Although women have performed as male impersonators for over a century, drag kings have only recently become something of a phenomenon, even making a cameo appearance last spring on Showtime’s The L Word. Because drag kings are generally lesbians in real life, drag kinging has become tangled up with butch identity and trans issues, and also has sometimes been dismissed as irrelevant to women’s experiences or even as anti-feminist.

But as the documentary Drag Kings on Tour (2004) shows, drag is first and foremost a form of performance art. Drag kinging puts a political and, yes, gender-revolutionary spin on wearing the pants (not to mention cowboy hats, chaps, jock straps, and sideburns).

Sonia Slutsky’s documentary follows a group of six photogenic drag kings on their 15-city, three-week-long “Kingdom Come” tour, complete with motorhome mishaps (at one point their RV falls into a ditch) and Real World-type drama. Organized by drag king/writer/activist Pat Riarch (aka Neeve), the tour makes stops in drag-friendly locations along the East Coast and in the Midwest, but also ventures into the deep south of Biloxi, Mississippi. Along the way they learn how to drive a very large vehicle, encounter the drag-ambivalent public, and teach several willing women how to apply facial hair.

Drag Kings on Tour also features some of the performances of each of the six drag kings, treating us to six very different interpretations of drag kinging and gender fluidity. Pat Riarch performs “Gender Game,” a spirited poem about refusing to fit into the categories of male and female. Ken Las Vegas, a Washington, D.C.-based drag king, sings Annie Lennox’s “Why” while outfitted in a pink-sequined tuxedo. Carlos Las Vegas, who hails from Winnipeg, prances around in feathers and fake fur as a flamboyant gay man. Christopher Noel, a Toronto drag king, performs one of the best strip teases I’ve seen to the music of David Bowie’s “Boys Keep Swinging.” Luster, an Ohio-based drag king, lip synchs to Teddy Pendergrass while dressed in full-on pimp style, and Johnny Kat, a New York City-based king, displays a gravity-defying bouffant in his role as a country hick.

But although the performances are entertaining and yes, the kings are not bad to look at, Drag Kings on Tour is about more than watching girls dressed up as boys; it also brings us into the personal lives and struggles of these six performers. Some of the most revealing moments occur when the parents of some of the drag kings come out to watch their daughters perform.

When the tour visits Milwaukee, we see Neeve’s parents sitting in the audience listening to her say the word “vagina” about a dozen times while performing “Gender Game.” Despite any feelings of discomfort this might bring up (who really wants to talk about sex in front of your parents?), it’s inspiring to see Neeve’s parents be so accepting and supportive.

In comparison, Luster’s parents, who attend a show in Ohio, are much more hesitant about embracing their daughter’s sexual orientation and drag performance, but the fact that they love her enough to watch her strut her stuff on stage is truly affecting. These moments allow the viewer to experience drag through the eyes of parents who are trying to understand why their daughters are doing what they’re doing, even if it makes them uncomfortable—as it does for many lesbians.

Gender and its fluidity is at the heart of most drag king performances, and Drag Kings on Tour deals with this slippery issue very effectively by focusing on a performance at the National Women’s Music Festival in Ohio. Women’s music festivals have been a staple of lesbian feminism since the 1970s, and the NWMF has been an annual event for 30 years. Luster acknowledges that being invited to perform at NWMF is something of a coup, because women’s music festivals have not exactly opened their arms to drag kings.

Many NWMF festival-goers as well as lesbians view drag kinging as a threat to feminism because on the surface it appears that the women who are in drag are rejecting womanhood. One festival-goer admits that drag kinging “seems like some kind of extension of misogyny at some level.” But Drag Kings on Tour shows that drag is about subverting gender binaries, not rejecting women.

This could not be any clearer than through the performances themselves, which typically take place at small clubs or bars where the audience (usually comprised of queer women) is encouraged to participate in the show. Make no mistake about it—these are bawdy shows that involve stripping and tipping, and when women in the audience run up onstage to fling themselves and their money at the performers, they are expressing sexual desire for these women in drag.

While some may see these shows as reinforcing heterosexuality—i.e., they are women pretending to be men, which makes it okay for other women to desire them—that argument is a weak one because the audience knows that the women in drag are women beneath the bound breasts and carefully packed trousers. After all, the shows are performed in queer spaces; people go there knowing they’re going to encounter other queers. These shows provide a safe space in which women who are attracted to women are not only welcome, but are expected to express that attraction publicly.

This has the effect of legitimizing lesbianism, just as girls swooning over boy bands contributes toward legitimizing heterosexuality. The performances also push the gender spectrum to make room for women to take on roles that men have historically monopolized: the Casanova, the gentleman, the boy next door, or even the asshole.

Resistance to drag kinging is put in perspective by one National Women’s Music Festival attendee who notes, “When we were young feminists, we were the radicals. And these [drag kings] are the radicals now. These are today’s radicals, and when I keep that in mind, then it does help me broaden my perspective.”

But while Drag Kings on Tour does a great job of letting us into the lives of these performers and showing us how drag can be revolutionary, it is not without flaws. When Ken Las Vegas decides to leave the tour after three cities because of a series of disagreements with Luster, Drag Kings on Tour briefly descends into bitchy Real World-esque reality TV. Luster unfortunately takes on the character of the wronged African American woman who seems to appear in all reality TV shows, and the other performers fall into lesbian hyper-processing that verges on the ridiculous. Thankfully, Ken Las Vegas departs the tour with grace (although s/he does shed a few tears) and the tour is soon merrily on its way.

Overall, however, Drag Kings on Tour is an entertaining and thought-provoking documentary. For those who have never seen live drag king shows, this documentary is definitely an eye-opener. For those who are interested in drag performance, Drag Kings on Tour tells a fascinating story about gender, putting on a show, and bringing that spirit to daily life. And for those who are simply interested in some eye candy, well, Drag Kings on Tour delivers in that area, too.

Drag Kings on Tour is playing June 23 in San Francisco as part of The San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival and July 9 in LA as part of Outfest 2004. The film will also be broadcast nationally on the Discovery Health Channel on July 17th at 9pm.