Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? - Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag

"In the 1970s, queer people were openly despised and drag queens scared the public; this was also the era when Doris Fish (born Philip Mills in 1952 in Australia) rose to drag queen stardom. He was a leader of the generation that prepared the world not just for drag queens on TV but for a society that is more tolerant and accepting of LGBTQ+ people. How did we get from there to here? Craig Seligman looks at Doris's life as a way to provide some answers while recounting this vivid era in LGBTQ+ history, giving needed insight to how drag has become the performance phenomenon we know today"--

About the author

Craig Seligman has written for and edited at a host of magazines, journals, newspapers, and websites. He is the author of Sontag and Kael: Opposites Attract Me (2004). He lives in Brooklyn.

Summary

  A vivid new history of drag told through the life of the pioneering queen Doris Fish
 
In the 1970s, queer people were openly despised, and drag queens scared the public. Yet this was the era when Doris Fish (born Philip Mills in 1952) painted and padded his way to stardom. He was a leader of the generation that prepared the world not just for drag queens on TV but for a society that is more tolerant and accepting of LGBTQ+ people. How did we get from there to here? In Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? Craig Seligman looks at Doris’ life to provide some answers.
 
After moving to San Francisco in the mid-’70s, Doris became the driving force behind years of sidesplitting drag shows that were loved as much as you can love throwaway trash—which is what everybody thought they were. No one, Doris included, perceived them as political theater, when in fact they were accomplishing satire’s deepest dream: not just to rail against society, but to change it.
 
From the rise of drag shows to the obsession with camp to the conservative backlash and the onset of AIDS, Seligman adds needed color and insight to this era in LGBTQ+ history, revealing the origins and evolution of drag. 

Foreword

A vivid new history of drag told through the life of the pioneering queen Doris Fish

Product details

• Authors: Craig Seligman
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2023
• EAN: 9781541702165
• ISBN: 978-1-5417-0216-5
• No. of pages: 352
• Dimensions: 156 mm x 240 mm x 34 mm
• Weight: 580 g
• Illustrations: 18 B-W illustrations; 2 8-pp color inserts for 1st print only
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Letters, diaries; Humanities, art, music > Art; Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; Biography: general, 20th Century, Of specific Gay & Lesbian interest, General & world history, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, History: earliest times to present day, Gay & Lesbian studies, General and world history, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ / Gay and Lesbian Studies, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / LGBTQ+, Relating to Trans / Transgender people or gender minorities, HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / General