Body Extension

Various body extensions are gender specific. In my presentation, I explored the use of such extensions to obscure gender lines, accentuating the characteristics on my model which humans use to typically distinguish men from women. I used the example of a drag queen to demonstrate how extensions can define gender, posing the encompassing question: does gender matter?

During the presentation, I used a woman as a starting point, layering characteristics of a man on top of her to add build and also to subtract other areas: such as widening her arms with socks wrapped in ace bandages, wrapping her chest down with ace bandage, and slipping small ace bandages on her fingers. These bandages were used to give a more skin-toned and smoother look than just taping a sock to her, also I chose this color because the dress she wore had mesh sleeves. I pinned up her hair, and added some “stubble” using a dark eyeliner and a porous sponge, applying it to the areas of the face that men would have hair. I applied dark shadowing to accent her jaw structure. The aspects thus far accounted for most of the male features that could be applied to counteract her feminine body structure. I shined a light on her from an overhead projector to temporarily put her “in the spotlight”. Also the unnatural light gave the feeling of falseness and to hint at the sensation that one might get sitting in a beauty salon, getting made-up for a special occasion.

I gave her/him a bra and stuffed it using random padding, which accentuated the lack of real breasts. She/he moved them higher up than normal to abstract them and further obscure gender. I then added various forms of makeup. Makeup is essential as an extension simply because of its societal associations of femininity. Excessive use implies that the wearer has something to hide or trying too hard to accentuate their facial features. I used: foundation, eyeliner, fake eyelashes, blush, and red lipstick – all very excessive. During the presentation, we had to smear it on quickly because of time constraints. Typically, a drag queen would either slap the makeup on if they were inexperienced, or they would take meticulous care and apply it precisely.

I then had her/him put on the dress and pantyhose, and stuff the pantyhose to accentuate a larger butt in a sort of comedic way. Then the dress was put on (a large sparking red dress to give a flashy look), and a matching scarf-like wrap that went around her/his neck, which would cover a man’s Adam’s Apple. To conclude, she/he put on black high-heeled shoes that were a couple of sizes too big, and much wider than necessary. I stuffed socks in the shoes so that it would appear that my model fit them. The finishing touch was long red gloves and a short black wig.

While the makeup was being applied, I had the audience take a piece of rolled-up paper that I had written questions on, such as: “What am I?”, “Does it matter?”, and “What does the public see?”. I asked them to discuss them and pin them up on a string that I had running from one wall of the class to the other. This was an addition, which enabled the viewers to interact and read the questions, seeing them dangling in front of them, unable to avoid their presence. I didn’t have much time to address the questions, due to time constraints. To finish off the presentation, I placed a transparency on an overhead projector that included images of both famous and unknown drag queens that I located on the internet. The meshing of the images over my model’s dress, reflecting in the bright light, was a good juxtaposition of those people that are obscuring the lines of gender in real life, and my own interpretation of this trend. I took a moment to explain my reasoning for this interlacing of images and named a couple of the famous drag queens on the transparency, and then I concluded with the removal of the whole attire.