Drag queens are performers - often gay men or
transgendered people - who dress in "drag," clothing associated
with the female gender (see drag king for women who perform in male
clothing), often exaggerating certain characteristics for comic,
dramatic or satirical effect . The term "drag queen" usually refers
to people who dress in drag for the purpose of performing, whether
singing or lip-syncing, dancing, participating in events such as
gay pride parades or pageants, or at venues such as cabarets and
discotheques.
Types of drag are generally divided into three
categories: parasitic drag, lift-induced drag and wave drag.
Parasitic drag includes form drag, skin friction and interference
drag. Lift-induced drag is only relevant when wings or a lifting
body are present, and is therefore usually discussed only in the
aviation perspective of drag. Beyond these two kinds of drag there
is a third kind of drag, called wave drag, that occurs when the
solid object is moving through the fluid at or near the speed of
sound in that fluid. The overall drag of an object is characterized
by a dimensionless number called the drag coefficient, and is
calculated using the drag equation. Assuming a constant drag
coefficient, drag will vary as the square of velocity. Thus, the
resultant power needed to overcome this drag will vary as the cube
of velocity. The standard equation for drag is one half the
coefficient of drag multiplied by the fluid density, the cross
sectional area of your specified item, and the square of the
velocity
Wind resistance is a layman's term used to describe drag. Its use
is often vague, and is usually used in a relative sense (e.g. A
badminton shuttlecock has more wind resistance than a squash
ball).
Drag in its broadest sense means a costume or
outfit that carries symbolic significance, but usually refers to
the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person
of the other gender. The term originated either in gay or theater
slang in the 1870s, where the official long-established theater
term for "cross-dressing" on-stage was travesti (French,
"cross-dressed," giving rise to "travesty" which took on further
connotations as a genre of critical vocabulary). The term "drag"
may have been given a wider circulation in Polari, a gay street
argot in England in the early part of the last century. Unlike
"threads," "drag" never simply meant "clothes."
