Wang Newton - named Mei-yin at birth - is a New York City-based drag king and entertainer, and one of the few in the drag community of Asian-American background. The following story was told to Kelsey Castañon and edited for length and clarity.
I was born in Taiwan and grew up mostly in the Midwest and central Pennsylvania after 5 years of age. As a queer person assigned female at birth (AFAB), I can't say it was fun to live in small-town America under a roof of traditional Chinese culture. You are consistently being told that children should not talk back to parents, even if only to correct a fallacy happening at the moment. Boys are expected to carry the family name. The culture teaches AFABs to be shy and conservative.
I enjoyed my feminine fashion and presentation. To be honest, I was not consciously trying to explore my masculinity. That doesn't mean I did not do it subconsciously. This, to me, is what a journey can be like for anyone growing up in an environment not aware of artistic or diverse possibilities of life.
Image Source: Courtesy of Dr.Wang Newton
While I jest, the phrase "I didn't choose the drag life, the drag life chose me" holds true for me. When I was 19, I was on a European cruise with neighbors and won a bottle of bubbly for lip-syncing to "New York, New York" in a three-piece suit. Years later, I was supposed to be an extra in an unknown indie film as "Cambodian Village Woman," but suddenly they had me playing a Khmer Rouge soldier, and the director chose to zoom in. I didn't even know I was doing drag - I just kept getting rewarded when impersonating a man.
This was in the early days of my gender and sexuality exploration, so dressing in traditional male clothes once was all it took for me to enjoy acting.
from POPSUGAR https://www.popsugar.com/beauty/Drag-King-Interview-46211919
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