Attacks on Mihlali Ndamase are just a drag

You have to admire Mihlali Ndamase’s star power. At just 23 years old, she could do pretty much anything and have it result in her name topping Google searches and Twitter trend lists for days on end.

At some point, she even landed up on the front page of a newspaper because she was all that anyone could talk about.

Her latest YouTube video has people asking whether or not a straight woman can do a drag make-up tutorial, or even get paid for promoting a show synonymous with queer culture, and consensus has yet to be reached.

Ndamase was contracted by BBC Brit to produce a piece of content to promote season one of RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK, which is currently airing on DStv.

She decided to make a get ready with me (GRWM) video out of it and recreated one of the looks of the contestants.

Throughout the tutorial, Ndamase explained her understanding of drag make up and the techniques employed by performers whose primary goal is to make a masculine face look as feminine as possible in order to sell the illusion.

Legendary drag performer RuPaul Charles – affectionately known as Mama Ru – is responsible for single-handedly catapulting drag culture into the mainstream with RuPaul’s Drag Race, which is now 12 seasons deep after 11 years on air.

It has launched the careers of countless drag queens and given birth to spin-off shows and versions of the show in other countries.

Just last year, Drag Race Thailand had tongues wagging when it was announced that cisgender women were allowed to audition.

Russian-born, Thailand-based drag Queen Felicia Heals became the first woman to do so after having only done drag for less than 12 months.

Throughout the history of the show, cishet females have been central to what the show is trying to achieve and they have always been welcomed by the show’s creators, cast and crew to be part of the fun.

Most recently, RuPaul’s Drag Race USA season 12 invited some female superfans onto the show to get made over into drag queens, walk the runway in drag and perform as the drag queens have to in order to save themselves from elimination each week.

Additionally, in Secret Celebrity Drag Race, episode two of season one featured three female celebrities, Tami Roman, Loni Love and Vanessa Williams, who underwent drag transformations and performed as drag queens to win a cash prize donation for the charity of their choice.

Based on the principles of drag’s foremost ambassador, Mama Ru, there is no need to attack Ndamase and accuse her of purposefully trying to exclude queer South Africans from an opportunity to earn some money.

If anything, this opportunity should teach those who have a problem to identify their favourite local drag performers and support their work in order to elevate them to the same level as Ndamase, thus putting them in line for some of the same opportunities in future.

All their complaining has done is get Ndamase 24 000 views in less than 24 hours, thus sending her video to YouTube’s trending page.

Kaunda Selisho.

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