Masquerade in Clubland: A Safe Space for Glamour

Abstract

In this article, I examine social performances framed in photographs of the diverse, glamorous, and camp world of nightclubbers, particularly those at Suzy Mason’s nightclubs in England. The cross gender dressing, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clubbers include a diversity of drag queens and others who play with gender boundaries and camp within the safe environment of the club. My investigation of masquerade and glamour in their self-presentations concerns notions of what constitutes the self and how the self is visually presented. My analysis contrasts the alluring persona presented in a club environment with the stigmas associated with the marginalized persona presented in everyday life. The club-goers’ glamorous veneer often masks the suffering they endure in their day-to-day lives. Following Judith Butler’s (1990) theory of gender, I explored the idea that the presentation of the gendered self is essentially a social performance constructed to communicate a physical and sartorial message.