Editor’s Note: This article required gender-neutral pronouns. FM form follows the grammatical rules outlined in Kate Bornstein’s “My Gender Workbook.” E.g. “Ze likes hirself untucked.”
A drag queen and an archaeologist walk into a bar. Literally.
This past Saturday, the first Harvard Australian Studies Symposium brought Australian and American archaeologists together. And this past Saturday, a scheduling mishap bridged even greater divides by bringing these archaeologists to the Queen’s Head Pub Drag Show.
Did they enjoy an activity that didn’t lie in ruins?
“Absolutely. I’m actually a woman,” said Australian archaeologist Ken Mulvaney, who despite a single earring, looked convincingly masculine with his titanic grey beard.
“I haven’t worn a dress in years,” said Gary A. Hanes, of the University of Nevada-Reno, seeming to get into the show more and more as the free beers kept coming. “Whoops,” he added.
“It’s been educational,” said Mark W. Moore, a post-doc at the University of New England. “Say I was excavating an archaeological site and found a pair of pumps. I would have assumed it was a female artifact—but now no longer. It’s been an epiphany.”
As for the drag show itself, things went off with enough beauty and grace to make anyone question their assumptions (thanks to a Drag Workshop held in the Harvard College Women’s Center two weeks ago).
“When I twirl, it floats,” Roger J. Merado ’10 said with an incredulous look as ze twirled hir goddess-like skirt.
“Hormoney”, née Brandon T. Perkovitch ’11, pushed boundaries by sporting a light meadow of chest hair, which peeked coyly out from hir dress.
“I think it adds an element of excitement, and of exploration,” ze said.
But even at such a beautiful event, drama reared hir ugly head.
“This was the best night ever until my boyfriend came and saw me dressed as a woman,” said Bambi, a Harvard student who wished to be referred to by his stage name. Bambi’s distraught boyfriend soon stormed off.
So have you heard the one about the archaeologist who discovered a drag queen? It’s hirsterical!
