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Writer's pictureSuffocated Art Specimen

Can drag queen have multiple Persona




A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, is the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional character. The word derives from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. On the social web, users develop virtual personas as online identities.


People can have multiple personas that they use in various situations; this can include work, being with friends, at home, etc. Depending on the individual's circumstance, a persona which they consider stronger within their specific social situation can be created because they put a higher emphasis on social interactions.


A drag persona is typically the imaginary drag personality one belives their drag has or want to be. Drag persona defines their drag character, whether it's beauty or dark, soulful or comedy their persona becomes a medium for the artists to traverse the reality of who they are as a person with what the boundaries and extends of their drag character can be.


As drag imitates life, a drag performer can pick up mutliple personas, usually, every drag persona is identified via it's drag name which distintivly seperates that drag self from their true self., but can a drag performer have multiple drag names they identify with each persona, the answer is yes.


For example, a drag artist can choose which persona they would like to present for their certain audience. One drag persona can be different in age, gender identity, humanism from other drag persona. And a performing body can transform to all of these seemlessly. Just like a theatre actor or film actor can drive between two different characters.


However, we hardly find drag queens with multiple drag personas, usually because it's hard to market the performance if they have multiple personas. Usually a drag queen use one persona to market and reach their audience. It becomes easy to explain what they want to present and how they want to, and also a drag name becomes their brand identity. When muliple drag personas need to be marketed it makes it a large sellable piece of art, and usually people avoide complex art pieces. Hence drag performers Channelize all their personas into one.


But, personas also depend on what and with whom they react their performance. Usually, a drag performer can choose on a persona for live and another persona for online performances. These personas can also be specific to their performance type, typically a drag persona associated with singing can be suitable for a singing performance and the same performer can choose another persona for dancing.


As gender itself is growing to be multiple possibilities, then why restrict a gender performance to present one drag persona. It's high time to embrace and spread the multiplicity of drag personas and see each of them as a package of inclusivity and accept the diversity of the art of drag.

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