Mo B. Dick (aka Maureen Fischer) talked to Curve magazine a few years ago about why we so seldom see drag kings in the media when we are constantly exposed to the world of male-to-female drag.

"It'll be slow for the mainstream to accept drag kings because butches are so feared and vilified. A man in a dress is comedy, but a woman in a suit is fearful," the performer told the magazine, adding that straight women are "confused by drag kings because we are so handsome and they are turned on by us, and then they must question their own sense of desire. It's thrilling for us!"

Certain insecure straight men and women may feel threatened by the presence of drag kings, as there's no denying that drag kings are sexy as hell. A drag troupe adds an element of politically incorrect, raw sex appeal to an otherwise staid dyke bar.

But some drag kings don't see what they're doing as politically incorrect – they see it as a political act. While many drag queens tend to make light of women in order to entertain their predominantly gay male audience, drag kings are often inspired by the power to challenge our assumptions about gender and sexuality, to blur the lines between femininity and masculinity, submissiveness and power.

Mo B. Dick and Murray Hill are just two of the most visible drag kings around today, but internationally, there are thousands of hardworking troupes composed of these gender-bending performers, made up of mainly lesbians, genderqueers and transmen. A quick search of "drag kings" on Google turned up more 127,000 listings.

At the same time as Mo B. Dick's silver screen debut eight years ago, drag kings in America were uniting to celebrate their art form.

This year, studs will be packing their mineral spirits, facial hair, polyester suits, wallet chains, pomade and dildos and taking their show south of the Mason-Dixon line for the first time, to eccentric enclave Austin, Texas. The International Drag King Community Extravaganza ( www.idkeaustin.com./about.htm), which now boasts such mainstream sponsors as Borden and Odwalla (I know whose dairy and juice products I'll be buying from now on), runs from October 19 until October 22 and features, aside from numerous performances from drag king troupes from around the world, a packed schedule of workshops and talks by notables like Leslie Feinberg, author of the classic Stone Butch Blues and the thought-provoking Transgender Warriors.

For more information, visit the IDKE Website, or email the event's organizers at idkeaustin@idkeaustin.com.