Note; A special report for the Perspective Research Department and the Naked News staff!
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A burka, flames and a dynamite-stick corset are just as much a part
of this drag queen’s set as the lipstick, wigs and eyelashes. But she’s
not making any excuses — or apologies.
Donnarama, one of Toronto’s most popular drag performers, is under
fire for a Dec 16 Woody’s performance some are calling Islamophobic. The
routine, which the entertainer has been performing since at least 2009,
has the gay community divided on the line between artistic expression
and racism.
“As
an artist I regret nothing, as a person I want to communicate,”
Donnarama wrote in an email chat Dec 19. “I usually take great pride in
my creations . . . But I’m not happy about this, upsetting people is not
my intention.”
One of those she upset is 27-year-old social worker Rahim Thawer, who brought the performance to light.
On the night of Dec 16, Thawer wanted to end an average weekend on a
high. Attending a Church Street drag show seemed the perfect option.
But the Donnarama performance was not what he was looking for. “I’m very
aware of the drag world and the way it uses race in different ways,”
Thawer says.“But nothing has been quite so appalling.”
To the music of the Pussycat Dolls and Katy Perry, Donnarama
sported what she calls a "corset made of dynamite sticks" and a
traditional Islamic headdress known as a burka. She also had a bindi
spot painted on her forehead, which Thawer says is culturally dissonant
to the headdress. The bindi is a traditional South Asian decoration, not
Islamic.
Mini explosions, candles and fire lit up
Donnarama's stage as she performed "When I Grow Up" and "Firework,"
with choreographed dance moves mimicking the use of a gun.
As
Thawer looked around the bar, he was angered to see many patrons
filming the performance with their cellphones and approaching Donnarama
to reward her with tips. When she began another number in the same
outfit, Thawer couldn't bear it any longer.
He booed from the audience, gave Donnarama the finger, and left Woody's in tears.
Comforted by friends, Thawer took to social media to share his experience. He wrote a public Facebook note, which was eventually published on The Huffington Post Canada blog, and has received more than 1,200 "likes" as of Dec 21.
"This
performance is nothing short of hate speech, racism, and violence,"
Thawer wrote. "A community icon basically assaulted me (and the entire
queer Muslim/racialized table I was at) and then my queer community sent
me the message that this was okay."
Woody's has a
pre-existing understanding with Donnarama that says she is "not
supposed to do anything like that," says general manager Dean Odorico.
She has been spoken with regarding her performance, he says. The
freelance performer is not an employee of the bar, and Woody's staff
members were unaware that she would be performing the routine in
question, Odorico says.
This isn't the first time the Donnarama performance has sparked outrage.
In
late spring of this year, she performed a similar number to mild
controversy at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, where she is also a regular
act. The performance made some staff members uncomfortable, and the theatre received a complaint from a patron. Artistic director Brendan Healy addressed the incident in a public Facebook note Dec 19 in response to Thawer's post, which called for a boycott of Buddies and Woody's.
Formal
screening policies on performance content do not exist at Buddies,
Healy says. The theatre gives its performers the benefit of the doubt
that they will adhere to the values that Buddies holds paramount, he says.
"Obviously,
drag — and, in fact, queer art — a lot of it is designed to offend, to
upset, to disrupt, to critique," he says. "That's at the heart of what
queer cultural expression is about. That being said, I don't think queer
art is about perpetuating negative stereotypes. It's a fine line."
Kevin Nixon, a University
of Toronto PhD student researching drag queens, says the line often
wavers. "Drag can be used to reinforce particular stereotypes, but it
can also be used to transgress those stereotypes."
Race
is not foreign ground in the drag world, with many performers
attempting — successfully or otherwise — to make political statements.
It needs to be approached cautiously, Thawer says.
"As an artist I regret nothing, as a person I want to communicate," writes Donnarama.
"You
can't call it art and good social commentary if you don't have a
message or a critique that is tied in to a larger political
conversation," he says. For Thawer, Donnarama failed to do this.
But the popular drag queen says her performance is, in fact, charged with post-9/11 race politics.
"Suddenly
the cowboys had their Indians and the game was on," she wrote in an
email chat about the political climate after the Sept 11 terrorist
attacks. "My idea was to present this stereotype as a political parody."
Though not an excuse, the performer's intention should be considered, Nixon says.
"It's
not that she went out to create a racist performance," he says of
Donnarama, but that it is "part of systemic and institutionalized racism
that exists in the queer community."
Many agree
and consider the performance part of the bigger picture of race
relations in Toronto's queer community. It's an atmosphere, according to
Thawer, of "white gay hegemony."
In response to
Donnarama, Thawer called for a boycott of both Woody's and Buddies:
"Demand an apology and from the establishments, demand some
accountability," he wrote. It's a move that has been met with criticism
from some who deem boycotting the incorrect response.
Toronto drag queen Dolly Jones says a boycott of the Church Street bar has already been happening for years.
"Woody's
is a very predominantly white bar anyway, to the exclusion of many
queers of colour," Jones says. "But I think white queers should stand up
and support fellow queers of colour as well."
Buddies'
Healy hopes the community reacts in a different way, too. Instead of a
boycott, Healy says, the community should engage Woody's, Buddies and
Donnarama in a dialogue.
"Boycotting probably
won't work," Thawer concedes. "I don't take it back, but I also think
people can be critical and challenge each other in different ways." He
suggests initiatives such as public forums or panels, and even a drag
event at which ethnically diverse drag queens would perform.
Donnarama is open to joining the conversation too, she says.
http://sassywire.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/uh-oh-islamophobic-drag-queen-performance-in-Toronto/
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