Talk:Sharon Needles

Pronouns

Well, the way the article is currently written, it uses both male and female pronouns, and I feel that the article should be consistent. Seeing as female pronouns are predominantly used on the show, among drag queens in general, and in past Wiki articles of contestants, those should be used. I'll be editing this article to reflect that. Amkutzko (talk) 06:25, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I've just finished a rewrite for the article and every source I found (including Needles' offical website) refers to Needles in the feminine. Granted, this may be deemed as confusing for the casual reader here on Wikipedia, and many of these sources were quite possibly writing for an audience that they were assuming was already "in the know" regarding Drag Race being a series featuring drag queens, but unless/until sources and/or Needles herself, begin to refer to her in the masculine, I also believe the article should be written using the feminine. --- Crakkerjakk (talk) 12:56, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

• • Aaron Cody is a MALE. He is a FEMALE IMPERSONATOR. If male pronouns are used for RuPaul's article, then they should be used in this article. Coady legally remains a male (e.g. passport, driver's license, etc.) and unless he undergoes a sex change operation such as Amanda Lepore, Candis Cayne, or Chaz Bono, male pronouns should only be used. --XLR8TION (talk) 02:48, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
  • Furthermore, all articles on past RPDR contestants use male pronouns. The only exception would be if there is an article written for Sonique (season 2) who is presently transitioning into female. She has posted information on her Facebook page discussing her progress and is into her second year of a 5 year process in order to achieve her goal. Sharon Needles is a character. What would people think if we were to change Martin Lawrence's article to show only female pronouns simply because he does a majority of his characters in drag (e.g. Sheneneh, Big Momma, etc.) Not only would this be grammatically incorrect, it would be misleading.--XLR8TION (talk) 03:08, 2 May 2012 (UTC)
    • Yes, but Sharon is female. If the article is about Sharon, it should use feminine pronouns. If it's about Aaron, pronouns should be masculine. I think it should be decided whether this article is about Aaron, the creator of Sharon Needles, or the character, Sharon, herself. Sharon doesn't need a sex change, because she's a character. Would you write an article about a transgender character on a TV show in the opposite sex pronouns of the character (because the actor is not transgender)? I think we should change the pronouns back to feminine ones. 1:24pm, 5 May 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jkcory (talk • contribs)

The article isn't just about the character – it's also about the performer himself (early life, personal life, etc). I originally planned to rewrite the article using male pronouns, however, I ended up changing my mind to err on the side of using female pronouns after all the sources I could find were referring to Needles "in universe" as female (even the ones discussing his early life, personal life, etc). I ended up changing my mind back for several reasons, the two most important are: #1) As stated above, this article is about both the performer and his better known drag persona. #2) Using female pronouns is confusing for the average reader (who may not be a fan of Drag Race) to decipher whether the subject is a man or a woman. I can see how this issue concerning drag performers in particular is a little confusing (since drag performers have only really begun to gain "mainstream" notoriety in recent years), but there are several issues to consider: Many public figures (actors, singers, etc) change their given names to professional names (Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, etc), however, it's Wikipedia's policy to keep their pages under the names that they are best known (for example: the majority of people are not going to embark on a search for "Francis Gumm" when they want to look up Judy Garland). The best example I can give in this case is the Wikipeda article about the drag performer Divine. Divine was born "Glenn Milstead", but he worked professionally as "Divine" (even later in his career when he played male roles). I don't know if it was ever a deliberate decision on his part, but there comes a time in a celebrity's career when their "stage" name, for all intents and purposes, replaces their "birth" name in the eyes of the public (as far as studios were concerned, putting the name "Glenn Milstead" on a film poster would have zero marquee value, while the name "Divine" would be instantly recognizable to his public, thereby making money for the studio). If Sharon Needles begins to decide to make professional appearances in film, television, etc, and makes a deliberate attempt to be credited professionally as Aaron Cody, then we can consider moving his page to reflect his given name. Until such time, I believe "Sharon Needles" should be considered the "professional" name that he is best known by, not just a "character", but also as a public figure. --- Crakkerjakk (talk) 17:31, 6 May 2012 (UTC)

• • • I recently initiated a discussion on the pronouns used in Carmen Carrera's article. They were changed to feminine after she announced on an ABC News news program that she was now a transgender woman. As a result, even the category female impersonator was remove. RuPaul's article uses male pronouns because he has always identified himself as a male. Unless a public declaration is made with regards to gender identity (gender dysphoria) or gender reassignment surgery (such as Chaz Bono, Candis Cayne, and Amanda Lepore) than male pronouns will be used in this article. Aaron Coady's birth certificate, driver's license, and passport all identify him as male and to change gender on those documents he would have to file a legal motion with the courts. By the way here is an article on singer Tom Gable who announced she is a transgender female and will begin gender reassignment surger. [1]. Notice how the author uses female pronouns only after Gable made his public announcement.--XLR8TION (talk) 13:23, 11 May 2012 (UTC)

Sharon Needles refers to herself as she/her, see her website: http://sharonneedles.com/#about This article calls her "her" throughout: http://www.out.com/entertainment/2012/08/15/sharon-needles-drag-superstar-aaron-coady Per MOS:IDENTITY, Sharon Needles should be referred to using the gendered nouns and pronouns (e.g., "she", "her") that "reflect [her] latest expressed gender self-identification." This applies in references to any phase of her life. Sharon Needles is not a "he." 184.75.114.3 (talk) 08:43, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

• The website is about Sharon Needles the character. This article is about Aaron Coady, the performer who plays Sharon. He identifies as a MALE and thus the article should use MALE pronouns, as do all of the other Drag Race contestants. The article is titled "Sharon Needles" due to the fact that he is more well known by that title, like Lady Gaga or Freddie Mercury, but that doesn't magically change his gender. 94.6.55.190 (talk) 19:19, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

Sharon Needles refers to herself as she/her, on her website, in interviews and in real life. (See http://www.out.com/entertainment/2012/08/15/sharon-needles-drag-superstar-aaron-coady which refers to her as she/her) The Sharon Needles wikipedia article is about Sharon Needles. Per MOS:IDENTITY, stop changing her pronouns to male pronouns.50.74.152.2 (talk) 14:50, 17 March 2014 (UTC)

Name

I also changed her name to (bolded) Sharon Needles (the title of the article) in addition to (bolded) Aaron Coady. I could list any number of professional entertainment figures who do not go by their legal name but a stage name, and Wikipedia calls them by their stage name. This goes doubly for drag queens (The Lady Bunny, Hedda Lettuce, Coco Peru, et al.) Amkutzko (talk) 06:34, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Again, I agree. It's become standard practice for drag performers to refer to themselves, and each other, by their public persona/drag names. While the he/she debate (referred to above) may reach a different consensus, I'd definitely object if someone attempted to move the page itself to Needles' given birth name (a name which, arguably, very few would recognize). --- Crakkerjakk (talk) 12:56, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

Ambiguity

There's a Sharon Needles who is also part of the old group Butt Trumpet (see article Betty Blowtorch) and Betty Blowtorch is not mentioned here causing the casual reading to be less able to differentiate between this Sharon and the one who is in Butt Trumpet (or are they the same person and if so, please add this notable mention as part of the article or accept a "stub"/needs attention tag). Johnhgagon (talk) 18:55, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Singles

Just to notify whoever created/edited the pages for "This Club is a Haunted House" and "Call Me on the Ouija Board," they aren't notable enough to have separate articles. Keep them as redirects to the album PG-13, which is already a stub (the information for the songs could easily be merged onto that page). Neither song has charted (which is what justified pages for songs for RuPaul or Willam Belli) nor do they have reviews or the references to make anything but a stub. In the case of Ouija Board, it isn't even technically a "single" because it didn't have a separate release from PG-13; it is only a music video. Burnberrytree (talk) 03:50, 25 December 2013 (UTC)