The Vixen Is The Queen We Deserve
We’ve seen no one like The Vixen on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
She is bold, beautiful, and Black. She will center the truth, even if it makes everyone uncomfortable. She calls out problematic behaviors, in hopes of raising the integrity of spaces.
I think Tyra Sanchez has grown into the person who will call out the BS. However, in her season, she was not the person she is today in regards to centering Blackness and calling out white fragility.
I’ve been waiting for someone like The Vixen to gain a platform in drag. Hell, every organization needs a Vixen, lots of Vixens actually.
What do I mean when I say drag needs a Vixen?
Drag is like any well-intentioned profession. The culture lives at a diversity and representation place, and refuses to explore the ways in which it perpetuates violence around all of the –isms. Drag race specifically, pushes forward racist tropes, anti-Black sentiments, transantagonism, misogynoir, and features ableist and classist challenges. Drag culture is so much more than what we see on RuPaul’s Drag Race, however, this show has become a pop culture phenomenon and we must admit that it continues to have significant impact on more local drag scenes.
The Vixen is the first queen to enter the workroom stating that she is unapologetically Black, and actually living up to that sentiment in most parts of her life. Drag, as we now know it, must reckon with itself and it will only do so if folks hold up the mirror to it- critically and thoroughly interrogating the art form and the business around it. It is very telling that both The Vixen and Tyra are now alienated in several ways within the drag community, and utterly alone in calling out whiteness.
Drag needs an unapologetic Black queen who doesn’t bend at the will of whiteness. Someone that won’t settle for being treated as a second class citizen, and that’s The Vixen. However, this does not mean that the responsibility of holding drag culture accountable is solely on the Black queens.
Below are questions that I’ve tracked in the infamous comment sections on social media, in regards to The Vixen. I’m going to answer a few of them, in hopes of saving The Vixen time. Moreover, please interrogate the origins and implications of these questions.
Why does she like to fight?
In her opening tagline, The Vixen says, “I’m just here to fight.” Later she explains that she was not referring to individual queens, but the rigor of the competition. However, I think this is also in reference to her values and how she engages the world around her. She will fight for herself, she will fight to ensure conversations are rooted in truth, she will call out fragility, and hold folks accountable for their actions.
What’s the difference between The Vixen, Bianca Del Rio, and Raven?
The Vixen is Black.
All of these queens have been labeled as truth tellers, but only two of them are held as drag race royalty.
Why is she so negative/mean/angry?
She isn’t, but you all are committed to that narrative. The Vixen is sure in her talent- she’s funny, she dances, she acts, and produces unique and beautiful looks. However, what bothers y’all most is that she owns her gift and knows her worth. She doesn’t back down to mediocrity and she doesn’t fall silent to anti-Black sentiments.
She is unfairly judged on her drag, as all other Black queens are.
Black queens are often called ugly, often compared to animals and drug addicts, and often scolded for not being enough in a variety of ways informed by an anti-Black politic- and in this case we’re only talking about drag race. Can you imagine how this takes form in life outside this show? And to be clear, these anti-Black sentiments are administered by white queens, brown queens, and even Black queens who have pledged allegiance to whiteness.
For example, on the latest episode of Untuck, pay close attention to the folks who attempt to coach The Vixen into being less angry to accommodate Aquarius and her tears. The folks who place the burden of taking the higher ground on The Vixen? Black folks are always expected to respond respectfully and with a calm voice in response to the violence they are recipients of. We are expected to love our enemy, and when we do not oblige all hell breaks loose. And then the angry Black (woman) trope is formed. The notion that the Vixen needs to be less mean or less assertive to queens who come for her is absolutely ridiculous.
Why did she make the incident with Aquarius about race?
Hear me for the last time. Everything is racialized! To live in the year of 2018 and still have a colorblind lens is not only foolish and intentional, it is also violent and dangerous. The Vixen did not make this squabble about race, it was always about race. For white folks I know that this is hard to accept, but every decision and choice you make is informed by your whiteness.
For instance, white queens and some non-Black queens of color like to think that their popularity and high booking fees are all due to their wondrous talent, and this is simply untrue. Most of the accolades and popularity is because they are closer to the standard of beauty- white, European features, thin, and physically and mentally able-bodied. This is directly correlated to the amount of time or episodes they stay on the show. Pay attention to who the greater drag community roots for. Pay attention to who on average has the most Instagram and Twitter followers. Pay attention to who consistently gets booked. Pay attention to the queens who are constantly being attacked around their body and talents, without any prompting.
White queens (and many non Black queens of color) love to throw the rock and then hide their hands, exactly how The Vixen described it in the latest Untuck episode.
What do you mean by throwing the rock and hiding your hand?
Please read this article by a dear friend.
Examples:
The way many queens talk about Tyra Sanchez being undeserving of her crown, but then quick to label her as angry and negative when she claps back.
-or-
When Milk told Kennedy that she should have gone home instead of Thorgy and that she is not a fan of her drag aesthetic. When confronted, Milk cried wolf.
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When Trixie posted a mean letter Thorgy wrote about Shangela, claiming that it is not that big of a deal. When confronted, Trixie pretended that the entire act wasn’t hateful and shady, basically gaslighting Shangela.
All this to say, The Vixen is our dark knight of season 10 (or drag culture in general).
This is the work of Cody Charles; claiming my work does not make me selfish or ego-driven, instead radical and in solidarity with the folk who came before me and have been betrayed by history books and storytellers. Historically, their words have been stolen and reworked without consent. This is the work of Cody Charles. Please discuss, share, and cite properly.
Bio:
Cody Charles is the author of Roseanne Is Back! And This Time I Am Not Tuning, Mudbound: Uncovering The Parts Of Ourselves We Sacrifice In Order To Survive, Our Favorite Blackity Black Quotes In Black Cinema, Engaging My Black Fat Body, Black Up The Cast: Re-imagining Iconic Horror Films, I’m Fearful of White People and Whiteness, Re-Imagining Black Love, You Can’t Outdo Black People, Black Joy, We Deserve It, The Night The Moonlight Caught My Eye: Not a Review but a Testimony on the Film Moonlight, 5 Tips For White Folks, As They Engage Jordan Peele’s Get Out. (No Spoilers), and What Growing Up Black And Poor Taught Me About Resiliency. Join him for more conversation on Twitter (@_codykeith_) and Facebook (Follow Cody Charles). Please visit his blog, Reclaiming Anger, to learn more about him.
