Fish / FIshy (Drag)

Fish, or fishy, is drag slang describing a queen whose feminine illusion is so convincing she reads as a cisgender woman. On RuPaul's Drag Race the word has often been used as a compliment for that kind of realness. The term's origin is anatomical, a crude reference to the smell associated with female genitalia, and it has roots in older gay and Polari slang for women. That history makes it controversial: some drag performers and commentators, including Drag Race alum Bimini, have criticized fishy as misogynistic, and it appears less often on the show than it once did. Usage is shifting as the community reckons with where it came from.