Drag Queens changed my perspective on self-worth
If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love someone else?
“Where are you off to?” the Uber driver said after I told him I was going to the LA Convention Center.
“Rupaul’s Drag Con. A convention for the TV Show, Rupaul’s Drag Race,” I responded.
His eyes widened through the rear view mirror, “Oh. Isn’t that just for drag queens?”
His response made me wonder, is the television show “Rupaul’s Drag Race” marketed only for interested, or aspiring Queens? The answer is no.
It’s for anybody of any gender and sexual identification or anyone who has ever felt like they don’t fit in.
Rupaul’s Drag Race is a show hosted by the drag queen celebrity, Rupaul, and involves the search for America’s Next Drag Superstar.
The show is a cross between America’s Next Top Model and Project Runway.
There are weekly challenges, photo shoots and walks down the runway, plus contestants craft their own dresses. The bottom two finishers each week must “lip-sync for their lives,” trying to out-perform each other for survival. The show starts with 14 contesters and finishes with the last one standing.
This was my first drag queen convention, and my first convention of any kind, for that matter. I attended as an outsider to this unique world as a female. As I was getting ready for the event, I started questioning everything I was doing or wearing, from the color of my nails to how my hair looked. I kept thinking to myself, “they’re going to think I look like a mess compared to everyone else.”
Then it occurred to me, I was entering a safe place where people are confidently wearing their sewed and put together creations or are showing off the bright blue lipstick that they purchased and for the first time in a while, I felt confident in my body too.
My whole life I’ve been prepped and primed to believe the body I have is not the right one, my face shape is too round and the teeth I have are far from perfect.
Although, there is a current movement for self-love, it still isn’t self-love that makes the cover of magazines. We are told we are perfect in everyway and then told to buy pills that make ourselves skinnier, our skins clearer or the 10 secret foods for a flatter stomach. I’ve been on a “diet” since I was 11, restricting myself from foods normal children should get to enjoy like the occasional ice cream at the fair, or Cheetos at a birthday party. Only now at 20 am I starting to practice acceptance, meaning being fair to myself.
I have to admit that ever since I started watching Rupaul’s Drag race in March of 2016, my confidence has boosted. On the show you see people of all shapes, sizes, and ages looking drop dead gorgeous in their own skin, as they own the stage, runway and photo shoots provided on the show. I’ve caught myself trying on a skirt that I love, at first battling my inner thoughts that I’m too curvy to wear the clothing or unattractive, but the show reminds me of the power of being confident, and that has inspired me.
Phi Phi O’Hara poses for the camera at her meet and greet
Spending the weekend at Rupaul’s Drag Con was an amazing experience filled with glitter, laughter, clothing, Drag Queens, and genuine, beautiful people. The atmosphere was filled with acceptance and love, a positive environment for anyone of any race, age, gender, or sexual orientation. I would recommend this event to anyone who wants to have a good time, or are willing to try something new and step out of their comfort zone.
Day one out of two at Rupaul Drag Con