Why does dennis rodman wear drag

He regularly wears women's clothing, paints his nails pink and, on special outings like his recent book signing in Chicago, wears drag-queen makeup. He rides a pink Harley. He occasionally wears a T-shirt that reads, "I don't mind straight people as long as they act gay in public.

Dennis Rodman," he writes in the book. And: "I can't say I haven't experimented with other men, but I guess it depends on what you mean by experimenting.

More than any other cultural institution, sports shapes our concept of the masculine ideal. Rodman is redefining what that means. He can slip into a sequined halter top and feather boa at the end of a day without diminishing anyone's opinion of him as an athlete. He is addressing homosexuality in a way no other American male athlete has since former baseball player Glenn Burke.

Although Burke didn't go public with his homosexuality until three years after his last big-league season in , it was well known within the sport. It ruined his career, cutting it short after just four years.

From that point on, Rodman was becoming a rockstar in his own right, making headlines for dressing in drag and being an outspoken supporter of the LGBTQ community. Dyed hair in red, pink, green, was a signature, and during the NBA playoffs he dyed the AIDS ribbon in his hair, which caused a stir.

His tattoos and piercings were a trademark, too. So much so, his star belly-button tattoo was the inspiration behind the design of the Converse AS Rodman, his signature sneaker. Rodman's look was a bit of everything -- street, drag, trucker, Vegas showgirl, class clown, Adonis -- occasionally all at once. The basketball star showed up at the MTV Video Music Awards in a pair of hand-embroidered baggy jeans and a glittery camisole top, with an exposed diamond belly chain.

Two years later at the Oscars, he switched it up with an electric-blue tux and velvet top hat so big it needed its own ticket. There was no telling what Rodman would wear -- or do -- from day to day. And he was just as unpredictable on the basketball court. During a helter-skelter year NBA career, Rodman set out to dominate the game without scoring a point. He shut down the game's best offensive weapons, dived for loose balls with no regard for his own safety.

He was the kind of player you loved to go to battle with but hated to face, even in practice. Stylist Yolanda Braddy recalled a time when Rodman came to play a pickup game at a facility that Warner Bros. I could see he had black-polished toenails. He changed into sneakers, went out and played like it was the NBA Finals," she said. Rodman won two championships in Detroit before being traded, in , to San Antonio, where he feuded over his contract with team management.

They had refused to honor a verbal commitment from the previous owners. Frustrated, he began acting out. They fell short in the conference finals to the Chicago Bulls, but that confidence lives on forever. His Madonna-assisted rebirth, Despite early success in his career, Rodman battled with depression and following a highly-publicised suicide attempt he was traded to the San Antonio Spurs to get a new start.

During this time he began a short-lived relationship with pop icon Madonna, who reportedly taught him the value of being true to oneself, and began pushing him further with his style choices. He was often spotted partying with friends at gay bars during his time at San Antonio, and began experimenting with drag looks, which he later explained in his autobiography had been a part of his life since he was a young boy. Something new, something borrowed, Never one to turn down a PR opportunity, Rodman turned up to a paparazzi-packed Fifth Avenue to promote his autobiography Bad as I Wanna Be in a horse-led carriage while wearing a full length white bridal dress with a veiled blonde wig to match.

When questioned on his OOTD, he simply replied that he was marrying himself.