When the stage lights dim and darkness envelops the room, the silence is pierced by the unmistakable strains of the James Bond theme. From the shadows emerges a figure in a tailored suit – hair impeccably slicked back, oversized aviator glasses, and an air of composed confidence. With hands poised as pistols, he playfully mimics the iconic spy’s movements, engaging the audience with charm and irony. This is not 007, but drag artist Katinka Steensgaard’s masculine alter ego, Mr. Bond. Through this persona, Steensgaard frames her lecture on masculinity in drag – a presentation that daringly weaves together academic research, artistic practice, and performative expression.

Katinka Steensgaard, also known by her stage name Elektra Puzzz, is a Norwegian pioneer within the field of contemporary masculine and queer drag. She teaches the course The Art of Drag at OsloMet and is the founder of the Oslo Drag School, an initiative aimed at making drag more accessible both as an art form and as a pedagogical tool.

In her master’s thesis in theatre, Steensgaard developed three masculine drag personae, of which Mr. Bond stands as the most extreme and “toxic” embodiment of hypermasculinity. It is this figure that serves as the conceptual entry point for her lecture – a character that simultaneously parodies and exposes gender stereotypes through humor, charisma, and deliberate discomfort.

During her presentation at The Art of Drag seminar, Steensgaard discussed her tour with The Cultural Schoolbag (Den kulturelle skolesekken) in Troms, where she performed the show Masculinity in Drag for students aged sixteen to eighteen. Having spent many years within Oslo’s adult drag scene, she sought to investigate how young audiences perceive and respond to drag, particularly to representations of masculinity.

The experiences that emerged were both challenging and illuminating. At the initial schools – often dominated by male students in vocational programs – she was met with silence. Mr. Bond’s confident entrance and theatrical energy did not provoke laughter, but rather hesitation and uncertainty. The students observed attentively yet refrained from responding. For Steensgaard, this encounter represented a confrontation with a new reality: a generation of youth who may lack both the vocabulary and the safe spaces necessary to discuss gender, identity, and power.

As the tour progressed, Steensgaard experienced a shift in audience response – most notably at the theatre program of Harstad Upper Secondary School, where students engaged more openly with the performance. Here, genuine dialogue and reflection arose concerning masculinity and drag. These interactions underscored the significance of context and group dynamics in facilitating such discussions, as well as the inherent difficulty of challenging gender norms within a limited timeframe.

Through this project, Steensgaard effectively demonstrates how drag can function as a potent pedagogical and artistic medium. The Art of Drag extends far beyond glitter and spectacle; it embodies an effort to question cultural norms, foster critical reflection, and create dialogic spaces for exploring identity and diversity. As Steensgaard herself noted, the project might have benefited from a workshop format spanning several days and organized in smaller groups – thereby affording participants the time to comprehend, engage, and reflect more deeply. Young people require safety, time, and repetition to meaningfully engage with complex questions of gender and self-expression. Steensgaard’s practice compellingly illustrates how drag – as both an artistic form and a methodological approach – can facilitate profound insights into gender and society when afforded the temporal and social space to unfold.