As I am deeply enthralled in Seasen 4 of DragRace All Stars...I thought I would pull out this blog post I wrote over the summer about the finale of Drag Race. Three things I learned from watching drag race with my seven year old niece Let me preface this with the fact that I was watching the finale and she just hopped in bed and started watching with me. I did not put it on for her or tell her in any way what I was watching. I explained very little throughout the episode because I wanted to witness her honest, true, and innocent reactions. ALSO - this was a censored version...she didn't hear any cuss words, or inappropriate language throughout. Let us all learn from the wonders of childhood... 1.The innocence of a child is awe inspiring.
What she saw, which she referred to as a beauty pageant, were beautiful dresses on women walking the runway. She used she/her pronouns and drooled over the gorgeous accessories (namely Miz Crackers Black cape - because she looked like maleficent and her favorite color is black right now). She did not, in her mind, worry about the complexity of the unforgiving world we’re currently living in. So all this leads me to say - discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and the like are LEARNED behaviors. We, as humans, are not innately bad. Which only means that we are the ones who can change the future for the better. 2. We are incredibly blessed as a family to be (for the most part) open minded. We all absolutely have room to grow in this category, but who doesn’t? Here’s what made me tear up a little- in both a happy and sad way: When Kameron Michaels grandmother came on the screen supporting her grandchild, it was incredibly heartwarming. Kameron then explained that being raised in a conservative family, it was never certain if her grandmother would accept life as a drag queen- saying that it is so good to know she loves Kameron anyway. To which my niece replied “well, duh! Why wouldn’t she?!” The flood gates open. I was so happy to know that my niece fully understands that she is loved, accepted, and cherished by every single member of our family. I was sad to then have to explain to her that not all families are like ours, and unfortunately unconditional love is not always present in a familial structure. She echoed the sentiment that it was sad, but i don’t think (and I hope she never will) she completely comprehended that. 3. I wish we all had the quick and nearly immediate acceptance of children. There was only ONE time in the entire finally that she suspected one of the queens was a “man dressed as a woman.” And let me tell you- it didn’t matter to her at all. She still wanted the dresses, liked the dancing, and fully enjoyed the light-heartedness of the competition. She immediately determined her favorite (Kameron Michaels) and rooted her on in the final lip sync (although Aquaria was her second favorite- so she was cool with the end result). This not only made me realize and appreciate that my niece is growing up in an ever-changing world, but helped me to see that it is possible for our future to be accepting. We just have to nurture the upcoming generation to be so. All my love.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorRaveling myself back up again. Archives
December 2017
Categories |