- Hardcover: 180 pages
- Publisher: Random House USA Inc; illustrated edition edition (8 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0679414436
- ISBN-13: 978-0679414438
- Product Dimensions: 25.7 x 17.5 x 1.3 cm
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
1,889,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #15 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Transsexuals
- #15 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Gender Studies > Transsexuals
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
"Drag is a loaded topic, triggering ferocious responses in a wide variety of people. There are men (both straight and gay) who abhor drag for its flamboyant display and find it alarming that the transition from masculine to feminine can be made by means of something so facile as a change of clothes, and others who are seasoned spectators, who go out and look at drag queens the same way some guys watch Monday Night Football. As for women, there are those who consider drag queens their soul sisters, and others who feel insulted by drag as a mean-spirited, sexist caricature. There are intellectuals (men and women alike) who champion drag as a laboratory for what is known in academic circles as 'gender studies.' And finally, there are those who consider drag decadent, perverse, reprehensible."
But no matter what you think of it, there can be no denying that drag is everywhere--The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Dennis Rodman and Howard Stern; Hedwig and the Angry Inch--and in Girlfriend this fantastic world of gender-bending is explored by former New York Times Magazine style editor Holly Brubach and celebrated photographer Michael James O'Brien.
Brubach, once described as a writer "who could make a safety pin sound fascinating," covers the drag scene in New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Rio, Tokyo, and Bangkok, introducing us to a wonderful group of vivid personalities who bring cross-dressing to life in the unique style of each city. Girlfriend features individual artists and group events: Wigstock; the annual drag queen invasion of the Pines on Fire Island; the banda d'Ipanema's parade through the streets of Rio during Carnaval; a "Diamonds Are Forever" party in Japan. O'Brien's photographs portray a world of great diversity--witty, flamboyant, touching, and enormously imaginative.
Girlfriend is a brilliant and insightful look at the people and places that create this vibrant culture. In the end, this guided tour tells us as much about our own received notions of gender as about the imagination and artistry of the men and women who dress as members of the opposite sex. Girlfriend is a passport to a new world, one brimming with creativity and joie de vivre, contradiction and irony.
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Customer Reviews
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4 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Best analysis & pictorial of the art & life of drag
14 Jun 1999
Format:Hardcover
Masterfully done by a man (photographer Michael James O'Brien) & a woman (Holly Brubach), who share a real appreciation of the fine art of cross- dressing & its trials & triumphs, this is the best, most caring analysis of drag & its artists I've ever read & the empathy & depth of perception caught by the photos (some color, some b/w) is alone more than worth the full price of admission (which I was glad to pay in the bookstore!)
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
The best photographs of drag that I've ever seen
16 May 1999
Format:Hardcover
As the proprietor of a drag performance club in New York, I eagerly awaited the release of this book, which had been rumoured about for almost a decade on the scene. Well, this book was worth the wait!
Brubach does a workmanlike treatment of the material, including some outstanding documentation of Parisian icon J. Alexander, but it's O'Brien's photos that make this book a must for anyone interested in transvestism, drag or late 20th century glamour. This former student of Walker Evans certainly carries on the documentary tradition brilliantly here, with this non-cliched, deeply sensitive portraiture.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Very entertaining!
26 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
Initially I picked this book up on the strength of the wonderful photographs by Michael James O'Brien. However it was the broad scope of Holly Brubach's look at the phenomenon of drag in different cultures and the depth of her observations about gender, which ultimately delighted me.
Ms. Brubach writes with a keen eye and ear for ironic details. Her expertise in the field of fashion and the arts gives her a unique perspective from which to write about drag, but if you think this subject superficial prepare to be surprised. Her humor, necessary to exploring such a subject, often had me laughing out loud. Highly recommended!
Ms. Brubach writes with a keen eye and ear for ironic details. Her expertise in the field of fashion and the arts gives her a unique perspective from which to write about drag, but if you think this subject superficial prepare to be surprised. Her humor, necessary to exploring such a subject, often had me laughing out loud. Highly recommended!
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