Editing Drag queen (section)

===Female impersonator===
{{main|Female impersonation}}
The term ''female impersonation'' refers to a type of theatrical performance where a man dresses in women's clothing for the sole purpose of entertaining an audience.<ref name="SQ"/> The term ''female impersonator'' is sometimes used interchangeably with drag queen, although they are not the same.<ref name="SQ"/> For example, in 1972, Esther Newton described a female impersonator as a "professional drag queen".<ref name="newton_3"/> She considered the term ''female impersonator'' to be the one that was (then) widely understood by heterosexual audiences.<ref name="newton_3"/> However, feminist and queer studies scholar Sarah French defined a clear separation between these two terms. She defined drag as an art form associated with [[queer identity]] whereas female impersonation comes from a wide a range of [[gender identity]] paradigms, including [[heteronormativity]]. Additionally, many drag artists view drag as a lived form of self-expression or creativity, and perceive drag as something that is not limited to the stage or to performance. In contrast, female impersonation is specifically limited to performance and may or may not involve an LGBTQI point of view.<ref name="SQ">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvKqDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22female+impersonator%22+%22drag+queen%22&pg=PA94|title=Staging Queer Feminism|page=94|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan UK]]|isbn=9781137465436|first=Sarah |last=French|date=13 April 2017 }}</ref>

Female impersonation can be traced back at least as far as ancient Greece. There was little to no gender equity then and women held a lower social status. This meant male actors would play female roles during theatrical performances.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gewertz|first=Ken|date=17 July 2003|title=When men were men (and women, too)|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/07/when-men-were-men-and-women-too/|access-date=10 February 2022|website=The Harvard Gazette|archive-date=11 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211052711/https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/07/when-men-were-men-and-women-too/|url-status=live}}</ref> This tradition continued for centuries but began to be less prevalent as motion pictures became popular. During the era of [[vaudeville]] it was considered immodest for women to appear on stage. Due to that circumstance, some men became famous as "female impersonators", the most notable being [[Julian Eltinge]]. At the peak of his career he was one of the most sought after and highest paid actors in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Goodman|first=Elyssa|date=6 April 2018|title=Drag Herstory: This Drag Queen Was Once the Highest Paid Actor in the World|url=https://www.them.us/story/julian-eltinge-drag-queen-history|access-date=10 February 2022|website=them.|archive-date=11 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211051829/https://www.them.us/story/julian-eltinge-drag-queen-history|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Andrew Tribble]] was another early female impersonator who gained fame on Broadway and in [[Black Vaudeville]].<ref name="Kentucky">{{cite web |title=Tribble, Andrew A. |url=https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/59 |website=Notable Kentucky African Americans Database |publisher=University of Kentucky |access-date=3 February 2024}}</ref>

In the twentieth century some gender impersonators, both female and male, in the United States became highly successful performing artists in non-LGBTQ nightclubs and theaters. There was a concerted effort by these working female and male impersonators in America, to separate the art of gender impersonation from queer identity with an overt representation of working gender impersonators as heterosexual. Some of the performers were in fact cisgender heterosexual men and women, but others were closeted LGBTQI individuals due to the politics and social environment of the period. It was criminal in many American cities to be homosexual, or for LGBTQI people to congregate, and it was therefore necessary for female and male impersonators to distance themselves from identifying as queer publicly in order to avoid criminal charges and loss of career. The need to hide and dissociate from queer identity was prevalent among gender impersonators working in non-LGBTQ nightclubs before heteronormative audiences as late as the 1970s.<ref name="Glitter">{{cite book|chapter=Chapters 4 & 5|title=Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City|first=Elyssa Maxx|last= Goodman|year=2023|publisher=[[Hanover Square Press]]|isbn=9780369733016}}</ref>

Female impersonation has been and continues to be illegal in some places, which inspired the drag queen [[José Sarria]] to hand out labels to his friends reading, "I am a boy", so they could not be accused of female impersonation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/sarria_j.html |title=>> social sciences >> Sarria, José |publisher=glbtq |date=12 December 1923 |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203005833/http://www.glbtq.com/social-sciences/sarria_j.html |archive-date=3 December 2013 }}</ref> American drag queen [[RuPaul]] once said, "I do not impersonate females! How many women do you know who wear seven-inch heels, four-foot wigs, and skintight dresses?" He also said, "I don't dress like a woman; I dress like a drag queen!"<ref>Susan Corso (15 April 2009). [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-susan-corso/drag-queen-theology_b_175120.html Drag Queen Theology.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724195405/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-susan-corso/drag-queen-theology_b_175120.html|date=24 July 2010}} Retrieved: 1 April 2018.</ref>