Beauty
All Hail the Drag Kings
Drag kings bear the brunt of reality, but that’s no reason to step down.
by Kyla Villena
Published on Jun 25, 2025
Heavy is the head that wears the crown. The alluring jewels and the glittering thrones appear nothing short of desirable from an outsider’s perspective, but for the monarch for whom they were made, they could merely be reminders of the challenges—sometimes, burdens—that come with the responsibilities they were born into.
From the time they were conceived to the manner they were raised, royals are usually already destined to face these. You don’t choose to be regal; you simply are. And as it is not typically within your power to decide whether you want to be in line for the succession or not, you also can’t choose the biological sex you are given and the gender identity you feel at home in. Again, you simply are.
In a perfect world, none of these will matter and you can just be, but the truth is: Being assigned female at birth puts a long list of inequalities in your fate, identifying as queer sets you up for a lifetime fighting an uphill battle, and transforming into a drag king makes you face the reality of having a kingdom that’s located almost six feet under.
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Beyond the Mainstream
This may be your first time discovering drag beyond the mainstream, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. After all, drag kings had their own moments of finding out about it by themselves, too. The sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, in particular, was the gateway for Marts, Meg, and Gab. Competing in the show were queens only, but despite that, it gave them the first spark—that small step into recognizing that drag is something they wanted to do.
A Royal Curtsy: Meet the Drag Kings
Inah Demons
Marts is a social media manager, but Inah Demons is the “Tumblr sexyman of drag,” which they described as “a cringe thing on Tumblr na a lot of straight women are really attracted to, kahit mukha silang loser.” Attractive in an unconventional way, basically. They started calling themself Inah Demons in 2018, making their first public appearance the following year.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Marts sees Inah as an alternative, kitschy, and heightened version of themself—from the personality and vibes, to the overall energy. It was in 2021 when they had their first performance, with the help of confidence built from speaking with other artists. In their words, “Everyone else thinks I’m a drag artist, so bakit ako makikinig sa mga haters diyan?"
Savvy
As for Meg, her theatrical background and her current occupations as a technical writer and sound engineer have trickled down into her personality as Savvy, who is both a king and a queen. “When I perform in drag, I'm a star” was the simplest way she put it. She has been seeing drag queens perform for a decade now, but it was only in 2024 when she tried making it her own, thanks to Chappell Roan’s Tiny Desk Concert.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
By establishing presence as a drag queen, Savvy became exposed to other forms of the art, and that led her to decide that her queen wanted a king—which she, herself, could be too. “As a king, I think I exude some sort of quiet confidence that I don't necessarily have as just myself, as Meg. When I'm Savvy, I can feel my confidence in here. I don't have to try so hard for you to feel it.” Her introduction to drag kings? Alpha Venti.
Alpha Venti
The details and embellishments on the face of Alpha Venti are a reflection of Gab’s skills as a graphic designer. Upon discovering that there were AFAB drag artists, he soon encountered the existence of drag kings. 2019 was when Alpha, who Gab describes a a goblin, was born.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
He was primarily intrigued by the range shown by drag kings from the States (there aren’t many of them from the Philippines anyway), who showcased their expression by being “very masculine, very goofy, very campy” all at once. With that, he found courage to explore his artistry and to become who he is today, saying, “I dance like a superstar, I lipsync like I think no one else can,” crediting Alpha as the more confident half of himself at times.
The Spectrum of Drag
Despite its association with a masculine authority, being a drag king doesn’t require one to be macho and macho only. Tapping into her experiences, Meg expressed that drag kings and drag queens may seem like two opposite ends, “but for me, it's a spectrum, and wherever you perform your character, you can slide between those two. And I think that's one of my favorite things about drag—I get the freedom to choose.”
Gab added, “Drag kings really aren't bound by the need to fit ourselves in a box. We can express ourselves in a lot more ways and still be valid as we call ourselves drag kings.” Marts shared that the label is primarily based on the aspects of the performances and their aesthetics. “With how much drag is a spectrum, there are even performers na neither. They don't call themselves a king or queen,” which is something Marts also feels comfortable with.
Beauty as a Royal Guard
To paint you a picture, our conversation took place as Marts, Meg, and Gab were getting ready to step into their drag personas. It felt like the days between Christmas and New Year—it’s a weirdly placed, ordinary time, but you spend it knowing that something even more exciting is about to come.
Much like the said season, Marts had their hair in a bald cap, preparing to go from their relaxed, short haircut to Inah's long, curly one. Meg had her casual outfit on, and yet she also had Savvy’s pink eyes. Gab was testing Alpha’s pin-adorned coat, but without his pointed shoulders and golden headpiece.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Figuring out what you want to do, how you want to love and live, and who you need to be involve complex thoughts and processes, naturally. You can only hope that it all radiates from the inside out, and that’s how beauty has become a key player that helps unlock the way. It turns into a tool to transform your looks, so well that it makes you want to give yourself a new name.
An Extension of the Self
Each of the three kings find that the faces they have made serve as a reflection of the other passions that drive them forward. As Meg explained, “I can just come in as myself bare-faced, but that's still me. If I come in fully glammed up and in complete drag, I just put an exclamation point.”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Needless to say, it’s not always rainbows and butterflies. “There's this certain stigma around beauty that, most of the time, people think you only do it for the attention of men, women, and other individuals. But that’s mostly coming from a very self-centered or narcissistic point of view,” said Marts.
Meg, having pink as her signature color, zeroed in on the importance of correcting what she’s been told many times, to the point where she started to believe it. “I think I've grown to unlearn that misogyny within myself, that I'm not supposed to be super femme or super glammed up—that people would consider it like I'm being too woman, basically. Or if I'm a king, like I'm taking up too much space.” She added, “I've grown to accept that it's okay for me to like myself. And it's not wrong that I like myself. Beauty and drag contributed so much to me feeling that way.”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
To that, Gab agreed. “This was sort of a gateway to liking yourself and discovering that you're better than what people say.” In recognition of his growth, he acknowledged that beauty was once utilized as a mask to hide his insecurities, but one way to take a step away from that practice is through, well, delusion.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
“All of us are of the mindset that the drag we put on or the faces we wear are an extension of our identities,” but this is easier said than done. It takes so much time to overcome the thinking that getting into drag is what will make you feel secure. “Slowly but surely, I did discover the importance of knowing that, even without the mask, even without the artistry I carry, I'm still pretty beautiful. I'm still me.”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Don’t Be a Drag, and Don’t Be a King
Setting aside how the kings feel about beauty, drag can look like an excuse to spend hours putting on makeup for the uninitiated. Maybe it’s just another reason to dress up. For them, it might simply be an addition to the many ways AFAB individuals prove that they’re maarte.
What they don’t realize is that stepping into drag is one of the few means for people like Marts, Meg, and Gab to take ownership of who they truly are. It’s a world where they’re meant to live free and have the liberty to just be. It took years for the three kings to establish the faith and confidence they have in themselves, and yet it will take many more for others to build the same.
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
A Problem Throughout History
“Even though we like to say na very caring and very tight-knit ang queer community and ang drag community, there are still spaces, moments or experiences that tend to go to misogyny, transphobia, and lesbo-phobia even,” Marts opened up.
Drag kings are usually put in a position where the need to fight for themselves arises, and yet when they do, it becomes another problem. Meg shared, “It's like we're supposed to just be okay with what we already have, which is so much less than what drag queens and trans women in the queer community already have. Why are we just supposed to be okay with that? Just because we're AFAB, we're barely a thought?”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Gab also added to this, saying, “If you're a queer person and you're visible, that doesn't always grant you equal pay. It doesn't grant you your human rights. Visibility does not pay the bills. Visibility does not protect you from weirdos or creeps stalking you at night. Visibility does not protect you from systemic issues like misogyny that you're always expected to face alone, dahil lang assigned female at birth ka.”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Tagging herself as “your sapphic fantasy,” Meg explained that “at its core, it’s where you can be completely free to be your sapphic self.” However, not many places, especially in the Philippines, allows her to bring that fantasy to life. “They get people with a lot of clout, with a lot of numbers, and who has that? Who is in the mainstream? It's not us. But the only reason why those people got to that point in the first place is because people took a chance on them.”
Not even pride month offers a glimpse of change. Gab recalled a recent, quote-unquote, celebration where organizers hired drag queens to perform as drag kings for one night only and never again, instead of having actual drag kings grace the event. He shared, “There's a running joke among drag kings in the States na for a lot of kings, their peak time is pride 'cause diversity hire sila. Frankly, I wish that were also a running joke here 'cause they don't even book us for Pride.”
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Having been told time and time again that they’re not marketable, their fantasies aren’t buyable, and their appearances aren’t profitable, it might be easy to wonder: What makes them think they’re worthy of being king? What kind of king has a kingdom that doesn’t even want them there?
To answer with a question in return:
Is there a greater display of authority than carrying on and having your existence become a form of resistance?
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PHOTO BY DARYL NACARIO.
Produced by the Preview Team
Editor-in-Chief: Marj Ramos-Clemente
Creative Director: Bacs Arcebal
Managing Editor: Reg Rodriguez
Assoc. Multimedia Director: Jana Jodloman
Producers: Kyla Villena and Paulina Singh
Photographed by Daryl Nacario. Video direction by Jana Jodloman, shot by Teddy Garcia Jr., assisted by Alfred Locsin. Story by Kyla Villena.
Kyla Villena loves a good lip gloss and a trip to the art gallery. She is Preview's beauty girl, who doubles as a self-proclaimed motivational speaker.