June 20, 2024

"Boebert famously campaigned against drag story hours, while Noem wrote to South Dakota’s college board asking it to ban campus drag shows...."

"Yet these women express themselves via a dizzying mash-up of gendered conventions: They augment their smiles, bedazzle their pantsuits, and broadcast their bench presses. In their fevered performances of hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity, so many of the GOP’s most visible women are themselves engaging in a form of drag. Of course, drag in its queer context offers the chance to slip from and send up the constricting bounds of gender norms, to encourage empathy and celebrate diverse forms of identity. The show these Republican politicians are putting on is its cold opposite: asphyxiated, distended, nasty. Theirs is surely drag’s gothic inverse."

71 comments:

Iman said...

What a load of crap, Margaret Mead!

TickTock said...

Rebecca Traister - what a nasty person.

boatbuilder said...

Everything is about...DONALD TRUMP!!

The man owns more real estate in their heads than he ever did in NYC or Florida.

tim maguire said...

When left-wing men step outside of traditional gender roles, it’s encouraging empathy and celebrating diverse forms of identity, but when right-wing women step outside of traditional gender roles, it’s asphyxiated, distended, and nasty.

They’ve turned the Althouse rule on its head—you CAN talk about the differences between men and women in a way that portrays the men as superior IF the men are left and the women are right.

Intersectionalism—gender politics over gender.

Tom T. said...

Note the contradiction in Traister insisting that there's only one acceptable way for women to act. Also, drag isn't fluid; it's hyper-stylized and admits of an extremely narrow range of artistic expression.

james said...

She seems to want to "liberate" us all into sterility. Darwin would like a word with her.

Iman said...

Photos of Traister provide a clue to what feeds her vitriol:

A decidedly masculine face and close-set eyes have been her burden.

Ice Nine said...

>In their fevered performances of hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity, so many of the GOP’s most visible women are themselves engaging in a form of drag.<

I saw nothing of "hypermasculinity," in this writer's supposed examples of it in the featured women in her really stupid article. She's also playing fast and loose with the term "drag" to suit her lame purpose in the article. She would do well to familiarize herself with those wonderful things called "dictionaries."

n.n said...

Sex is genetic: male and female. Gender is sex-correlated attributes (e.g. sexual orientation): masculine and feminine. The choices described by NY Mag are social.

Trans- refers to a state or process of divergence. Transsocial includes the misogyny of men in women's clothes, spaces, rent-a-wombs, etc. Transgender includes homosexuals, Levine's Dreams of Herr Mengele, etc.

Fetus is a technical term-of-art to socially distance liberals from the wicked solution advocated by progressive religious sects and other social conservatives.

MadTownGuy said...

"Yet these women express themselves via a dizzying mash-up of gendered conventions: They augment their smiles, bedazzle their pantsuits, and broadcast their bench presses. In their fevered performances of hyperfemininity and hypermasculinity, so many of the GOP’s most visible women are themselves engaging in a form of drag."

So much projection I can hardly keep up with it. Anything they do is characterized as "hyper-this and hyper-that" until it all devolves into meaninglessness.

n.n said...

Men and women voluntarily participate in normalization that celebrates equitable, inclusive, and functional participation of both sexes.

rehajm said...

Yah, to hell with that angle. Nice try…

Joanne Jacobs said...

Clueless. Lefties look like fools when they dismiss a culture they haven't tried to understand.

Gospace said...

Reached my limit of free articles so can't read it.

But I'm surprised, nay, shocked Sarah Palin isn't part of her frenzied attack on Republican woman.

Ann Althouse said...

I thought “distended” was laying it on kind of thick.

retail lawyer said...

Kristi Noem may be "asphyxiated, distended, nasty", but she is really attractive, flaunting her gender and all. So are MTG and Tulsi Gabbard to guys (like me) who like athletic, fit, and tough women.

Yancey Ward said...

Oh for fuck's sake. There is about a million miles between women showing more typically masculine behaviors and drag queens visiting kindergarten. Traister is a fucking moron- a trait more typically seen in men.

narciso said...

yes that is new york magazine, zombie clay felker would be upset, sally quinn hexed him,

narciso said...

the fact that noem didn't fall for fauci's traveling road show, remember when they accused the sturgess meet as a super spreader event that amusing in retrospect,

thats why the whole bit with ole yeller was overdone in my view,

narciso said...

of course in san francisco, they are laser focused not on the poop the resulting dysentery, the crime, the vacant store fronts, but name that drag queen,

Drago said...

This entire is, like everything else vomited up out of fever swamps of the left/dems/LLR-left, simply a reaction to polls showing significant decreases in support for the New Soviet Democratical Party.

In this case, the "surprising" (not) decrease in chick support for Dementia-Glitch boy (obamas people):

"Almost every path to victory for President Biden relies on strong support from women. But his current standing among women is the weakest lead a Democrat has had since 2004, a key factor in how tight the race is.

Mr. Biden’s lead among women has slid to about eight percentage points since the 2020 election, according to an average of more than 30 polls conducted over the last six months and compiled by The New York Times. That’s down from a lead among women of about 13 percentage points four years ago."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/20/us/elections/biden-trump-polls-women-men.html

sean said...

Archibald MacLeish wrote, "A poem should not mean/But be." It seems like women always have to symbolize something; men get to just be whatever they are.

mccullough said...

Drag has been cliche since before Milton Berle.

Empathy has been a cliche for a decade

narciso said...

yes but no one took it seriously until now,

if one has all your other problems solved, by all means focus on drag,

Milo Minderbinder said...

For the record, I'm very much pro-republican women if only because they're unafraid to define a woman and strive to look like one.

narciso said...

the former agriculture secretary, dem of course, though she could win points by appearing in a tight t shirt, it didn't work in her primary,

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, Traister is just another ugly AWFL who is jealous of the youth, health, good looks, and overall sexiness of Boebert and other Republican women.

n.n said...

Not every woman wants to be kept affordable, available, reusable, and taxable... and demand the performance of human rites for carbon-based "burden" of evidence... demos-cracy buried in darkness, the twilight fringe, sanctuary states.

Wa St Blogger said...

That's how mean girls roll.

n.n said...

women if only because they're unafraid to define a woman and strive to look like one.

The female sex, the feminine gender, the lady is not a deficit.

Wa St Blogger said...

Drag queen story hour/College drag shows <> Female Athleticism. My very feminine daughter Has been challenged by her tree cutting boyfriend to do a muscleup. No one is "confused" about gender, and she is not putting on clown shows in effort to corrupt children.

The left is always looking to try and prove that they are normal and they have to go through hyperbolic gyrations to make the right seem extreme.

Drag queen
Child molestation
Rape
Felony presidents
Fascism
abuse of power

These as all leftist activities, but you can see every brain-dead leftist poster bot trying to say it's the right that do all these things.

Breezy said...

Leftists are so judgey. Let people be.

Aggie said...

I don't think I've ever seen a Thesaurus worked harder than it was in this article.

RCOCEAN II said...

Cool, hip, smart women vote Democrat. Submissive House fraus and frumpy Bible thumpers vote Republican

Liberal left Hollywood and the NYT/WaPo been pushing that message my entire life.

RCOCEAN II said...

One reason Palin was hated so much is because "powerful women" are supposed to be Democrats. She was really despised not only by liberal/left women but by Gays too. Not sure why.

All the male chauvanism came out when Palin was involved. I think its always there, its just tamped down on the liberal/left side. When they can attack a Republican woman, man they get vicious. No feminism then.

Eva Marie said...

You’d think women - of all people - would know their place!

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

What is wrong with these white Leftist women?

"I called Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D) to ask what’s so funny about a minor getting r*ped by an illegal. I think we all missed the joke. Hopefully she returns my call! @PramilaJayapal
@RepJayapal"

Jamie said...

to encourage empathy

To ENCOURAGE EMPATHY?!

The usually grotesquely oversized fake breasts?! The two-centimeter eyelashes?! The five-inch heels?! The unbelievable caricatured outfits?! The mincing gait, the fruity voice?!

I am supposed to feel empathy when a man presents himself in this way, not as a comic entertainer (which I enjoy) but as an ersatz woman who insists that I acknowledge his femininity and attractiveness?

One of the queens - in the days before Ru was allowing trans queens - on RuPaul was this Australian who had altered his body dramatically to look, very literally, like an honest to goodness beauty queen. His tuck was impeccable (but as far as we know he was still tucking). His bikini body, which he put on display at every opportunity, was supermodel-esque. And Ru called him out on his lack of imagination. He took the note and, at minimum, made it to the final - can't remember whether he won. But he certainly grew as a performer, developed comedy chops and the ability to look ugly.

One thing he definitely did not inspire was "empathy." Respect, yes, as a niche entertainer. Ordinary regard for him as a human being. But drag doesn't inspire empathy.

I commend to everyone's attention the recent J. Peterson interview with Michael Shellenberger. Shellenberger, who has gotten up in the business of a lot of big forces in our society over the past few years, says that his latest project, the WPATH Files, is the one that has caused him to take steps to ensure his own safety.

Empathy...

n.n said...

Physical fitness is not a sexist choice. The limits of particular regimes and effects is negotiated between a man and a woman, or a women alone, rarely, or a man alone, rarely.

RJ said...

She’s a man, baby!

Josephbleau said...

"The show these Republican politicians are putting on is its cold opposite: asphyxiated, distended, nasty. Theirs is surely drag’s gothic inverse."

Drag is Ab_Fab, like Barbie! so:

INCLUDE(DRAG,Ab_Fab,Barbie,C:\DNC\);
Republican_Girls := GOTHINV(DRAG);
exit;
end;

deepelemblues said...

This is so cringe I am not amazed that NY Magazine published it.

Jerry said...

Jamie said...
to encourage empathy

-----------------

It's more pity for the mentally ill. There was a guy at work who decided he was a she. Not convincing in the slightest. Facial structure wasn't feminine, makeup use was, um, not optimal shall we say? And we won't talk about the clothing choices - they were, um... well... not feminine. Not even butch.

Know another who has been depressive pretty much for the last 30-40 years, was finally told by a shrink that it was because he was actually a she. (I know of another guy who was told same thing by same shrink, and started trying to transition but passed of cancer before he got too far. Makes me wonder if that was an 'all purpose diagnosis' for that shrink.)

The other guy I know - again - not feminine in facial structure, not gay, not skilled in makeup, wardrobe or mannerisms - and just doesn't understand why people don't recognize he's a she. And he's less happy now as a 'she' because people still don't recognize he's a woman.

You'd think someone in their late '60s would be at least somewhat at ease with themselves, but neither of those were. And that's just sad.

Someone was sold a damn bill of good from their psychologists. Whoever came up with this 'oh, you've just got to let out your inner woman' garbage ought to be sued.

gadfly said...

Please, This bullshit about Lauren Boebert and Kristi Noem has nothing to do with Trump's misogyny. Of late, Republicans run for office to attain power, not to serve taxpayers.

Boebert is from Colorado where physical exercise is a way of life but I will admit that having live sex in the middle of a packed house of theater attendees is uncivilized.

Kristi Noem ought to stay down-on-the-farm listening to Daddy bragging about killing. Still, she is obviously weak of mind if she admits to killing domestic animals just to be killing animals - unless she eats canine meat. She could have been running the hay baler.

How is it that Marjorie Taylor Greene was not mentioned in NY Magazine? She is an exercise nut as well.

Immanuel Rant said...

Gadfly:
"Kristi Noem ought to stay down-on-the-farm listening to Daddy . . . . "


Wow. Talk about telling us all more about you than what you were talking about . . . .

Kevin said...

It appears drag queen story hour is the hill on which the progressives wish to die.

Leland said...

This is the equivalent of saying a blacks person isn’t if they don’t vote Democrat. We must respect and support their gender and racial identities, but they will damn ours every time.

lgv said...

"...so many of the GOP’s most visible women are themselves engaging in a form of drag."

This is the foundation of her argument and it is 100% incorrect. Bedazzling (i.e. feminizing their attire) is not drag, it is the opposite. It demonstrate traditional normative behavior, while males demonstrating feminine behavior is non-normative, else why would people pay to see such demonstrations by males, but not for females. Doing traditional male activities like weightlifting or hunting, again isn't trying to imitate the opposite sex, but rather breaking the traditional stereotype of "men only" activities.

If one argues that drag is breaking the stereotype of female only, it is not. It is men trying to be women. This is not what Boebert et al are doing. Wearing an ear ring is breaking a women only tradition.

Now, this doesn't negate the fact that Boebert is an idiot, not worthy of her position, and MTG's actions are counter-productive to positions.

CrankyProfessor said...

As R. Andre Charles says, "we're all born naked - the rest is Drag."

Old and slow said...

"Of late, Republicans run for office to attain power, not to serve taxpayers."

This is rich. All politicians in all parties have been doing just this for all time. This is why limited government is so critically important.

Achilles said...

Traister is just a standard unattractive woman who didn’t have a solid father figure but was raised in relative wealth.

She is also not intelligent enough to look at herself or understand the obvious contradictions in her own words much less assess the effects of her paradigm on society.

narciso said...

A small business woman who saw the effects of the unscientific lockdowns who saw thiugh the travesty of the capitol gulag sure

narciso said...

A small business woman who saw the effects of the unscientific lockdowns who saw thiugh the travesty of the capitol gulag sure

mgarbowski said...

How did Democratic women allow men to displace them in sports, beauty pageants, sororities, and bathrooms?

Temujin said...

Weird how being a 'strong woman' to the left has become being a man wearing a dress.

narciso said...

Yes because they are evil and stupid

narciso said...

Lets leave out the absolute nutjob adam frisch they had running against her

narciso said...

Lets leave out the absolute nutjob adam frisch they had running against her

Rocco said...

mgarbowski said...
“How did Democratic women allow men to displace them in sports, beauty pageants, sororities, and bathrooms?”

They are sliding down the greasy pole of the Victim Hierarchy, but not realizing it.

Former Illinois resident said...

Except Rebecca forgets to acknowledge that both Joe and Jill Biden have subjected themselves to multiple plastic surgeries and cosmetic dentistry work, and Joe to hair-plug surgery as well. Both Joe and Jill have that "plastic people" facial appearance. Jill certainly is no longer a natural blonde.

Ditto for Hillary, several face-lifts, probable facial skin resurfacings, and no longer a natural blonde. Hillary nonetheless often looks very old, very frumpy, and sometimes even poorly-groomed, during her on-camera pundit appearances on TV.

Butkus51 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Butkus51 said...

I guess its easier to be a predator. No nasty stories.

n.n said...

She's conflating sex and gender supported roles with social choices in a sleight of hand to normalize the transgender spectrum and rationalize transsocial perchance dysfunctional behaviors. Let us bray for the establishment of progressive religions of conservatives past and liberals present. Throw another baby on the barbie, it's over... Not yet.

Narr said...

Noem and Boebert are OK (for political bitches); MTG should avoid horse-paddocks.


Static Ping said...

This article is what happens when the author refuses to examine her own premises. A good education will dispense of this sort of sophomoric thinking, assuming the student is willing to learn anything. Let's see where Rebecca Traister was educated.

Northwestern.

Yes, that probably explains much.

dbp said...

This is some odd logic, if you could even call it that. Women making an effort to look attractive isn't drag, it's normal. These people have gotten so twisted, that they think acting normal is some kind of kink.

SGT Ted said...

Lots of bullshit to avoid talking about the inappropriate sexualization of children by the alphabet sex weirdos.

Lots of bullshit trying to force gender roles on these women that they don't enforce on themselves.

Lots of bullshit.

PM said...

So Al WAS Tipper.

Jupiter said...

Rebecca Traister is one twisted sister.

Rocco said...

I can’t read the article either. All of the women appear to be dressed nicely by the standards of the time the photos were taken. But the 3 on the left - the “good” Republicans - have aged past the point where they could be seen as sexually threatening to a rival. Whereas the 3 on the right - the “bad” Republicans are.

I don’t know why Valentina Gomez was chosen to be included here, as she has not accomplished as much as the other five. But she is young (25) and has time. Maybe she was chosen because she is holding a gun with a no-nonsense look on her face. But that reminds me of the story that ends with my grandmother strolling out of the police station and down the city streets open carrying a military surplus rifle and pistol. She was a little younger than Kristi Noem is today at the time.

Craig Mc said...

If Traister isn't a man with an over-worked photoshop filter I'll be surprised.