“Drags are beacons in the LGBT community”

• Drag - The other face of queens and kings

  is published this Thursday by La Musardine editions.

• Its author, the journalist Sofian Aissaoui, retraces the history of the French drag scene, evokes its political dimension and recounts the journey of drag-queens and drag-kings from various backgrounds.

• “This book arrives to say that we should not think that drag is limited to queens.

  I don't know if I want to use the term "committed" but in any case there is a desire to say "with this book, let's make room for everyone", explains Sofian Aissaoui to

  20 Minutes

  .

This summer, the

phenomenon swept over France.

The drag-queens competition, broadcast on France.tv and France 2, was for many an opportunity to discover and become familiar with this art.

This Thursday, the book

, is published by La Musardine, to broaden the perspective on this discipline.

Throughout the pages, illustrated by Valentin Pasquier, the author, Sofian Aissaoui, gives the keys to understanding the history of the French drag scene and its political and societal implications.

He also sketches the portrait of drag queens and drag kings, appearing as so many facets of a teeming and creative French scene.

The journalist and director, that

interviewed, slipped, at the end of the interview, that he had just finished a documentary on the yellow vests: "When I talk about it around me, I am told that I am doing a big difference when I don't I don't get the impression: in both cases, it's about claiming what you're stigmatized for.

»

What was the starting point for writing this book?

It's really been years that I tell myself that there is something to do around the drag.

When I was writing for Slate, I came up with countless drag topics but never got around to placing one.

When I worked on TV, I offered reports, documentaries and people looked at me with wide eyes.

It was like that three or four years ago.

These reactions surprised me because the art of drag is so vast, interesting.

I had the impression that France was out of step.

I started writing the book on a whim.

That's to say ?

I was also tired of waiting for established people to write about our lives as LGBT+ people and what queer culture is.

I'm into drag, why should I wait until I feel legit to do it?

In an interview, Alice Coffin said that writing about LGBT issues was the work of an archaeologist.

It's so true, it's exactly the wall I found myself facing.

There are so many books which are references on the other side of the Atlantic but which have not been translated into French.

The documentation found in France is contradictory, you have to cross-check, contact people by phone to be sure of information.

The view of the mainstream media seems to have changed, especially with the success of “Drag Race France” which was one of the phenomena of the summer and whose tour was sold out on several dates.

But isn't there a risk that the audience's perception of drag art will be limited to what the show shows?

This is the whole issue today: what do we do with drag at a time when this discipline is becoming very mainstream?

It is just beginning in France, in the United States, it is.

In the book, I didn't want to get into anything controversial saying that

was evil, that the show didn't fully show this art as it is.

has its flaws, but it's a great entry point.

80% of the people I met to make this book told me that they started drag after seeing this program.

This means that the show has had a phenomenal impact on the LGBT+ community.

Now the question is what to do with that.

My opinion is that

helps the community more than it hurts it.

From an intra-community point of view, we have the keys to realize that

does not represent drag, that it is more complex, that there are queens, kings, people who present themselves as artists without claiming to be drag - like those who perform at the Madame Arthur cabaret in Paris.

This book comes to say that we should not think that drag is limited to queens.

I don't know if I want to use the term “committed” but in any case there is a desire to say “with this book, let's make room for everyone”.

It's important to highlight the kings, I don't understand why this scene is so much in the shadows.

Moreover, we can congratulate France Télévisions Endemol for having welcomed the first kings in the franchise, all adaptations combined.

Hopefully, for season 2 of

, they will this time be welcomed as candidates.

In your book, the profiles of the drags that testify are very varied in terms of background, aesthetics, way of life... Are there as many definitions of this art as there are drags?

I wanted to take some kind of drag superstars like Cookie Kunty or Leona Winter and people who are more into small intimate shows, who are not necessarily known in the LGBT community.

This is where you realize how varied drag is and how complicated the life of an artist is.

Even Leona Winter or Cooky Kunty say it was a hassle for them and still is.

When someone tells how difficult it was as an artist to achieve this notoriety and we know what this person went through, it can be reassuring for someone who is starting their career. in drag or any other discipline.

You also tell their story as LGBT+ people…

Yes.

The testimony of Minima Gesté, for example, really surprised me.

When the one who in the city is called Arthur was a student, he was anti-Pride while today he embodies one of the most famous drag queens in Paris.

I tried to tell how each, each, knew how to go beyond the galleys.

Drag is that: transforming a course, a suffering to sublimate it and celebrate it.

You write that the kings and queens are “the vanguard of the LGBT+ community”: “They and they are on the front line to make us exist”.

What exactly did you mean by that?

We can see the figure of drag-queen or drag king as

[excessive] when we are not necessarily comfortable with our LGBT identity.

But from the moment we take an interest in their lives and understand why they do this, we realize that they are beacons in the community.

It's not just fun and glitz.

All of them are not necessarily aware of their commitment, but all have a use in the community.

By assuming such femininity or such masculinity, they allow us to assume ourselves, that's what is strong in drag.

It's important to have figures who, through a caricature, make us understand that it's not so bad to be effeminate or to be a little masculine.

What do you want your readers to understand through the pages?

I want to say to young LGBT+ people, paraphrasing RuPaul: You have your place and you have a family waiting for you.

The drags make it possible to find this family.

I would also say: support the drags!

queens

: they're good, they've got support.

But there are local scenes that have a lot to offer.

You have to go see their shows, give them

[tips] if you can afford it, support them.

Drag is for everyone.

In any case, you will find a community and it will give you the opportunity to think differently about how you live your life, as LGBT+ or not.

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