- The topic of drag queens arouses strong emotions in Poland
- Deputy Minister Monika Sikora has angered some Internet users with her support for the presence of drag queens in Polish schools
- Drag queens have a long and interesting history, linked, among others, to Shakespearean theatre.
The drag queen phenomenon has become popular in Poland again after the Equality March in Gliwice on Saturday (10th August). Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Monika Sikora was asked by a journalist from the tarnogorski.info portal whether it is possible for drag queens to be present in Polish schools and, if so, whether she supports such an idea. Sikora answered these questions in the affirmative, adding that Gliwice “was, is and will be tolerant”.
The New Left MP expanded on her statement after a moment, emphasizing that she was referring to situations in which children have the right to express themselves. “If it’s a situation in which they discuss with their parents, in which they are in a safe environment, then it’s an individual matter. It’s not about having a drag queen in every school, but about making certain solutions possible for these children. So that it’s not like we’re promoting here and that I’m calling for it, but it seems to me that in certain circumstances…” Here, however, the statement was interrupted.
A lot of negative and aggressive comments appeared under the post on the X platform, which contains a recording of Sikora’s statement. This is nothing new in Polish social media. A similar reaction could be observed, for example, a few months ago after the appearance on “Dzień Dobry TVN” of Alexis Saint-Pete, a drag queen who was one of the characters in the program “Czas na Show. Drag Me Out”. So who are the drag queens who arouse hate among some Poles?
Drag Queen – What is it? What is their history?
Drag queen, or the art of men dressing up as women in order to amuse the audience at a specific show, is, contrary to what people critical of it think, not a 21st century invention, but a phenomenon with a long and interesting history.
In ancient Greece, women were not allowed on stage, only men could act. Consequently, they also played female characters. The same could be observed at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, when Shakespearean theater was extremely popular. At that time, theater was strongly associated with the church, so it had to follow certain rules.
The most important of these was, among other things, the fact that only men could walk on its boards. Therefore, if women were to appear in a play, the male cast would dress up as the opposite sex. They did this for the good of the theater, so as not to change the original story. Of course, this did not mean that they did not want to do it.
Some legends even claim that the word “drag” itself comes from those times. “Drag” is from the English “to pull”, and the dresses that men wore usually dragged on the floor. Of course, we cannot call actors dressing up as women according to today’s definition drag queens, but this is a historical context that cannot be ignored. It shows, above all, that it makes no sense to call drag queens “freakish” when in previous centuries men performed specific things on stage.
Drag Queen – Where Does the Name Come From? What is the Current Definition?
Julian Eltinge, who was one of the biggest stars in the early 20th century, is considered a true pioneer of drag queen. He was so expressive in his role that he convinced everyone that he was not just a man in women’s clothes pretending to be a woman, but a real actor. He did this in Great Britain, where tolerance of LGBT people was definitely less developed than in some circles in the US.
The term drag queen was first used in the 1920s in New York, where the gay culture scene was growing. The acronym “dressed as a girl” combined with the word queen was meant to emphasize the over-stylized and powerful creations of the performers.
Today, drag is meant to express another side of men. Most often, it is a way for gay men to show a more feminine side (this is not to say that there are no cases of heterosexual men performing on the drag stage). The exaggerated feminine appearance, the oversized wigs, the garish make-up, the stylized body language and speech are meant to create a persona, a different personality. “I don’t dress like a woman. I dress like a drag queen,” RuPaul has said in interviews, to emphasize that her stage persona is something else—not just impersonating women.
Drag queens in Poland—since when?
According to Jakub Wojtaszczyk, whose book “Cudowne przegęcie. Reportaż o polskiego dragu” was published in 2022, the first drag queens began appearing in the early 90s. They often referred to singers on stage such as Violetta Villas, Kalina Jędrusik or Irena Santor. The appearance of the “Czas na Show. Drag Me Out” format on TVN this year is another milestone, because it proves that even Polish mainstream television has stopped being afraid and has shown how artistically interesting this phenomenon can be. However, more time is needed for part of society to understand what it is all about.
