If a woman wears an Indian (Native American, Indigenous People) outfit...forget it.
If you want to see a Charlie Chan or Mr. Moto movie from the 30's...you INSENSITIVE RACIST BASTARD!!
But look, my dears, DRAGFACE! Isn't that CHARMING?
Guys dress up in garish, stereotype make-up and outfits that parody femininity...but that's not offensive?
Take your PC complaints and...SASHAY AWAY...because if it's GAY...it's OKAYYYYYY.
Really?
Really?
It's really ok for a male to swish onto a stage making fun of womanhood, get GALES of hysterical guffaws for it...and it's not as offensive as blackface, redface or yellowface? DRAGFACE is a GOOD THING? Because mocking women isn't the same as mocking...human beings?
The London Daily Fail, or whatever they call themselves, sent a photographer out to snap the Miss Gay and Transsexual Australia International Pageant.
Oh, the FUN.
Would it be as much FUN to cover a KKK sponsored BLACKFACE show?
It's the same thing. It's people putting on make-up to make fun of other people.
Let's also note that even if you THINK that female impersonation is some kind of tribute, why don't you think the same way about Warner Oland and Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan, or Peter Lorre as Mr. Moto?
It's not PC, my dear, to tell people you like Charlie Chan or Mr. Moto movies.
There are Asians who have written books about YELLOWFACE and who are grumbling about the disrespect of Asians.
The Governor of Virginia has been asked to resign by everyone from Orange Donald Trump to Lying Hillary...because he wore blackface in a photo in his college yearbook. He also admitted to dressing up as Michael Jackson at an 80's party and darkening his skin.
No, no, that's NOT the same as Michael himself LIGHTENING his skin and looking like a white woman.
Somehow, people who are screamingly PC, still don't have a good idea of equality.
There are...EXCEPTIONS?
Why is it Jackson in whiteface is ok, and the Wayans Brothers making a movie in whiteface is ok, but an old Charlie Chan movie isn't?
Why is it that some dopey woman who "identifies" as black, to the point of using a tanning salon, loses her job, but if some guy "identifies" as a woman, he can barge into a women's restroom?
Isn't that as big of a DOUBLE STANDARD as a pair of oversized FALSIES?
Take a look at these pictures. Now imagine if there was a "ASIAN PAGEANT" or a "MINSTREL SHOW" or a "WILD WEST RODEO FEATURING THEM REDFACE INJUNS."
Some of these images are pretty disgusting. AREN'T THEY?
Would there be any doubt that if these guys dressed as Squaws or as Geishas, people MIGHT be uneasy? How about in blackface with hair tied up in a knot made out of a hyena bone, Miss Africa?
Maybe we should cut some slack to the guys in pantyhose? In that case, cut it out with whining about Charlie Chan movies.
We're supposed to declare it's terrible to be in blackface, for any reason, because black people have suffered. And women have their equal rights and equal pay? Asians have not notably been discriminated against. In fact, they get the reverse-racist praise that Jews often get: you are a CLEVER people. Yes, we WANT an Asian doctor or math teacher, just like we want a Jewish accountant or lawyer.
Megyn Kelly got fired by NBC because she idly questioned whether blackface for a Halloween costume had to be considered offensive. What if a woman admires Michelle Obama, and like the woman who "identified" as black thought she wasn't doing any harm, this woman expertly applied glamorous bronzer to her face. Would that be horrible? But if a guy dressed up as Lady Gaga in a ridiculous meat-skirt, that would be all right because it's sincere? We have a gray area when it comes to the Red and Yellow rainbow, and the Black and White issue?
My friend Julie Newmar was once criticized on "The Mike Douglas Show" for an odd kind of racism. Roger Miller was one of the guests, and he mentioned being from the South. Julie had lived in Texas for a while, so she happily said, with a drawl, "Well, bless your little ol' heart." Miller, a pained look in his eye, a sour grimace on his face, said, "I'm offended by that." And he explained why.
And yet people will imitate a Southern accent, Irish accent, Jewish accent, Italian accent...just for the FUN of it. Is it always mocking? Is it never appropriate??
"To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar" was about three "drag queens" crossing America. But all three were intent on passing. Patrick Swayze in promoting the film, emphatically declared he thought he was "damn good" at looking like a woman. John Leguizamo, who has done one-man shows about Latino stereotypes, was also very believable in drag. So maybe it wasn't drag at all. Because the "drag queen" is, like Jolson in "The Jazz Singer," a strange caricature. A little empathy, a lot of offensive stereotype.
I saw Craig Russell perform. He did a great job. He was a respectful impressionist, no different than Rich Little or Will Jordan. When he impersonated Mae West or Judy Garland, he clearly wanted to BE those women. He RESPECTED those women.
What he did is a lot different from DRAGFACE.
Likewise, what Warner Oland did, and what Sidney Toler and Peter Lorre did, was sincere. Remarkably, Peter Lorre, who had just about the roundest eyes of any creature besides an owl, didn't wear YELLOWFACE eye-makeup. He wore glasses, which seemed to be more than enough, because he was THAT good of an actor. His Mr. Moto was not a stereotype. Not like DRAG is, or Minstrel shows.
Bottom line, let's get sane. Let's ditch hypocrisy. Let's not play convenient games over what is PC and what is offensive.
Do you suppose there would be any call for the Governor of Virginia to resign if his college yearbook had a picture of him in clownish DRAG make-up with bright red lips and enormous falsies? No. There would be laughter, that's all, because it's so funny for a white guy to dress up as a woman. Because DRAGFACE is ok. And blackface isn't. And there's no difference between mocking someone for their skin color OR for their gender.
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