Travesty artists, always gay?

The words "travesty artist" and "trans" are often used as synonyms these days. However, these are two completely different terms with at least equally different meanings.

Also with regard to the sexual orientation of travesty artists there are many prejudices. Thus, many people, especially those who do not move within the scene, are of the opinion that all travesty artists are homosexual.

Anyone who takes a closer look at the subject quickly realizes that it would be wrong to judge so hastily. Sure: Even among travesty artists there are people who are homosexual. But: This is not a standard. Accordingly, it is always worthwhile to look behind the facade and to perceive the person in question as an individual.

What is a travesty artist?

Among other things, travesty artists are also often referred to as Drag queens is the term used to describe a woman. These are men who dress up as women in an artistic way and take part in shows, for example. Here, the motto is often (but not always!): The shriller, the better.

Travesty artists often opt for particularly colorful outfits and put themselves and their art in this way conspicuously in scene.

But: A travesty artist does not necessarily identify with the female gender or is gay. Travesty means in the first step to make a kind of transformation. Some people experience exactly that also as enrichment insofar as they create a new character on the basis of their travesty art, which possibly allows them to be a little more extroverted. However, this does not mean that they are also gay at the same time. On the contrary. There are even men who live in a straight relationship and have discovered this kind of art form for themselves.

How do transgender and travesty artists differ from each other?

As mentioned above, travesty is a type of art. Transgender people do not identify with their biological sex. Accordingly, this is not about entertaining people or discovering a certain art form for themselves.

However, clear "standards" with regard to the sexual orientation of transgender persons do not exist either. This means that a person who is transgender can be heterosexual, but also homosexual or bisexual.

Also more and more straight men discover the love of drag and travesty for themselves

Ultimately, a mix of enlightenment and tolerance has ensured that nowadays more and more heterosexual people dare to recognize their love for drag and live it out.

What used to take place largely behind closed doors, because those affected feared being laughed at by other people, has now been given a much larger platform... including even in the successful format RuPaul's Drag Race. Here, among others, Maddy Morphosis participated as the first heterosexual, cisgender drag queen.

But even away from the spotlight and the celebrity world, there are quite a few great personalities who have used their creativity and passion to create art figures. Of course, it also takes "a little" self-confidence, among other things, to create a "Coming Out" of this kind to experience. However, if exactly that succeeds, nothing stands in the way of a new level of self-realization.

What is so special about travesty?

To understand that travesty has absolutely nothing to do with a person's sexual orientation, it is important to look a little more closely at the specific characteristics of this art form.

"Travesty" means "dressed up." Here, men dress up as women (and women as men, by the way), exaggerating the respective stereotypes and thus deliberately underlining clichés.

Travesty and trans have - except for the first three letters - NOTHING to do with each other. Therefore, it would be nothing but homophobic to claim that a trans woman is "a man dressing up as a woman".

Who is aware of this important difference, probably no longer comes to the idea to assume that every drag queen or every travesty artist is necessarily also homosexual.