On the other, they’re often considered perpetual foreigners, unable to become fully Taiwanese without renouncing their original citizenship. On the one hand, Westerners in Taiwan are expats, immigrants who move through Asia with an ease and privilege that my parents never had in the US. I’m both awkward in my halting Chinese and guilty whenever I escape to the majority-white spaces where people default to English. “So many of the most popular performers in Taipei for years have been foreigners, so I felt very welcome,” they said, “But it always made me feel uncomfortable that there was so little Taiwanese representation.” Once I asked them how it felt to do drag in Taiwan as a white foreigner, wondering if their experiences were anything like my own. I only tried drag in the first place because they invited a group of potential drag kings from Facebook into their home, taught us how to coif and contour, helped paint a beard onto my face. Skye (Sawyer Darling in drag) is white, Canadian and a mainstay of Taipei’s drag scene. I watch my drag parent, Skye, confident and flamboyant in their sequins and goatee, and try to follow their example. Every day people so much braver than I am face more than the judgment of the metro, but my mind is still stuck on imagining what the people watching us must think. It feels strange to be so unmarked, to see people recognizing me as girl without the immediate prefix of Asian. If I follow the rules (no tank tops but short skirts are okay start your sentences with a 不好意思, excuse me, if you’re interrupting someone), then I don’t have to stand out anymore. My accent’s not entirely local, my Chinese sometimes stuttering, but my face does all the work for me when I’m trying to pass as Taiwanese. For what might be the first time in my life, I want people to think I’m not from here. Glancing around me, I speak louder and in English, hoping everyone hears the flat nasal drone of my American accent. You’re considered ‘weird’ already - it’s a judgment, but also a shield. If you’re visibly Western in Taiwan, you get to defy norms. An ugly thought comes: I’m so glad there are white people here. We’re sharing space with young professionals taking advantage of the holiday weekend, uncles and aunties ending their night just as we’re beginning ours. It’s evening in Taipei, and the air conditioning of the train is a sweet relief from the city’s tropical heat. We pile on to the metro in one laughing mass, our faces covered in glitter and painted beards. The Autostraddle Encyclopedia of Lesbian Cinema.LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.
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