“Drag queens and kings perform gender to the extreme in a political attempt to exaggerate gender stereotypes and norms in such a way as to say, ‘Society doesn’t own our bodies, and our bodies will be shaped by our own making.'”
Click here to read “Push It,” words and photos by Ashley Baer
After staking out her corner in the Green Room above the ballroom, Danielle Baker gets ready for the “Barbie Girl” number. That piece was among 18 three-minute long songs that various student performers lip-synced to Saturday night in front of over 750 people. (Eugene OR, 2007)
(Eugene OR, 2007)
With her makeup, including feathered fake eyelashes, done and her costume almost finished, Baker adjusts her blond wig in the mirror to transform into Barbie. She completed the outfit with a pink short-sleeved collared shirt, which she attached Velcro to so that McGinnis could remove it easily during the performance. (Eugene OR, 2007)
(Eugene OR, 2007)
Baker zips up a black bustier over her white corset in preparation for another one of her performances. Besides choreographing and performing in “Barbie Girl,” Baker also choreographed and performed in “Boom, Boom, Boom,” and “Coin Operated Boy,” the first and second amateur acts of the night. (Eugene OR, 2007)
Placing her hand suggestively on McGinnis’s pants to go along with the lyrics, “Touch me there, hanky panky,” Baker struts her stuff down the catwalk after her partner tore off her shirt; shortly after, she was stripped of her skirt, too. After two weeks of flakey group members and grueling preparation, the performance finally ended, and as she walked off stage of her final drag show performance, Baker exuberantly shouted, “I’m done!” Yet, she says she’ll miss it after she graduates: “It may be stressful, but it’s still exciting and I love performing.” (Eugene or, 2007)
Ashley Baer 