About In Face and Why!
Where did the idea came from?
The idea behind In Face! A History of Female Impersonation was inspired by how much the Drag Queen Reading Hour at the public libraries became extremely controversial. The local library systems in areas throughout the country and here in the Seattle region decided to create programming for the LGBTQ+ community and their families. Shortly after, protests and harassment of the program started from conservative sides of the community. Stating that it was immoral and promoting the gay lifestyle to children. In Face! was created to bring a bigger understanding of what it has meant throughout history for men to impersonate women. And historically, it was immoral from the religious side for women to perform for centuries. We hope that this history lesson helps bridge the gaps in understanding and allows all of our communities to come together.
What are we going to bring out into the spotlight?
The rich history of female impersonation dates back millenniums. One might say that the first drag performer was actually a female impersonating a male figure. And trust, if you were living during this time, you would not speak out against the person. We will cover her a little in Ancient History, but don't get it twisted, drag or gender impersonation has been around since the beginning of well, clothing.
There is a lot of examples we can use from the vast history across the globe, for the most part though, we are going to share the artistic side of female impersonation. This website is being created as an archive and will continue to add content as we find more people and topics.
We hope you enjoy the lesson on female impersonation.
A brief video from Allure with the cast from RuPaul's AllStars!
Queer Northwest does not claim any copyrights of the video presented. We are just sharing a great video they produced.