Turner 1

Devin Turner
DAlessio
UWRT 1102-020
11 February 2016
Proposal
My knowledge of drag queen and transgender issues comes mainly from media; things that I have
seen in movies, television, on the news and, occasionally, in literature. I know that both are regularly
misrepresented and exploited for comedic value, with drag queens being the more frequent victim of
maltreatment. What I dont know about the two groups far exceeds what I do.
Im most interested in how the representation of both drag queen and transgender individuals has
changed throughout history, to what degree the two have been conflated by the general population and
how much the two are actually connected. I personally dont understand drag culture; Id like to learn
why seemingly ordinary men are compelled to dress as women.
My central question is: how the representation of drag queens and transgender persons has
changed in media over time. As a subset of that Id also like to know how views towards both groups has
changed as well, given that media may not be a true reflection of the views of a population at that time.
I think that almost all of the answers to my questions will come from internet sources. The
representation of both groups in film will also be a useful source for understanding their history. Scholarly
sources will likely only be useful for increasing my understanding the transgender demographic; drag
queens are unlikely to be an interesting subject for researchers.
Narrowing my research to changes in one specific media, like film, would be the most effective
way to reduce the amount of research I would need to do. I dont think this will be an issue, my writing
tends to be very concise and the more information I have to work with, the more likely I am to meet the
minimum page/information requirement of whatever were assigned.

Turner 2
Devin Turner
DAlessio
UWRT 1102-020
11 February 2016
I would add more media or increase the timeframe of my research. Adding music as research
subject for the changes in the views/representation of drag queen and transgender persons would likely
give me plenty of concepts to research, while only giving me minimal information. Sources like blogs and
social media would be useful for modern views; while youtube would be a good source for modern
representation.
The subjects were researching are controversial and multifaceted; theyre often misunderstood
and lack significant research potential in academia. We hope to accurately represent both groups without
bias while also maintaining a measure of respect for the people whose lives were attempting to
understand.