Drag Queens - Akin to blackface?

Good Afternoon All,

I was discussing various social topics with a friend of mine who leans conservative, and the topic of drag queens came up. She told me that she finds them offensive.

Now, I've heard most of the complaints surrounding drag queens (Think of the kids! Sexual perversion! Etc..), and I find most of them to be outright baloney, generally indicative of a transphobic world view.

But this was different. My friend said that she felt like with the exaggerated and outlandish makeup, costume, and characterizations; she felt that this one something akin to blackface, but based on gender and not race. As a woman working in a male-dominated field; she's faced substantial bias based on her gender over the years. She doesn't have the option to take off her "woman suit" to no longer face that bias. She also notes that although there are some trans people who participate in drag (much like there were some POC who did blackface), it is largely a piece of performance art partaken by cis-gender people. To her, a piece of performance art that trivializes or makes fun of her experiences as a woman.

Based on my relationship with this person, I don't believe her complaint is a pretense to justify deeper transphobic feelings; but rather a legitimate concern.

For me, this isn't a perspective I'd previously considered, and has me thinking a bit. I'm wondering how others here might feel about this.

Thanks!