This LGBTQ+ History Month UCL Her Campus brings you an interview about drag’s ability to transform lives.
I was first introduced to Perfection in October 2019 through Instagram. Her bright pink wig, sparkly makeup and (the now trademark) snake print leotard brought a new source of colour and joy into my life. For LGBTQ+ History Month this February we at Her Campus UCL wanted to bring you an interview with Ruben Brown, the individual behind the drag persona to share a perspective on what it is like to be an unapologetically bold young LGBTQ+ person today in modern Britain.
Drag queens are now ruling our mainstream pop culture thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race. For those who are unaware, it is a reality TV show where 12 drag queens compete in a series of challenges and runway shows to become America’s Next Drag Superstar. It’s a delicious mix of drama, absurd hilarity, stunning outfits and makeup and powerful messages about loving yourself. The UK now even has its own series of the competition. It is through watching RuPaul that Ruben’s interest in drag was first sparked: ‘ I had so many ideas running through my head about what I wanted my drag persona to be and all I could think about when I listened to music was performing on stage and being a fully-fledged Drag Queen. It was not until I came to university that I had the opportunity to perform and take part in the art form.’
Aquaria, Bianca, Alyssa. Whether if they’re known for their head-turning couture looks, sharp wit or show-stopping dance moves, each of these queens has a skillfully crafted drag persona. I asked Ruben to walk me through his long and tumultuous journey to find his unique persona, a process he described as ‘a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. She was born out a process of learning to love myself. Before I came out I suffered from an eating disorder, and after receiving therapy and coming out I realised that I am capable of anything. I am called Perfection as a reminder to myself that I am always enough. I will never let myself go back to that dark place and Perfection is the light that gets me through those moments of self-doubt.’ Learning to love ourselves is an important lesson we can all learn from drag queens, they pave the way for shameless self-love and celebrating our beauty with all its flaws, and we should emulate them. In the words of Mother Ru, ‘If you can’t love yourself, how the hell are you going to love somebody else?’
This feeling of being able to do anything through drag is further propelled by the ‘out of body’ rush Ruben experiences when performing on stage. His all-time favourite lip-sync song is Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift, and recommends that we watch the ‘Into You’ Valentina and Monet X Change lipsync from Drag Race All-Stars which he believes to be ‘everything a lip-sync should be!’ His favourite dance move is the ‘splits done slowly in time to the music.’ It’s a definite crowd-pleaser although he admits he has become a little rusty over lockdown.
Outside of drag, Ruben discussed his luck in having amazing and supportive friends and family: ‘My mum is my biggest fan and my dad and brother celebrate who I am. I am grateful to have people in my life who have allowed me to live my truth and be who I am unashamedly’. However, Ruben’s everyday experience was not always this wonderful. ‘School was pure hell, there was constant bullying and on some occasions physical attacks.’ A Stonewall report has highlighted that LGBTQ people continue to face abhorrent levels of abuse, harassment and discrimination on a daily basis with one in five experiencing a hate crime or incident related to their sexual orientation or gender identity in the last 12 months. Furthermore, four in five victims have not reported it to the police, many because they feared that it would not be taken seriously.
During these bleak times, drag queens offer us joy, comedy and fashion fabulousness to cheer us up. Ruben is an active member of the Drag Society at Sheffield University and wants to ‘share the power of drag’ beyond their community to ‘celebrate who we are as individual artists. You do not have to label any parts of your identity and we love seeing all the different interpretations of drag. Whether you are a drag king or queen, or anything in between, or neither there is a place here for you.’
He leaves us with the final note to be our truest self. ‘Once you are your truest self unapologetically everything else will fall into place.’ He recommends giving drag a go even is your makeup skills are lacking or you can’t quite walk in heels. ‘Drag will prove to you that all your wildest dreams can come true.’
Interviewing Ruben and being an avid follower of drag queens I think that we should all learn from their courage and authentic self-expression and incorporate that into our daily lives. You can find Ruben and Perfection on Instagram under the handle @lookitsperfection