Drippy body paint, sweaty flesh and bad beer. Sound familiar? No, it's not your typical fetish party, it's the Drag Ball, and student backlash has already begun.
What were you feeling before the Ball? Excited, hyped up, ready to party? I spent an abundance of energy preparing myself to be a seductive queen, yet the next day I thought the night might have been better spent in A-level. Why is the Drag Ball made out to be such a spectacular event when it always turns out be such a let down?
Most students agree that the Ball is memorable only for its surface appearance, not its content. Rather than the advertised iconoclasm of sexual repression and tradition, the Ball was more like a Halloween party with everyone in variations of the same costume.
This uniquely Oberlin party event exemplified all the symptoms of un-communication which typify every Oberlin event. The drag attitude was so grounded in egotistical exhibitionism that student interaction was at a minimum. People tried so hard to look like `hot shit' and act cool that it became a large scale Wilder Bowl inside the Student Union.
College first-year Andrew Poe said that the Ball was "all image, no personality." This is usually the case with most students. I wonder why I thought that the people who don't acknowledge me walking through King would talk to me over the blaring music of the Ball dance floor.
I can't say that I wasn't part of the problem. As I covered my face in white makeup, sculpted my lips, and had my eyes and hair done, I transformed. Gone was the bookish academic, in his place was an exotic, statuesque beauty hiding behind a silky red blouse and fan. I became so involved with acting the part of a sensual and silent diva that I wouldn't even acknowledge my friends, let alone strangers. The point of the Ball, though, should not be to hide behind constructed facades, but to let that hidden identity out under the guise of a new person.
So should the Drag Ball degenerate into a normal Oberlin party? The answer both before and after the Ball was no. Making Drag Ball dreams come true is every student's responsibility as well as the Ball's itself.
The poor attempt at disguising the old Drag Ball Bible in a new cover won't cut it in our competitive academic environment! A new brochure should highlight that drag attitudes need to be friendly and approachable as well as stylishly hip, a departure from everyday Oberlin behavior.
Every king and queen must be an active participator, not just a spectator. If you didn't dress up to walk the walk, then what did you get dressed up for? Quiet little grottos like the Cafe Fantasie need to be moved to the forefront. A ball consists of socializing and dancing, not just dancing and staring. More opportunities to approach other deviants in a social environment would be nice, the 'Sco's overblown version of TGIF doesn't cut it.
After doing so much pre-Ball thinking about what would make the night shine, I wonder if this situation can ever be salvaged. It's depressing to think that this is the state of Oberlin, that we can't come together and still be able to talk, dance, and enjoy one anothers company while cross-dressing.
Taking my shower before crawling into bed, I reflected on the night and the role I played. Like a photograph, there was little more to me than image, and the Ball itself seemed like an elaborate movie. My goal for next year is to be a more outgoing personality, and maybe socialize with people using my mouth instead of my eyes.
Perhaps if the Ball encourages such iconoclastic behavior, and other students feel the same, we can have some solidarity as a campus and make some new friends. If only we could do the same when the make-up comes off.
Photography by Adam Reitano & Laren Rusin
Online Design by Zach Williamson
© 1997; The Oberlin Review