If you’ve ever watched and wondered what the phrase “trade of the season” means, then you’re not the only one. During some seasons of , fans might call a particular queen or queens “trades of the season”, which leaves some fans scratching their heads. Allow us to elaborate.
Within old school ballroom and drag culture, a “trade” is a masculine-passing LGBTQ+ guy who has a certain edge to their look. But the phrase has evolved, and within the , it now simply means a queen who looks sexy and attractive and is considered the best of the season by their fellow queens, the fans, or both. Hence, they are the “trade” of that current season.
However, there are other meanings to the word “trade” in LGBTQ+ slang that predates drag and ballroom culture entirely. “Trade” previously used to refer to the casual partner of a gay man. The casual partner was often straight and poor, , participating in a form of sex-work.
This was , wherein the Cockney person was poor and partnered with a wealthy Englishman who was gay and would pay for their trade’s time. Similarly, the term “rough trade” was often used interchangeably with “trade”. There were two possible reasons for the word “rough” being associated with the word “trade”, either because they had a dangerous vibe to them or because they were likely to be working-class labourers who worked in rough places.
Rough, tough working men, in other words. There was also the risk of violence to the sex work.
