Latest / gasp! the pod / how dolly parton became country's secret drag queen

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how dolly parton became country's secret drag queen · gasp! the pod

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And then he goes, do you exercise?
0:02
What kind of exercise do you like?
0:04
And she goes, no, I can't run. I have the tendency to block my
0:07
eyes because of her tits bouncing up and down.
0:11
Diva icon. Wow.
0:21
Hey you guys, welcome back to GASP the pod, the podcast for
0:27
the girls, the gays and especially the gay girls.
0:30
Short break, but I'm so happy to be back.
0:33
It is season 5. I hope you guys liked my new
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little intro at this amazing digital artist created for me.
0:40
But yeah, welcome back. I'm so excited for this season.
0:44
Today we're talking about Dolly Parton, but not just about her
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incredible life and her career because she was so talented, but
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something more specific to this podcast.
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I am curious however, if there is a single great man that
0:56
watches this besides my father and if you are a straight man
1:00
and you are not actually in the category in which I list usually
1:03
the gays, the girls and especially the gay girls and
1:05
you're a straight man. First of all, that is shocking
1:08
that you are here. I'm so curious if you are
1:11
because if you like this podcast then you're like one of the good
1:14
ones. Raise your hand.
1:16
Let me know in the comments like I'm actually so curious.
1:19
Moving on to Dolly Parton, who was Dolly Parton?
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It's a question that has 2 answers because one is the
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character of Dolly Pardon, the wildly talented country icon,
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diva of the century, the two centuries, actually the icon
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that we know and love. The other is the real person
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underneath the wig and the rhinestones who we actually
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don't know much about at all. She kind of had an entire alter
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ego. It's giving Taylor Swift's
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performance art lerp. Taylor Swift, right?
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The person, the real person underneath all of this.
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This is the person we were not intentionally given the
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privilege to meet. When we think of the image of
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Dolly, we think of femininity. Femininity is so exaggerated it
2:00
looks like a costume. Hair teased to the gods, skinny
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teeny little waist. This curvy image of a woman.
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This like voluptuous woman, long sparkly nails, high heels, a
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teeny sweet southern voice. And this is the kind of woman
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that Dolly presented to the world.
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At face value though, it's giving what conservative country
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music thinks women are, right? Just kind of like high voices
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country girl and just like hot girl that has nothing else going
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on in her. Had a dumb blonde put a pin in
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that. Dolly does not reflect y'all she
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performs and she's the definition of performing
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femininity. If anyone's ever taken a gender
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studies class, does this sound like some type of gender theory?
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Like Dolly's giving pretty radical gender theory in her
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whole career, and that's kind of what we're going to be talking
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about today, because she used this hyperbolic expression of
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womanhood or drag to control her image, present it in a very
3:02
specific way, and then gain access to the culture that she
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would end up impacting for the rest of her life.
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Dolly's like hooker character art gave her freedom.
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It gained her intrigue. Everyone was like, what's
3:16
happening? What's going on with that girl?
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Right. While her performance of
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feminine as something that is giving camp looking camp right
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in the eye exposed the concept of gender as something that is
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like constructed, not really something that is innate to her.
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So in this first episode of season 5, we are honoring Dolly
3:37
Parton's legacy by talking about all of the good she did in this
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world. She literally would have been a
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billionaire if she didn't give away so much money.
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Not many men can say that. We're going to be talking about
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how she used her image to camouflage herself in the
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conservative world of country music because I think she was a
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secret liberal. And we're going to be talking
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about all the times that she bit back at men during interviews
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and her campiest moments. I think there is something kind
4:01
of beautiful about remembering someone that passes away because
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you get to reflect on their life.
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They're like, you're not really thinking about when she's alive.
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Like, I was not thinking about Dolly Parton two months ago, and
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now she's all I can think about. And a reminder that summer's not
4:15
over until Libra season least starts until my birthday,
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September 30th. It's not over.
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I love fall. I love witchiness.
4:23
I love practical magic. Like, don't get me wrong.
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But September astrologically the summer.
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Anyways, welcome to season 5, you guys.
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I'm not really going to talk about the theory that Dolly
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Parton is a lesbian or was a lesbian in this episode.
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However, I do talk about it in a bonus episode I just posted
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that's available on Patreon and Spotify.
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Go check that out. And yeah, please write me 5
4:47
stars. Subscribe.
4:48
It really helps. Thank you very much, much Love
4:50
you guys. Missed you guys.
4:51
Let's get into it. Dolly Parton, the person.
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Let's talk about the girl behind the wig.
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Dolly Parton was born January 19th, 1946, Capricorn.
5:00
So she's hard working in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, kind of in the
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middle of nowhere Appalachia. OK.
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She passed away as we know August 25th 2026 in Nashville,
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TN. Her home life was pretty wild.
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She was the 4th of 12 kids and lived in a small cabin in the
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foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
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Her mom birthing 12 kids is literally insane.
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She was raised in extreme poverty, had no running water or
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electricity. And I also just want to give
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context to what the political situation of her town and like
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the world was when she was like in her youth.
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Her hometown life was extremely religious Pentecostal.
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OK, so extremely, extremely conservative.
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Her career started in church singing gospel music and the
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politics of the time are really interesting too though.
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So she's being raised in this conservative area.
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However, the early to mid 1960s country music was not yet
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extremely political. It's giving championing lower
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working slash farming class. So like she fit right into that
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type of genre, but it wasn't yet like conservative because the
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politics of the time of 1960s is starting to be a little bit more
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sexual revolution vibes. You could see how Dolly being
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raised in this conservative area might want to like grasp onto
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this new culture that she can't access in her religious town.
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She's like, I don't want to dress up conservatively.
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I want to dress up like a woman. This hooker across the bar,
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which we'll talk about later. Dolly, when she first started
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her musical career, she was able to release like tongue in cheek
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breakout songs criticizing double standards.
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Like she was able to release that because the country world
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was not yet kind of like super political at this point.
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And like these songs, these first few major songs she
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released, it's giving feminist guys like it's pretty feminist.
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Like I don't know how you could argue she was a conservative
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besides her just refusing to label herself politically.
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But she was also able to criticize these gender double
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standards because she fit into what a pre Southern supposed to
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do and supposed to look like she's this pretty farming girl
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coming up into country. They were like, OK, so in 1967
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she releases dumb blonde. In 1968 she releases just
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because I'm a woman. She was always a feminist, even
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if people didn't realize it really quickly.
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I need to show you some of these lyrics from dumb blonde.
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And just because I'm a woman, don't try to make me feel sorry
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for you just because I'm a dumb blonde.
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Don't think I'm dumb just because I'm blonde.
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Ain't nobody's fool. Slay giving Sabrina Carpenter in
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just because I'm a woman, she says my mistakes are no worse
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than yours just because I'm a woman.
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Now a man will take a good girl and he'll ruin her reputation,
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but when he wants to marry, well, that's a different
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situation. It's like, speak on it, Dolly.
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Like she's calling out sexist ass men and men's behavior.
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Now I know I'm no Angel. That's what you thought you'd
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found. I was just the victim of a man
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that let me down a purr. It's feminist as fuck.
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From the beginning of her career in the 60s, but then in the late
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1960s, early 1970s, country music turns conservative and a
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lot of things start turning conservative like the Catholic
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Church turns more conservative reacting to the civil rights
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movement and white people no matter where they found
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themselves politically, often we're like fuck black people
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because they were racist and they were like we just don't
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even want to be in whatever party supports the civil rights
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movement. And then country music started
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getting more conservative. Now, Dolly Parton still stayed
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the same person and still stayed feminist, but like she's writing
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I Will always love you and Joshua and Code of Many Colors.
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And these other hits aren't necessarily like woman forward.
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The scene around her is starting to get more conservative, which
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is very interesting because she starts wearing all these cunty
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ass clothes and dressing like a hooker.
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And I'm not saying hooker in a judgmental way.
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Like she says hooker and people are now like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
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This might not go over so well. You're going to look like a
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slut. And she's like, that's the point
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in my perception of it. I think she's like, first of
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all, I'm already married to the bit.
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Second of all, this is my performance alter ego.
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She's still inside the realm of what they think a woman should
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be. So it's pushing just enough
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buttons in order to get her attention.
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It's like smart while being able to criticize the environment she
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was let into because she's performing womanhood at the end
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of the day, just an exaggerated version of it.
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Her musical inspiration was that her mother sang and played
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guitar and her grandfather was a fiddling preacher and she loved
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Appalachian folk and church music and that's what got her
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into the industry. But in terms of this like gender
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as performance inspo for her, when describing what inspired
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her look, she's told the story many times.
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She's like literally giving credit to hookers and women that
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didn't dress conservatively. Like that's so feminist to
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reclaim the beauty in that that when asked if she felt sexy, she
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said not really. She's like, this isn't about me.
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This is this look that's very pretty and like showing the
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distance between what a look is versus like who you are.
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Like wearing something doesn't make you a sexual person if
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you're wearing this specific outfit.
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And she would talk about how growing up in the Smoky
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Mountains, girls that had the quote paint and powder, they
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were the floozies. And Dolly said, I thought they
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looked good. He's literally like, first
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person. I feel like in pop culture to
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explain like, yeah, how you look does not mean that you are that.
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She's like, guys, duh. This is a character.
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And Seth Meyers asked her about this in an interview, and Dolly
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said, well, don't I look sort of like a hooker?
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And Seth Meyers is like, no, no, no.
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And she's like, I do too. She's like, we can say it.
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And I'm inspired by hooker culture.
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Like we do not give her enough credit for breaking down the
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difference between like what you wear in terms of being a woman.
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It doesn't make you who you are, doesn't mean you're promiscuous
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because you're dressing like a hooker.
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And hookers have great style that had that inspired fashion,
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you know what I mean? And, like, Dolly brought this
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fashion to the forefront, like, tramp camp.
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We need a Dolly Parton Met Gala theme, by the way.
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But yeah, Dolly Parton said that there was a town tramp in her
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town. And Dolly Parton said she
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thought she was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen.
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And she had this, like, big hair, lipstick, high heels.
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And Dolly said, like, as a country girl, she would see her.
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And she was just fascinated. And everyone else said, like,
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oh, she ain't nothing but trash. And Dolly said, well, that's
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going to be when I grow up trash.
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I'm speechless with how cunty that is to say and to know from
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being a young country girl in the 60s, crazy cool.
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She obviously got so much backlash in the press and had so
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many sexist men say horrible things to her.
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But it's also interesting because that also fueled her
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career and this very interesting type of dichotomy where she's
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being what people think women are or like country music and
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conservatives think women are, which is like trash if they
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dress this way. Yet she's refusing to lean into
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that idea of what a woman is just because she wears something
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like that. And then because she is pointing
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out that this is a character, she shows people that outfits
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are literally just outfits, like clothes are clothes.
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And like, this is not gender. Like this is a performance.
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This is a character. And like, that is so radical,
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that is so revolutionary. That is the definition of drag.
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What is drag? Let's look at the I'm pretty
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sure if the word drag comes from Shakespeare.
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According to HRC, drag is a performance art that uses
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costumes, makeup, and other tools to present exaggerated
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forms of gender expression to critique gender inequalities and
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imagine a transformational future where people are truly
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free and how they express themselves.
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Like that is literally what Dolly Parton is doing with her
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character art. And you can see from the
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beginning of like, how she's writing her songs that this is
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not an accident. She just like fell into this
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character and just fell into this revolutionary person
13:30
because she's writing about woman's inequality from the
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beginning of her career. And the fact that she was
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mesmerized by this hooker, it's also giving gay.
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And I'm not going to go into the theory that she was a lesbian.
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I'm just saying it doesn't not make sense.
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And also people can be by but obviously she was super, super
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private, not just about like her romantic life, but kind of
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everything in her personal life in a way where she almost only
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wanted her performance to be the visible part of what Dolly
14:00
Parton is. The fact that she like never
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showed her face without makeup in public.
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And like she talked about how her hair was a wig.
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All of these things about her that we saw was the character
14:11
Dolly Parton. First of all, that is the that
14:14
is performance art like, but it also gives her a sort of
14:17
protection that like when they criticize her, they're just
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criticizing this showgirl and not this person that she is
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inside. I mean, this is Taylor Swift's
14:27
game plan one O 1. I do think that Taylor Swift is
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sidebar communicating about her performance art through her
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music. I'm not sure Dolly Parton ever
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wanted to reveal anything about like the real her, especially
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the longer she got into her career.
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She definitely had a lock and key on what she did not want out
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there very intentionally. And her sister in recent
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interviews talked about how like apparently not many people reach
14:56
out to her sister in the industry because her sister is
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very outspoken anti Trump. And like, because Dolly was very
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firm and being like apolitical, even though everything that
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she's done in her career shows that she was progressive, she
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didn't want to legal herself in a certain way.
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And I think because of that, and you can argue this for different
15:15
people in different times of history and you know, different
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people have the different ability to impact certain
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communities. I think she had such a big
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impact because she was able to camouflage as a Republican, like
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she's one of the only people that everyone loves.
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Like, why do I love someone that Donald Trump loves?
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Donald Trump was like, I liked her.
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That's interesting. And like that's genius level
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marketing and not by accident. And so like that's performance
15:44
art too. Like it's, it's like for those
15:46
who get it, get it. And because she was able to like
15:49
slide by in the industry by like having a laugh and a chuckle and
15:53
doing casual radical explaining of gender in like these very,
15:58
very simplistic, comical ways, It makes it seem like she's not
16:02
trying to educate people, but really she is.
16:05
She's just doing it in a very she's doing it like a spy.
16:09
But anyways, there is something to be said about her gay
16:13
theories, her husband that was never anywhere.
16:17
And if they were open or not, it doesn't seem like she ever
16:20
wanted to talk about that. And like, the way that her
16:23
sister has been tight lipped about her life even after she's
16:27
passed makes it seem like Dolly was incredibly intentional about
16:32
what she wanted the world to know about her.
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I just feel like she reclaimed Tramp and she was so far ahead
16:40
of her time, but she reclaimed Tramp for herself rather than
16:43
for the intention of like men to sexualize her.
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She's like, oh, I, I love it. Like, I love this look.
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And still men are struggling to this day to conceptualize like
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why women put on makeup if they're not to attract men.
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Like that idea still makes so many men confused deeply.
17:02
Like, oh, why would women want to go to the club and look good
17:04
if it's not for men? It is so bewildering for them.
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And like, Dolly Parton in the 60s is like, I like this look
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and it's not for men. Like it's for myself.
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She just like pushed the envelope far enough while still
17:16
portraying as this like white gorgeous woman.
17:20
So with that said, let's talk about Dolly Parton the
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performer. Because the performer, Dolly
17:25
Parton, the character in what she morphed into through being
17:29
able to reinvent herself as this like hooker woman, she was
17:34
camouflaged in this industry. She camouflaged as a country
17:40
girl, this like hooker country girl.
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But also again, she's pretty. Like she's got pretty privilege.
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She's a white, beautiful, wonderful girl.
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And so it's like, it's radical, but it's also almost reaffirming
17:53
what men, again, think about women.
17:56
And so she probably got completely underestimated.
17:59
And she's so smart. So she was able to use her
18:03
fucking brain and manipulate men into making fun of them, making
18:07
power moves, being successful, and then influencing the very
18:11
people that thought she was just a dumb hooker.
18:14
She hid her actual political beliefs, but she did try, like,
18:17
that heart, Like, when asked about a certain issue, she was,
18:21
like, clear on her morals. And I think, like, we don't have
18:24
to be dense, you guys. Like, if someone says they,
18:27
like, love women, and then she's on the cover of Miss magazine,
18:30
photographed next to Gloria Steinem and that, like, all
18:33
people are God's children. You're not a conservative MAGA
18:37
person. And she's coming from country
18:39
music. And so let's be honest with
18:42
ourselves. Would she be able to be more
18:44
influential for like kindness and pushing literacy and pushing
18:49
love and respect for each other if people assumed she was MAGA
18:54
or if she started saying I'm a Democrat she would be kicked out
18:57
like the Dixie Chicks. And so like I don't think
19:00
necessarily like everyone should pretend to be MAGA, but for her
19:05
and her activism I feel like it was extremely influential
19:09
because she got conservatives to donate to her fucking fund that
19:12
maybe they wouldn't have done if they thought she was a liberal
19:16
Queenie. In terms of her music, she wrote
19:18
a song before she could even read or write and she's written
19:21
over 3000 songs over her career from love ballads and yearning
19:25
songs like Jolene to her classic folk narratives written about
19:29
her rural upbringing to like catchy almost pop songs like 9
19:34
to 5. She's released so many albums in
19:37
my research for this episode I was looking like OK wait what
19:40
was her like? Her breakout album and it was
19:43
like two albums every fucking year because apparently back
19:47
then they work these bitches into the ground and if you were
19:51
a country singer, sometimes you had to release 2 albums a year.
19:55
That's fucking crazy. Meanwhile, some of these girls
19:58
are going on hiatus for three years.
20:00
Get back in the motherfucking studio.
20:02
Get back in the studio. I'm in the studio of my
20:05
apartment. I don't know if I've ever seen,
20:08
by the way, Dolly Parton and Trixie Mattel in the same room.
20:11
I'm going to have to look that up.
20:13
But Trixie. And Dolly, their images and the
20:17
marketing of their characters. Marketing is so crucial there.
20:22
You knew it when you saw it, right?
20:24
It's very clear of like what she is and what she represents.
20:28
And that itself is something that she created, which made her
20:32
so famous. I don't want us like dumb that
20:34
down to be like, oh, she was only famous because of her look.
20:36
It's like, no, she was so smart. And yes, people viewed her as
20:40
like only this like voluptuous kind of like crazy silhouette,
20:44
big hair, red lips, bedazzled outfits, sultry feminine person.
20:49
But it's like any press is good props kind of shit, right?
20:53
And over time with this look, she pushed boundaries more and
20:56
more Like in the 70s she looked a less trampy then she started
21:00
looking in the 80s and 90s. And I say that with love and
21:03
respect. She was able to like push these
21:05
boundaries because she stayed generally accepted as this
21:09
curvy, gorgeous girl. Men would rather underestimate
21:12
you and keep you around than think that you're a threat.
21:15
And that was smart, too. She kept herself in good graces
21:18
and slowly pushed everyone's boundaries until she got to be
21:21
able to look exactly how she's always wanted to look in her
21:24
character. And that slowly pushed America
21:27
to be able to just view her overtime as like, that's just
21:30
Dolly Parton. And then that's normal.
21:32
That's crazy radical, like how she got people to be like, yeah,
21:37
cool. And growing up, I was like,
21:38
yeah, that's Dolly Parton. Everyone loves her for how she
21:40
looks like. It's kind of like soft launching
21:43
the acceptance of drag. Mind you, she also had a
21:45
husband, husband Carl Dean that helped her be able to conform to
21:50
country music standard. She wasn't the single slut, she
21:55
had a husband so it's OK. In the movie 9 to 5 was the
21:59
first of all. If you have not watched it,
22:01
you've gotta. She stars in it with Lily Tomlin
22:04
and Jane Fonda icons, legends the stars from Grace and Frankie
22:09
with these feminists in a movie that is unabashedly feminist.
22:13
And because Dolly Parton was in it, someone who is seen as like,
22:17
you know, this good girl of country music, she's able to
22:21
like be super feminist in this movie.
22:23
Yes, there was backlash from men who were like, oh, fuck this.
22:27
But like, it was a huge hit. It's literally a movie about
22:32
women being harassed in the workplace, and then they tie up
22:35
their man boss and then keep him hostage.
22:38
So ahead of its time. But yeah, like, she wasn't
22:41
viewed as this big feminist because she used her character
22:43
to reassure conservative audiences that she was safe.
22:46
She's like, oh, I'm just this dumb blonde.
22:48
Like, I just like my hair. And, you know, it's just a movie
22:52
about the workplace. And then, like, she's sneakily
22:55
pushing out feminist themes and like, she never says she's a
22:59
feminist. And she refused to ever say that
23:01
so that audiences could feel better enjoying the content,
23:05
absorb it, and then go on and like, maybe vouch for themselves
23:09
without feeling like this liberal burning bra feminist
23:13
because Dolly Parton did it. When this movie is coming out,
23:16
people don't have a good taste in their mouths about feminism.
23:18
If you say you're a feminist, there's many women that would be
23:21
like, shut the fuck up. I don't even want to hear that.
23:23
I'm not even going to watch this.
23:24
But they did. And then they loved it.
23:26
And then hopefully a lot of women vouched for themselves and
23:28
maybe kept their bosses hostage. Dolly Parton's humor and her
23:33
social awareness. Her humor often went over men's
23:37
heads. She was so quick on these
23:39
interviews where she was often being very disrespected.
23:42
In this time, if you fully bit back without humor, you're going
23:46
to be shunned from the industry Because she was like palatable
23:49
but sarcastic. She would often say something
23:51
like revolutionary or scathing and get away with it because of
23:53
her tone and her ability to make men feel like they're in
23:57
control. It all goes back to her first
23:59
hit, Dumb Bond, truly. And it honestly is super unique
24:02
in show business to be this well liked but then also be so quick
24:08
in interviews. She said in an interview in 2009
24:12
with Morley Safer that she looks like a woman but thought like a
24:16
man not in that business. It helped her a lot and that
24:20
these men underestimated her because of her looks and that
24:24
helped her. And she's so smart and like,
24:27
obviously women are smart, if not smarter than men.
24:29
But you guys, you know, in the patriarchal sense, she thought
24:33
like a man or how men thought men thought, you know, you got
24:38
it, she said. By the time they realized, like
24:40
what was going on, I would have the money and I'd be gone.
24:45
So smart use the underestimating from this character, this
24:50
performance of herself that she also enjoyed putting on and used
24:54
it to her benefit and then donated that money back into the
24:57
communities that she wanted to serve.
24:59
Like you diva icon. Like that is performance art.
25:03
And then the fact that she's talking about this and being
25:05
like, ha ha, ha. David Letterman has been like
25:08
absolutely disgusting to her in interviews and like along with
25:11
many other men in one appearance on Late Night with David
25:15
Letterman in 1995, she says nobody notices.
25:19
I've got a great ass too. 1995, she said that God and people
25:23
would be so gross to her. Also about her weight.
25:26
So David Letterman, fuck you. David Letterman says, oh, last
25:30
time I saw you, were you this weight or were you skinnier?
25:33
Hello. And she was like, yeah, I was
25:35
too skinny. You don't know her healthy
25:37
weight. Oh, my God, so fucked up.
25:39
And then he goes, do you exercise?
25:42
What kind of exercise do you like?
25:44
And she goes, no, I can't run. I have the tendency to block my
25:47
eyes because of her tits bouncing up and down like that
25:52
is so fucking funny. She won this and now everyone's
25:56
laughing with her and he's trying to like demean her.
26:00
And whenever men would like bring up her body, she's like,
26:05
I'm going to do even one more and be like, my boobs are mine.
26:08
I bought and paid good money for them.
26:11
Iconic lines. And she never let men feel like
26:15
they won when they were talking down to her.
26:17
I'm sure she felt super violated.
26:20
And of course it was often men, but it was also women like
26:24
Barbara fucking Walters. This is such a disgusting
26:28
interview. And it's giving women like
26:30
hunting witches too, you know? This is in 1977 and Walters is
26:35
just like so cruel to her. As if Dolly Parton is like
26:38
running for president. She says.
26:39
Do you ever feel like you're a joke that people make fun of
26:42
you? And Dolly said, oh, I know they
26:44
make fun of me. But actually all these years the
26:46
people have thought the joke was on me, but it's actually been on
26:49
the public. This is called performance art,
26:52
right? It's like making fun of society
26:55
and pointing the light back on them.
26:57
She says, I know exactly what I'm doing.
26:59
I make more jokes about myself than anybody.
27:02
I think it's it's so similar to like Taylor Swift reflecting
27:06
what society thinks of her and putting it back on the public.
27:10
And then also, Walter said you don't have to look like this.
27:14
You don't have to wear the blonde wigs.
27:16
And then Dolly said, I've often made the statement that I would
27:19
never stoop so low to be fashionable.
27:21
That's the easiest thing in the world to do.
27:24
And she's like laughing and sounding so like, but then she's
27:28
like scathingly replying. And I feel like when
27:32
interviewers say something that they think people are going to
27:35
laugh at calling her out, she ends up saying something funnier
27:38
than they initially we're going to sing.
27:40
And then the public starts laughing with her.
27:43
She starts to get the public to dislike these lines of
27:47
questioning against women and against people's bodies by being
27:51
funny but also being like, that's embarrassing for you
27:55
anyways and like moving on. Like it's so smart.
27:57
She's so smart and like how she presented herself in the way
28:01
that she talked about it really just exposed that gender is a
28:06
costume, that we are not our genders but like we are always
28:10
performing gender. It's like Judith Butler's gender
28:13
theory. Her expression of herself became
28:16
more and more exaggerated and more drag inspired in camp as
28:20
time went on. And I wonder if that's because
28:22
society became more liberal and like more get.
28:25
She had more of a rock influence, more of a tramp
28:27
influence as time went on too. And she never shield away from
28:31
looking like too sexy or slutty, even after decades of men
28:35
criticizing her and making it seem like that's who she was
28:38
inherently. Her look and her expressing
28:41
herself as like a voluptuous woman that wasn't scared to be
28:44
hot is so radical for this time because a lot of people,
28:48
especially like the 80s, felt like feminists were just trying
28:51
to look and act like men and not that you could be beautiful and
28:56
like BFMS at the same time. That was so radical and the idea
28:59
that America accepted that her look was not emblematic of who
29:03
she was, at least by the 90s of the 2000s.
29:06
And still she got a lot of hate. But like, when she passed away,
29:09
like, she's beloved, right? The fact that America bought
29:12
into the idea eventually, that is actually so remarkable.
29:16
Like, the representation is activism in that way as well.
29:20
Plus she gave back on the Ellen Show.
29:23
She literally says like, she sleeps in her makeup.
29:25
And in these big cities in New York and LA, she will sleep in
29:29
her makeup and have her wig nearby so that if like there's a
29:33
fire or something and she runs into the street, she's still
29:36
presenting as Dolly Parton. The character, the commitment to
29:39
the bit, she's out of this world.
29:43
She played into the idea of like, OK, I have to put my wig
29:46
on now. And like she herself is not this
29:49
character. Like the separation between who
29:51
she actually is versus like in the city I wear my makeup.
29:55
It seems like that's not talking about gender or whatever, but
29:59
like that shows the public, oh, how you are expressing yourself
30:03
to other people, maybe like your alter ego.
30:06
And you can like play with gender in this way.
30:09
Like, you can play with it, perform it, put it on, and then
30:11
you go back home and you can take off all your makeup and
30:13
take the wig off. That is drag performance, just
30:16
more extended. In the time that she plays and
30:19
performs the gender, she has this song called Backwoods
30:23
Barbie. It came out in 2008, still
30:26
releasing music. And the song is, I grew up poor
30:28
and ragged, just a simple country girl.
30:30
I wanted to be pretty more than anything in the world, like
30:33
Barbie or the models in the Frederick's catalog.
30:36
From rags to wishes, in my dreams, I could have it all.
30:39
It's like she wanted to play into this character of like what
30:42
a Pretty Woman is. I'm just a backwoods Barbie.
30:45
Too much makeup, too much hair. Don't be fooled by thinking that
30:49
the goods are not all there. Don't let these false eyelashes
30:52
lead you to believe that I'm as shallow as I look because I run
30:55
true and deep per She's like leading people to the water.
30:58
But you can't force you to drink the idea that your appearance is
31:03
not the same as who you are inside.
31:05
Like, do not read a book by its cover.
31:07
Do not read a gender by its performance.
31:10
Yeah. Does that make sense?
31:11
I don't know. OK, she admits this is from
31:13
Yahoo, created this and I've played it up.
31:16
The make up, the whole persona. She's calling it a persona
31:18
again. I've over exaggerated and made
31:21
things worse, but I've had a good time doing it and it all
31:24
came from a serious place, a country girls idea of what
31:27
glamour is. But this isn't all I am.
31:30
It's not even most of what I am like, yes, this is a character.
31:34
Hopefully people can see beneath the hair to know there's a brain
31:37
beneath the bitch to know there's a heart and behind all
31:40
the other stuff to know there's some talent.
31:42
And it is like sad in a way that I think some people think that
31:46
her character erases her talent. It's also what got her to be in
31:51
the place that she was and the brains behind that character.
31:55
But like, she's so acknowledging of the fact that it is a persona
32:00
that's not even the majority of who you are.
32:03
Who are you? It is not your outside looks.
32:06
She wasn't just like a drag queen in the real estate of the
32:09
sense. Because by the way, I do not buy
32:11
into the idea that drag can only be performed by men because that
32:15
is just misogynistic. Anyone can play up expressions
32:20
of gender and that is what drag is.
32:22
Just because it was made famous by men and trans women does not
32:27
mean that women cannot perform, especially when that is their
32:31
own gender perform. Anyone can perform any gender no
32:36
matter what gender they are. She has such a love for the gays
32:40
and she said this over and over again.
32:41
I don't understand how people think that she could have been
32:43
MAGA in this talk show. I don't know when this was.
32:47
I need to check. It looks like it's from the 80s.
32:49
It's decades ago. It's kind of annoying about
32:51
TikTok and like YouTube is that sometimes these clips come up
32:54
and I can't find the source of it.
32:56
But this girl asked, you ever wish you were born a guy?
32:59
And she goes, Lord, no. I've always been a Sissy.
33:02
And it's like, just excuse the Sissy language for a second.
33:05
And she says, if I'd been bored a man, I would have been a drag
33:08
queen. It's like her at this time when
33:11
people think drag Queens are evil psycho pedophiles.
33:14
She's like, yeah, I would have been a drag queen.
33:17
That is so radical in 1984, she says.
33:20
I've got a huge gay following and some really macho looking
33:24
women. First of all, that's hilarious
33:27
to me. People are people.
33:28
Many of my friends are gay, male and female.
33:31
I don't judge people. I don't care what people do in
33:33
their bedrooms, and people shouldn't care what I do in
33:35
mine, by the way, it's giving. I'm gay too, but whatever.
33:39
That is so radical in 1984. I know it's sad that it is, but
33:43
it is. Then she says, if you're the
33:45
fine Christian you think you are, why are you judging people?
33:48
That's God's job. We're not God.
33:50
We're not judges, she says. If you're gay, you're gay.
33:53
If you're straight, you're straight, and you should be
33:55
allowed to be who you are. Be who, she says.
33:58
If people want to pass judgement, they're already
33:59
sinning her. Now, would she be able to have
34:02
had said these things with impact if she was coming at it
34:06
from, like, a liberal feminist perspective?
34:08
Yes, She was on the cover of Miss magazine.
34:10
Yes, she's pictured next to Gloria Steinem.
34:13
Yes, she's best friends with Jane Fonda.
34:15
Yes, she says she's friends with gay people and that, like, gay
34:19
people deserve love and she has gay friends.
34:22
If she said this and said I'm a feminist and I'm a liberal,
34:25
people would have cut her out of the country music world.
34:27
OK, let's talk about our campus moments that I haven't already
34:29
mentioned in this episode. And then I want to talk about
34:32
her activism before we wrap. OK, this one's iconic.
34:35
She says I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because
34:38
I'm not dumb and I'm not blonde either.
34:41
Everyone's like, wait, you're a brunette?
34:44
Like that's how much we don't. That's how much this is a
34:47
character. This one is a classic quote.
34:49
People always ask me how long it takes to do my hair.
34:52
I don't know. I'm never there.
34:54
And it also like, you know, when people applaud woman's like
34:57
looks and they think it has something to do with them, she's
35:01
like positively or negatively, you can't affect my image
35:03
negatively. This isn't my hair, you know,
35:06
and positively, how is that even being nice to me?
35:09
Because this isn't my hair. And of course, she said quote.
35:11
It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap.
35:14
This is my favorite one in 2012. Live with Kelly and Michael.
35:18
The question is what she does when she gets out of bed in the
35:20
morning and she says I usually get up, put on my clothes and go
35:25
home. Kunti as hell.
35:29
And also like everyone's like, oh, she's married to the love of
35:33
her life. We don't know what the fuck she
35:35
was doing. And I love that for her.
35:37
In another life, she was a stand up comedian.
35:39
She kind of was. When asked about like her secret
35:41
for a lasting marriage quote, I stay gone.
35:44
He's a good guy. We know each other so well.
35:47
I know every line in his face and he knows every hair in my
35:50
wig. It sounds like lavender
35:52
relationship and if they were together then I love that for
35:54
them. But I'm just saying, OK, finally
35:58
about her blessings, she says, quote, I count my blessings more
36:01
than I count my money, but I need to count my money too.
36:05
She's like, I need to get my money right.
36:06
That was in 2019 on ABC News interview with Robin Roberts.
36:10
With all of that said, I don't think this story is as amazing.
36:15
Dolly Parton's story of like using dragon performance to gain
36:19
her so much success and like gain leverage and the country
36:23
conservative culture of America and like become successful,
36:27
humorous, you know, be snarky towards men and be like a diva.
36:31
I don't think any of this is as amazing of a story if it didn't
36:35
include the fact that she ended up giving millions of dollars to
36:38
charity and helping so many people.
36:41
And like because of her being pretty much like a covert spy in
36:44
drag, she was able to do that. Most famously, in 1988, she
36:49
started the Dollywood Foundation in her home county of Sevier,
36:52
Sevier County, Tennessee, with the goal of decreasing high
36:56
school dropout rate. She started the Buddy Program in
36:59
which Parton gave $500 to every 7th and 8th grader who finished
37:03
high school. Every single one.
37:04
According to the organization, the initiative was successful
37:07
and the dropout rate declined from 35% to 6.
37:12
That's so incredible like. And then also very famously, she
37:15
started the Imagination Library in 1995.
37:18
They began sending one book per month to each enrolled child and
37:21
severe county from birth until their first year of school.
37:24
And the library was founded in honor of Parton's father, who
37:27
was unable to read. And like, there's so many areas
37:30
of this country where literacy is still a huge problem.
37:32
If you can't read, your options are super limited.
37:36
She also started the Dolly Parton Scholarship in 2000, also
37:39
gave $1,000,000 to the Monroe Carroll Junior Children's
37:42
Hospital at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in
37:45
honor of her niece, who was treated for leukemia at that
37:47
hospital. And in 2020, she donated $1
37:50
million to coronavirus research at Vanderbilt University, which
37:54
helped pretty much fund Moderna. So thank you, Dolly, because
37:58
you're in my arm. In 2022, Dollywood announced it
38:01
will start covering 100% of tuition fees and books for any
38:05
employee who is furthering their education.
38:08
That's insane. She made another $1,000,000 to
38:11
Vanderbilt after that in 2022. In 2023, another $1,000,000 to
38:16
Salvation Army. In 2020, four $2,000,000 to her
38:19
Hurricane Helene relief. And 2025 Imagination Library
38:24
reached 300 million bucks donated.
38:27
She also thanks Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce for their
38:29
$2,000,000 donation to the Imagination Library.
38:31
That was very recently, I think after her wedding, wedding.
38:36
So the amount of like monetary giving she gave made her not a
38:41
billionaire. Education relief, medical
38:44
assistance towards a coronavirus, vaccines.
38:47
And at the time Republicans were like the vaccines are a hoax.
38:51
She stood up for women's rights and gay rights.
38:54
And after Whitney Houston covered her, her song I Will
38:57
Always Love You made it a hit. She invested into a historically
39:01
black neighborhood. Like the amount of activism she
39:04
was able to do because of the success of her created persona
39:10
that made people rethink what like, gender was.
39:13
And that like, just because you look slutty, quote UN quote does
39:17
not mean you are slutty and that you are more than your outward
39:20
character and you can perform gender.
39:23
All of that activism was made possible because of drag.
39:27
Like that's actually tea and the quote about what she wants to be
39:31
remembered for. She said it's a good, giving and
39:33
kind person. She was called the book lady and
39:37
it's so sweet how she talks about her dad.
39:40
She still says daddy even when she was like older about her
39:43
dad. I think that's like so sweet.
39:45
She said Daddy got to live long enough to hear the kids call me
39:48
the book lady today in 2019, she said he was proud of me as being
39:52
a star and that meant so much to him.
39:54
In response to like which title she preferred most, country
39:57
music queen or book lady, she said the book lady.
40:00
And to Oprah Winfrey in 2020, she said I'd have children
40:03
because I believe that God didn't mean for me to have kids.
40:06
So everybody's. Kids could be mine, so I could
40:08
do things like Imagination Library and then finally, she
40:11
said. Because if I hadn't had the
40:13
freedom to work, because so many women never had the freedom to
40:19
work, she said. I wouldn't have done all the
40:21
things I've done. So icon legend, drag queen,
40:27
country music queen, star diva, Dolly Parton.
40:32
That's my episode. I had so much fun researching
40:35
and I learned so much through this episode about Dolly Parton.
40:38
I hope you guys learned something.
40:40
Let me know your thoughts. Let me know any suggestions on
40:44
future episodes you have. Give me your feedback, give me
40:47
your thoughts. If you are straight man let me
40:49
know. You can reach me on Spotify
40:51
comments, YouTube comments, DMS on TikTok, DMS on Instagram.
40:56
I'm pretty much gasp the pod everywhere.
40:59
You can also reach me on e-mail at gaspthepod@gmail.com.
41:03
I was thinking about maybe having people e-mail in
41:06
questions, feelings they had about pop culture, feelings they
41:11
had about their life, crazy stories.
41:13
And I would react, share them anonymously, let me know what
41:16
people think about that idea. I always think that's really
41:19
interesting and yeah, I hope you guys really enjoyed the episode.
41:22
I missed you, I missed the pod. We are back bi weekly you guys,
41:28
because we are bisexual over here.
41:30
Not everyone but me. I am for now and and if you are
41:34
still listening to me when 99% of listeners statistically are
41:38
gone, give me a like for being here till the end because I know
41:43
the people that put this on when they're cleaning and have not
41:46
pressed the pause button. I see you.
41:49
OK, love you guys, see you soon. Thanks for watching, bye.