Written by Simone Heim (they,them)
Rose Butch from their HYPERBAE interview, photos by Garrett Riffal
Full of life and expression, nonbinary drag performer Rose Butch has an energy and presence that takes up a stage. In their performance of Dream a Little Dream of Me at Vancouver Pride 2019, they showcase tropes surrounding the devil and the occult, something that has become a sort of tradition in the history of drag. The art Rose Butch has and will make, and the way they convey their message by playing into historical ideas of homosexuality and transgenderism that thrive in our society today, are to the benefit of modern drag performers, while still providing unique challenges with the homophobic public. Examining the history around the occult symbolism in drag helps to provide context to the use of these images, as well as the backlash still being received today and how it fuels the style.
Rose Butch's Performance at Vancouver Pride 2019, one of two performances online that they presented for the event.
The performance itself has many parts contributing to the overall theme of innocence and corruption, with an overlay of themes of Christianity. The costume looks with white or very light pink, they look like a doll with their face painted in big white and black designs. There is a fur shoulder cape they wear, tied with a ribbon almost identical to the one around their neck. As Rose Butch comes out on stage, they carry a cone of cotton candy as if it is a bouquet of roses at first, then accidentally knocking it off and eating pieces with glee. They untie the shoulder cape, shimmying it off with their back to the audience. They begin to unzip their dress, peeling it to their hips and then turning around. The reveal happens: Rose Butch has a Pentagram ‘carved’ into their chest.
Crystal Method's very own Red Devil Drag makeup tutorial, another contribution to the culture.
At the reveal, their movements become much more erratic, still consistent with the body lines they have had the whole performance. In dance, there is a lot of focus on the shapes and angles made by the body, something that Rose Butch exhibits even during the higher energy performance they give once the top of their dress is off. Taking tip money from patrons in silk white gloves, they hold a gripping stare and a big smile, white teeth stark against black lips. All the money goes into a pile they have in a set piece of ferns (I think) on stage, and after one final pass, they return to the pile and pick up a red Baphomet mask. They hold it and walk around stage with it covering their face for the last pit of the performance, the mask the same color as the pentagram on Butch’s chest.
This is just their take on these themes we've discussed that have been explored by drag performers throughout the ages, and there are obvious differences between every performance and performer in the subgenre. For example, Sharon Needles has an album titled PG-13 featuring a song called Hail Satan! featuring Jayne County. Her goal in the album was a more rock, punk, and therefore more honest, version of Sharon Needles that tied into ideas of Satan and rebellion. This is in stark contrast to Rose Butch’s interpretation of innocence with corruption, even though they connected to the same historical piece of drag culture to craft their performance or song.
"I had to stay true to my original aesthetic, and that is Sharon Needles: a punk rock, downtown, Pittsburg drunk clown who loves doing transgressive stage art and loves fucking pushing your buttons, so I knew I needed to write a track that really reflected that." -Sharon Needles
Sharon Needles in an Interview about her album, PG-13, and her song Hail Satan!
In the more public media, Satan and associated images have been used against LGBTQ movements for ages. The church tied the actions of the community to what they viewed as taboo and sinful, so they had excuses to attack and discriminate against swarths of people they found offensive. Throughout the ages, gender non-conformers reclaimed this tool of hate that had been used against them for so long and took it into their performances and characters. There is a Nonbinary performance group in Victoria based on themes of the occult called The Haus of Occult that has performances in the same spirit and vein as the Rose Butch Vancouver pride performance.
When examining the images within Rose Butch’s performance, contrasted against others within the community, I understand better why they made the choices with costume they did. At first, I had a problem with the use of a Baphomet mask, since Baphomet is a completely separate entity from Satan or lucifer or any of that, but it does not really matter in the end. The public will often see drag as sinful anyways, these drag performers are simply accepting the way people think of them regardless. As the occult was also persecuted and executed by the church for hundreds of years, there are a lot of themes and ideas that are attractive to each community on either side.
Rose Butch film shoot for the CBC, directed by Josephine Anderson.
“Adrienne Rich’s concept of Compulsory Heterosexuality [examines] how drag queens, such as Todrick in his musical, or, for example, Sharon Needles and Evah Destruction elsewhere … take their outsider position created by a compulsorily heterosexual society and embrace it through presenting as a wicked witch.” (Boeckner)
In Rose Butch’s performance, they create a spectacular showing of the occult and how it has blended into drag culture, specifically horror drag. They show their beauty and innocence, then strip down and show the mask of a negative interpretation of Baphomet meant to invoke a reaction from both the gays, who likely understood the reference within historical context or got the message, as well as a reaction from religious and conservative media sources who oppress the joy of the LGBTQ.
Sources:
Lam, Teresa. “Getting to Know Non-Binary Drag Artist Rose Butch.” HYPEBAE, HYPEBAE, 2 Dec. 2020, hypebae.com/2018/6/rose-butch-non-binary-drag-performer-lgbtq-pride-month-vancouver-canada-interview.
Knegt, Peter. “The World Is Not Worthy of the Talents of Rose Butch, Canada's Premier Non-Binary 'Drag Thing' | CBC Arts.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 7 Feb. 2020, www.cbc.ca/arts/the-world-is-not-worthy-of-the-talents-of-rose-butch-canada-s-premier-non-binary-drag-thing-1.5450521.
Zane, Zachary. “This Drag Queen Dressed as a Satanic Goddess to Read to Kids.” Gay Pride - LGBT & Queer Voices, PRIDE.com, 18 Oct. 2017, www.pride.com/dragqueens/2017/10/18/drag-queen-dressed-satanic-goddess-read-kids.
Smothers, Thairin, et al. “Sharon Needles' Let The Music Play - Hail Satan! Featuring Jayne County.” YouTube, WOWPresents, 2 Dec. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGRmCL9E_xE.
Rawl, Ada. “Haus of Occult.” Facebook, 16 Aug. 2018, www.facebook.com/HausOfOccult/about/?ref=page_internal.
Boekner, McKenna. “‘You've Got the Wrong Bitch’: Empowered Queer Identity through the Contemporary Witches in Oz.” UNRH, 8 Jan. 2018, unrh.org/youve-got-the-wrong-bitch/.
Stang, Tara. “Rose Butch - Puppyteeth's Drag Carnival - Vancouver Pride 2019 at Celebrities.” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Aug. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgdlFdBWwiw.
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