Better and Worse Pretexts for Drag Comedies

Lindsay Beyerstein

Better: You and a buddy witnessed the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the only way you can get out of town alive is to dress up like dames and flee in an all-girl jazz band. (Some Like It Hot, 1959)

Worse: You and a buddy are such sad sack victims of anti-male oppression that you have to dress like women to get a job in big pharma. (Work It, 2011)

Billy Wilder is spinning in his grave.

Lindsay Beyerstein is an award-winning investigative journalist and In These Times staff writer who writes the blog Duly Noted. Her stories have appeared in Newsweek, Salon, Slate, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and other publications. Her photographs have been published in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times’ City Room. She also blogs at The Hillman Blog (http://​www​.hill​man​foun​da​tion​.org/​h​i​l​l​m​a​nblog), a publication of the Sidney Hillman Foundation, a non-profit that honors journalism in the public interest.
The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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