Celeb drag queens weigh in on Harry Styles ‘Vogue’ dress backlash: ‘Men should be allowed to be feminine’

Harry Styles wears a blue down while featured as the first ever man to be on the cover of Vogue's December issue, but conservatives like Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro have tweeted expressing their contempt for the image.

Owens in her tweet says, "There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack."

Drag queen and TV Personality, Monét X Change, responds to Owen's tweet by saying, “I just don’t understand why they immediately jump to the feminization of men being a negative thing. Men being feminine is not the problem, men should be allowed to be feminine.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon also weigh in on the backlash. “If you were well versed in the world of fashion, then you would know that it used to be masculine to dress in forms that we would now refer to as feminine,” says Jinkx Monsoon. “They don’t have any concept of how gender expression has evolved throughout the generations… to be where we are now where men are confined to suits.”

“We as the queer community, are allowed to feel both ways about it,” says Jinkx Monsoon. “We’re allowed to be happy that this is happening and that someone of such prominence is breaking down gender boundaries and binaries in such a big way, and we’re also allowed to feel disappointed that it’s not a trans femme queer person of color on the cover of Vogue, because [they] have been breaking down these boundaries and binaries for a lot longer than Harry Styles has.”

Video Transcript

MONET X CHANGE: Recently, Harry Styles was on the cover of "Vogue," the first male to be on the cover of "Vogue," and adorned in this beautiful Gucci periwinkle dress gown and a very fierce Gucci tuxedo jacket. And of course, Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro had a lot to say.

Candace Owens-- you ready for her? "There is no society that can survive without strong men. The steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is not a coincidence. It is an outright attack." Then Ben Shapiro said, "Anyone who pretends this is not a referendum on masculinity for men to don floofy dresses is treating you like a full on idiot."

I just don't understand why they immediately jump to the feminization of men being a negative thing. If you ask me, men feeling that they need to be "men" and toxic masculinity is the problem in society. Men being feminine is not the problem. Men should be allowed to be feminine. I think that if men are allowed to feel and be more feminine, there will be way less people pressing buttons. What do y'all think?

JINKX MONSOON: Well, I completely agree. And you know what I-- what always makes me laugh is conservative straight people-- they don't know a goddamn thing about fashion, period. Because if you were, like, well versed in the world of fashion, you would know that it used to be masculine to dress in forms that we would now refer to as feminine. Like, that was masculinity back in the day. So they don't have any concept about how gender expression has evolved throughout the generations, throughout thousands of years, to be in where we are now, where men are confined to suits because that's what some asshole told us was right.

BEN DELACREME: Well, the flip side of making the kind of progress that we're making is that we have to listen to these idiots comment on it, but it's, you know, part of-- I think what is important to kind of remember is like, they were always there. They weren't complaining about shit, because shit wasn't happening. And now it's happening, and that's, you know, ultimately what's going to get us where we need to go.

JINKX MONSOON: We as the queer community are allowed to feel both ways about it, you know? We're allowed to be happy that this is happening and that someone of such prominence is doing this breaking down of gender boundaries and binaries in such a big way. And we're also allowed to feel disappointed that it's not a trans femme queer person of color on the cover of "Vogue," because trans femme queer people of color have been breaking down these boundaries and binaries for a lot longer than Harry Styles has. But he looks hot, and I would do it!

MONET X CHANGE: Same!