“Drag Syndrome” – a touring drag show featuring people with Down syndrome – has sparked outrage and confusion following the publication of a video intended to promote the group.
On January 4, US-based media company Mashable uploaded a video to Twitter highlighting the drag show. The short film, entitled “Born to dance with an extra chromosome,” shows interviews and performances with several drag queens with Down syndrome.
The video also includes an interview with the creative director of the drag show, Daniel Vais, who ostensibly does not have Down syndrome.
Vais founded “Drag syndrome” in 2018. In 2020, Vais gave an interview where he was asked what his most memorable performance was, Vais recounted how one of the drag queens, “Horrora Shebang,” opened a show by shouting “Good evening, bitches!”
Drag Syndrome, which is described on its website as being a “drag collective featuring highly addictive queens and kings with Down-Syndrome” tours across Europe and is currently performing at RuPaul’s DragCon UK 2023 in London. The troupe was previously featured at DragCon in 2020, and earned a profile in British Vogue.
Drag Syndrome also sells merchandise on their website, and currently has over 81,000 followers on Instagram and an incredible 558.1K followers on TikTok.
Despite their renewed popularity, Drag Syndrome has been performing for years, and drawing criticism for just as long.
In 2019, a venue owner in Grand Rapids, Michigan actually cancelled the troupe’s booking, citing concerns about “exploitation.”
Peter Meijer, the owner of the Tanglefoot Building, issued a public statement, writing: “The involvement of individuals whose ability to act of their own volition is unclear raises serious ethical concerns that I cannot reconcile.”
Reacting to Mashable‘s short film on Twitter, the response was overwhelmingly critical.
“This is abuse. This is exploitation. This is disgusting. These individuals cannot consent to this, they likely are not even able to live totally independently. No words,” one individual said.
“As a special needs parent myself, this is disgusting,” another wrote.
Reporter Tatiana Passaic asked a question many others also seemed to have: “Who exactly is the target audience for this?”
Other netizens compared the show to historical “circus freak shows” which often exploited people with physical or intellectual disabilities. In the 20th century, some parents of children with disabilities would sell their children to the circus, where they would then be ridiculed and exploited for profit. Circus “freak shows” would often showcase people with dwarfism, intellectual impairment, or Down syndrome.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “almost all people with Down syndrome have intellectual disability or low IQ, which includes difficulty learning and trouble with activities of daily life. These difficulties can be mild to severe.” Both adults and children with intellectual disabilities are known to experience higher rates of abuse and exploitation, an issue that has been exacerbated by social media and the internet.
Drag shows have been mired in controversy over the past year due to an increase in “drag queen story hours” aimed at children, “family” or “all-ages” drag shows, and drag shows which feature children.
Videos have gone viral showing children witnessing sexually explicit performances. One video from July of 2022 that was widely circulated on social media featured a toddler being led through a bar by a half-nude drag queen with breast implants.
“Drag queen story hour” (DQSH) is a growing trend which involves a male performer dressed as a caricature of women, often in a highly-sexualized manner, reading books to children. The events inspired multiple protests during 2022, particularly from conservative groups and concerned parents who blast the practice as indoctrination and the sexualization of children. Detractors often describe proponents of such events as “groomers.”
Critics of DQSH have been called a litany of slurs equating them with “bigots,” yet protesters have been singling out venues that host drag shows involving children while passing over adult events that adhere to age requirements.
Opposition to DQSH has also been accused of motivating a mass shooting at a gay night club in Colorado in November 2022 which resulted in the deaths of five attendants. Prominent LGBTQ+ activists have argued that the use of the term “groomer” online has led to an increase in violence towards the community – despite the fact that the shooter responsible for the killings identities as “non-binary,” and no official motive has yet been announced by investigators.
In addition to drag queen story hour and drag shows aimed at children, there has also been an increase in child “drag” performers, often called “drag kids.”
One such “drag kid” who uses the stage name “Vanellope Craving” was mentored by an adult drag performer who was later arrested after it was discovered that she had “utilized the internet on numerous occasions to distribute and exchange pornographic images of children” and “engaged in creating child pornography and uploaded it to the internet.”
Debates about the ethics of DQSH and similar events have become a hot topic in the media, particularly in the US and the UK. Many legislators in the US are now attempting to ban such events. In Minnesota, legislators have introduced a bill that states public libraries will lose state funding if they host drag queen performances for children. Similar bills have been proposed in both Missouri and Tennessee.
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