Acid Betty

Black Party regulars will find a familiar face in Acid Betty, who stalked last year’s party. When Vance Garrett asked Acid Betty to perform again, “He got a resounding yes. Of course,” says Jamin Ruhren, who developed the Acid Betty persona four years ago. This year the gig has expanded to include BPX. Acid Betty will host the Black Party Expo and Bazaar.

Acid Betty at BPX
“I’ll be using my mouth,” Ruhren jokes of Acid Betty’s BPX responsibilities, which include hosting the fashion show and other programs planned for the expo. “I’m more ambience: Usually, when there’s a drag queen in the room, the energy changes. People’s insecurities disappear.”

When it comes to that night’s Black Party, will there be many insecurities to speak of? Ruhren says that these partiers do let down their defenses. “I think people are more interactive and festive at the Black Party than any other party I attend or work at. Everyone is dressed up, so to speak, which is never the case in New York anymore, and that just changes the dynamic.”

“People are more brave, too: Last year I was whipping this guy, and his friend was telling me that he’s a normal 9-to-5 guy who wouldn’t normally interact with me at another party. But this year he decided to put on baseball gear and carry a whip with him.”

The Acid Betty Persona
“Drag queen” is a placeholder term for Acid Betty, since the persona doesn’t represent the stereotype of a drag queen. “I never try to make people think I’m female,” Ruhren says of his flat-chested, Mohawk-sporting character. He adds, “It feeds into a fantasy: If I get to be somebody else, it encourages people to come to the Black Party and put on their own fantasy personas, to be a personal Acid Betty.”

Ruhren moved to New York in 2004. Previously, in California, he had developed and popularized a character that could be considered Acid Betty’s precursor. His inspiration for Acid Betty, and for performance work in general, “came from me just wanting to look different, but it turned into a melding of high fashion and over-the-top couture makeup and hair with a masculine fetish twist. People can’t stop staring, although the image may not be completely digestable to them.”

The persona offers withering critique of male norms and of the evolution of the drag-queen community. Yet Acid Betty can prompt mere confusion, and even a backlash from “people who want to see a woman with boobs.” Ruhren, however, notes increasing understanding among younger people. “A lot of kids are coming up with an exploratory form of drag, which is neither feminine nor masculine. It’s just dress-up, it’s just fun,” he says, agreeing with my choice of Adam Lambert as a generational role model.

It makes Acid Betty a perfect fit for this year’s Black Party. “There’s a sense that there’s going to be a much younger crowd and fresh blood involved in the party this year,” Ruhren says of recent pulse-taking. “It feels exciting.”