Drag Queen Story Time at the British Library

The DQST near me had a space theme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the mood landing.

For the life of me I can't understanding why you wouldn't have, anyone frankly, man or woman, in an astronauts space suit read a book about travelling through space, like Whatever Next by Jill Murphy.

The space suit could be cardboard boxes and tin foil, but nooooo instead it was wig, make up and heels and songs about farting glitter and twerking.

‘Drag queen bingo’ - that sounds like a drinking game. One shot every time:

Bats eyelids
Gives acid stare
Mentions ‘fish’
Says ‘darling’
Every double/single entendres...

Your be drunk in under 2 mins...

Ring around your local nursing homes. Ask if they have any drag queen bingo planned ? When they say no, ask yourself why this "entertainment" is solely aimed at pre schoolers

Yes, this is the question that needs to be asked. Why do they have such a laser focus on small children? For something which is a sexualised act.

I'm not sure if anyone has spotted this yet which gives more information:

dragqueenstorytime.com/diary/the-british-library

And to be honest - wrangling a room full of toddlers is a fine art. Are they likely to be trained or parents themselves?

Is the face real or prosthetic? It doesn’t look like it could move very much.

I'm quite finely tuned when it comes to aesthetics....and I just find most drag damn ugly.

Better dancer! Ballet dancer 🩰

When I was little I would have loved to see a better dancer in full costume read me a story. Or the real Paddington bear.

So much of what children are exposed to is just so ugly......the stuff of nightmares.

Wow Elvira vibe there. What is this teaching the kiddies again?

'She'll have you gagging for more

Quite hideous in my view.

Well they aren’t going to be dressed like ‘Doris the librarian’ are they?

Agree 100% that it’s going to be about wearing down kids’ boundaries (and making kids feel bad about having boundaries and especially voicing them), for the benefit of being kind to adults’ feelings, which is an absolutely shit burden to place on kids.

Another previous thread :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/a3534643-Paedophile-at-Drag-Queen-Story-Time?msg_id=85636127#85636127

Plus a previous thread including discussion on explicit art exhibits wrt families visiting them

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3612554-Hayward-Gallery-exhibition-Gendered-Intelligence-teacher-training-event-about-it?pg=3&order=

I know these venues and institutions often have incentives from trustees and funders etc to bring in more diverse visitors including families and they will no doubt be wanting to bring new younger visitors, so they are perhaps naively trying new things.

Writing to them to complain is an excellent thing to do because the reality is that they will be alienating a diverse set of parents who might potentially visit or do currently visit, just as much as they may be attracting some parents who may have come to that venue just for the drag queen story time...

Thank you to posters explaining queering the library

I’m curious to see how these drag queens are dressed. I really didn’t think they’d get away with any risqué outfits, I thought they would be glammed up in a ball gown type outfit!

I’m imagining sassy little toddlers shimmying around, speaking Polari and snapping their fingers ‘mummy - I’m just gagging for more milk...’

dragqueenstorytime.com/diary/the-british-library
'She'll have you gagging for more'

Yes - professional children's specialists don't exist in library services any more. I expect this has all been organised by an arts organisation.

I think the reason we no longer try to train the public in Dewey is part and parcel of the dumbing down approach. Everything has to be simple and put straight into people's hands with the minimum of effort from them, otherwise they will just walk away. In academic libraries a similar trend might be user's abuse of the request system rather than looking for a book on the shelves themselves, or a 'google-type' front-end to every single subject specific database (without google's power).

If that is what you meant anyway!

And telling little girls that they "don't have to wear pink" is kind of reinforcing the fact that maybe they do.

Yes, it kind of reinforces an idea that 'girls generally do wear pink but you don't have to if you don't want to'? which again very subtly gives the message that if you don't want to, then you are not a proper girl? I don't know?

@terfsandwich, it's interesting what you say about Oz libraries being 'colonised' by TRAs.
I do not believe for one second that that's what happened here. I am not in the sector now, but for one thing there are very few librarians left in public libraries. An absolute axe fell between about 2005 and 2007 (before the credit crunch you'll notice) which obliterated the professional level completely in public libraries. There are now maybe 2 or 3 professionally qualified left per county service. Upper management have of course protected themselves, and the low-paid or even unpaid assistants 'whom they soooo value' are left holding what's left.

I think the infiltration of trans is a combination of the fear of being political, which has been growing - ironically becoming political because of that lack - and even more, the pressure here to become "more relevant" and "more exciting" and "more new" etc etc. In a service which is still so popular volunteers are prepared to run it, which attracts more users than football matches. More more more.

I am in the UK. My DD is 4 - she doesn't like Justin, unfortunately; I've really encouraged it as her cousin has autism so I was hoping she'd watch Something Special, but she's not keen on him

I don't think kids like drag......and even Justin with is fairly innocuous humour leaves them cold and a bit confused.

I don't think Duggie is in a same sex relation ship but the crocodile is adopted.

But isn't the whole concept of 'princesses don't have to dress in pink' (as in the statement, I haven't heard of the book) trying to dismantle these regressive stereotypes? Granted, 'princess' is a bit problematic, but isn't it basically saying girls don't have to dress in pink eg be 'girly' and conform to gender norms? I'm all for that message

Yes, but the best people to model that are the parents and those surrounding the child.....by their own choices, and by what they choose to expose their child to. Obviously you can't shut them off from contemporary society altogether - but what you model yourself is most important.

To be honest that drag queen featured above gives me the creeps, and i wouldn't want him anywhere near my granddaughter. And I'm someone who was around drag culture a lot in my youth..... ( even then I didn't like it.......)

And telling little girls that they "don't have to wear pink" is kind of reinforcing the fact that maybe they do. I didn't have to have anyone tell me that when I was a child ----because it just wasn't a thing......and even when my daughter was young, it wasn't so much of a thing.......

I blame American consumer culture If I'm honest....and Disney. Disney has become an obsession for many.......Disney channel; Disney stores etc......

And of course from my own childhood, Arthur, whose teacher is gay.