• DOI:10.1080/20551940.2019.1640512
• Corpus ID: 201507478

Haptic Aurality: On Touching the Voice in Drag Lip-Sync Performance

@article{Bird2019HapticAO,
  title={Haptic Aurality: On Touching the Voice in Drag Lip-Sync Performance},
  author={Jacob Mallinson Bird},
  journal={Sound Studies},
  year={2019},
  volume={6},
  pages={45 - 64}
}

• J. Bird
• Published 2 January 2020
• Art
• Sound Studies

ABSTRACT Lip-syncing is a ubiquitous phenomenon within the drag community. From high-femme queens to gender-queer club kids, lip-syncing is the drag queen’s modus operandi. Within this article, I will interrogate a particular claim made by one of London’s premier drag queens, the mononymous Rodent, in which they argue that an intensely high volume of sound is necessary to create a successful lip-sync performance. Using interview quotations from Rodent, I chart the importance of an immersive soundscape in lip-syncing, one that allows the drag queen to engage tactually with sound’s vibrations. Synthesising Rodent’s comments, I propose that they engage in a form of “haptic aurality”, drawing upon theories set forth by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, as well as Laura Marks. Using this theory, I then argue that the reason haptic aurality results in a successful performance is due to the way in which it helps to suture the break between drag queen and loudspeaker, facilitating the reperformance, dramatisation, and extension of the processes of everyday speech, as set out by Maurice Merleau-Ponty.