Victoria Scone calls out ‘misogyny’ in drag on Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs the World
Victoria Scone. (DR Canada Three Productions / Saloon Media Inc, Aleksander Antonijevic)
Victoria Scone has called out “misogyny” on Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World.
It comes as the queens on the second iteration of the international Drag Race spinoff series, …vs The World, discussed the term “fishy”.
The word is traditionally used to describe when a drag queen looks like a cisgendered woman, associating the ownership of a vagina with a ‘fishy’ smell, and was uttered by competitor Stephanie Prince in the season’s previous episode during a girl group challenge.
Season three Drag Race UK competitor Victoria Scone re-entered the werkroom and bought up the subject with the remaining contestants.
Scone, the franchise’s only AFAB (Assigned Female At Birth) queen so far, asked Prince: “As the only cis woman here, I can’t not say it. Did you use the word fishy in your verse, out of curiosity?”
Upon Prince confirming she did, Scone asked: “Would you understand why that might potentially be offensive to a cis woman, or anyone that owns a vagina?”
Prince replied that the term has been “reclaimed” as a positive phrase in the Philippines and is “embraced”, to which Scone replied: “People say ‘I look like a biological woman, so I look fishy’, because that connects a woman’s vagina to smelling like a fish.”
In the confessional chair, Victoria Scone continued: “I know that not everyone will agree with me, but I can’t hear misogyny in drag culture any more.”
Prince – who narrowly escaped elimination over fellow Canadian queen Kendall Gender – performed a verse which included the lyrics: “Humble, shady, my eyes on the prize / Drop it low, they mesmerize / Looking fishy, catch me, flip me / Stampede queen, y’all be ready!”
Drag king Landon Cider – winner of season three of drag competition show Dragula – voiced his support for Victoria, writing: “Misogynistic gay men have long hated on lesbians in spaces they deemed as “theirs”. This isn’t new.”
Im late to the fish fry but it seems most people coming for @VictoriaScone dont know that gay men have HISTORICALLY & w/DEROGATORY intentions, referred to Queer cis women as “fish”.
Misogynistic Gay men have long hated on lesbians in spaces they deemed as “theirs”
This isnt new.
— LANDON CIDER (@LANDONCIDER) November 27, 2022
The season also features Vanity Milan of Drag Race UK season three, Ra’Jah O’Hara and Silky Nutmeg Ganache from season 11 and All Stars six, and previous Canada’s Drag Race winner, Icesis Couture.
Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World is now streaming on BBC iPlayer and is broadcast on BBC Three.
