s something that denied to us in so many ways, particularly through gender. This is really where my passion comes from – this fundamental desire to empower people to seize and take pride in their own agency.
The exhibition is now touring Melbourne and then Sydney – if you are interested in hosting it, or finding out more contact Rei at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The plans for a 2010 regional Drag School are also underway. To offer support, get involved, or find out more, contact Rei at the above address.
Drag School is on Facebook where a photo gallery and more information about the program, is hosted for viewing.
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