Videa Gaymes by Danny McLaren
Michelle Visage says “you’re giving me boy” to a queen on the runway, like this is a scathing critique of drag. drag that’s a queer art form, drag with its deeply transgender history, drag that uses gender as its palette and canvas. that drag. to critique a gender performance for being not gendered right, not gendered enough, is absurd. but a mainstream audience means mainstreaming gender, too. Ru Paul says being trans is cheating. maybe drag shouldn’t have rules that don’t allow for gender-fucking or gender-queering or gender-cheating. maybe drag wasn’t meant to be commodified, have its value priced at one hundred thousand dollars and an absolut vodka sponsorship. I have a drag persona. her name is Videa Gaymes and she is your titty streamer fantasy. she’s a vocaloid, cyber robo bitch with a cat ear headset. she’ll fuck you in VR or AR or just plain R. she’s Y2K retro-futuristic, sega dreamcast meets oculus rift. her head is a webcam, her pussy is a USB port, and her body is a hologram. is she human? human enough to know that gender is bullshit and bodies should be made of metal. how do you critique a virtual girl? a drag-mech with a queer/trans/non-binary pilot? what is this gaming-console-computer-monitor-blender-from-your-kitchen-counter of a drag queen giving you? boy, girl, alien, android, high fashion nightmare– she can do it all. she’s just that versatile. Videa Gaymes will short circuit your brain. she eats live wires and transphobes for breakfast.
This piece originally appeared in Lupercalia Press' Vulcanalia 2021 Anthology.
Danny McLaren is a queer, trans and non-binary writer who uses they/them pronouns. They write about trans existence and resistance or video games, or both, if they can pull it off. You can find their debut poetry collection Two-Way Town with Ethel Press or keep up with them on twitter @dannymclrn.