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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Mail on Bath Theatre Family Sex Show for 5+ age

145 replies

Abitofalark · 09/04/2022 02:32

The DM article quotes from a thread on mumsnet in AIBU www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4524406-Deeply-concerned-about-Child-Safety-in-Bristol?messages=100&pg=1

The Mail explains:
"A theatre company has sparked fury by staging a show featuring naked bodies that explores 'love, sexuality and sexual pleasure' aimed at children as young as five. ..
The website describes it as 'a fun and silly performance about the painfully awkward subject of sex, exploring names and functions, boundaries, consent, pleasure, queerness, sex, gender and relationships.
It goes on: 'Using real life bodies, personal stories, songs and movement, The Family Sex Show puts the good stuff at the forefront of conversation and imagines a future where there is no shame; but a celebration of difference, equality and liberation.' "

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10700795/Fury-theatre-company-stages-naked-exploring-sexuality-sexual-pleasure-queerness.html

It is claimed to be based on the school curriculum but according to a AIBU poster, it includes gender identity indoctrination, along with the stuff about sexual pleasure, nudity, etc:

"I would challenge PPs to show where pegging comes in the RSE curriculum for 5 year olds.
Or ‘TERF’, which is helpfully included in the glossary, just in case we were in any doubt about this group’s intentions.
They can just FOTHFSOFAFOSM with their queering and cissing. If any public money is going into this, it’s a fucking outrage when huge numbers of children are arriving at school hungry."

OP posts:
aweegc · 11/04/2022 08:51

Describing yourself can be done as an inclusive practice for viewers who are blind and can't see who is speaking. You sometimes also see pictures being described - it is usually just a way to describe in words what others see visually

I think would be seen as a genuinely inclusive thing to do if it didn't come from this lot and followed pronouns. Here it's PURELY about virtual signalling, in a competitive/extreme form. And it's actually insulting in that form because they're using blind/partially sighted people's lack of vision for this. Rather like white people posing with impoverished, hungry black children in an unknown African country (doesn't matter cos it's "Africa") with big smiles, showing how they're changing lives by turning up being white and doing 3 days of "work". I find it as repulsive as that.

For all their inclusivity, I can't imagine their show is going to be delivered for blind, partially sighted and deaf audiences. Or maybe it is and blind people will get audio descriptions of actors genitalia?

Shudder

Grandparentoftwo · 11/04/2022 08:07

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

Midlifemusings · 11/04/2022 05:01

@KimikosNightmare

Describing yourself can be done as an inclusive practice for viewers who are blind and can't see who is speaking. You sometimes also see pictures being described - it is usually just a way to describe in words what others see visually

EmpressaurusWitchDoesntBurn · 11/04/2022 03:43

I wonder if the DM explained FOTTFSOFATFOSM to their readers

What does it mean?

Fuck off to the far side of fuck and then fuck off some more.

Not certain whether it’s on MN’s acronym page.

OmIndeed · 11/04/2022 00:41

Website still up for now, but here's an archive in case it's taken down. archive.ph/thefamilysexshow.com

Has anyone listened to the (16+ or any age Hmm podcast) or read the transcripts? Content is ideological (white privilege, white supremacy, heteronormativity, socialised patterns of gender, transphobia, TERFs).

Further raised eyebrows for this..
Thiseggtheatre FB 2019 post "Hey British Theatre, I dare you to programme The Family Sex Show. Kr, Josie" archive.ph/L8n4p
& this 2019 rehearsal pic archive.ph/V7ILS

Why have a podcast series uploaded but no details re show content & so close to opening night? Are the podcast themes in the show too?

OrangutanLibrarian · 10/04/2022 23:51

@DoubleYouOhEmAyEn

I wonder if the DM explained FOTTFSOFATFOSM to their readers
What does it mean?
KimikosNightmare · 10/04/2022 23:50

[quote Imnobody4]Meet Josie who is a white female with dyed red hair wearing gold earrings but doesn't have pierced ears. She's responsible for this idiocy.

twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1512257114994970625?t=2rQ1MBJI-3HVx_U1InqmHg&s=19[/quote]
When did announcing one's skin and hair colour become a thing?

DrBlackbird · 10/04/2022 23:42

[quote Imnobody4]Meet Josie who is a white female with dyed red hair wearing gold earrings but doesn't have pierced ears. She's responsible for this idiocy.

twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1512257114994970625?t=2rQ1MBJI-3HVx_U1InqmHg&s=19[/quote]
So coming from a place of uninformed and unthinking ‘good intentions’. How does that saying go again? Good intentions paved the way to somewhere… Hmm

RhubarbCrumbled · 10/04/2022 21:55

@tabbycatstripy

I’ve emailed the Minister for Policing and the theatre.
My OH has done the same. His first reaction was surely this was a sting and everybody who turned up would be investigated.
RhubarbCrumbled · 10/04/2022 21:53

Play parties are usually about having a bit of naked fun - nothing extreme happens unless it's actually billed as a BDSM event.

It's so dangerous making extreme sex practices seem normal especially through not understanding what they're talking about - it's bad enough that porn has normalised extreme stuff. Sorry if I came across a bit trollish!

I mean, just the idea of a family sex show for 5yo is extreme. I think my mind just did a complete u-turn and couldn't quite comprehend that this is for young children. And the 'advisors' are 'educating' about sex in schools.

tabbycatstripy · 10/04/2022 21:38

I’ve emailed the Minister for Policing and the theatre.

garlicandsapphires · 10/04/2022 21:34

Any negative comments on their Instagram are being deleted. And there were LOTS

Abitofalark · 10/04/2022 15:16

Has it reached 1000? That's when they're closed, I think. The thread starter could then start a Part 2, if wanted.

OP posts:
Teesht · 10/04/2022 15:12

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This has been withdrawn by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines.

LangClegsInSpace · 10/04/2022 00:36

Thanks.

In BDSM culture, a play party is a social event in which attendees socialize with like-minded people and engage in BDSM activities

So how are 'play parties' not about BDSM?

Obviously the term 'play party' will not have those connotations for the average 5 year old audience member. They are far more likely to be imagining a bouncy castle or a ball pond.

It's important to have a shared understanding of language so we all know what we are talking about.

BettyFilous · 10/04/2022 00:11

It has come up trumps again: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_party_(BDSM)

NotBadConsidering · 10/04/2022 00:11

On the AIBU thread, I posted I reckon it will be within a week until we see Peter Tatchell come out and defend it. This is definitely his sort of thing.

BettyFilous · 10/04/2022 00:09

@LangClegsInSpace

Wait. They don't actually know what BDSM is. Play parties aren't about BDSM and it's incredibly rare that anything that extreme takes place at them.

Really. What are 'play parties' about then?

You know, my initial reaction was “why not google it?” Then I realised it would pull up stuff I don’t need or want to see, so I get why you asked. In a previous life on an earlier forum when terms like this came up, wikipedia could usually be relied on for enough detail without overkill.
LangClegsInSpace · 10/04/2022 00:02

Wait. They don't actually know what BDSM is. Play parties aren't about BDSM and it's incredibly rare that anything that extreme takes place at them.

Really. What are 'play parties' about then?

MatthewJTaylor · 09/04/2022 17:51

@Flumsnet

Camilla Parker-Bowles is patron of bath theatre! Surely she wouldn't accept this
There are moves underway to let her know about this.
eddiemairswife · 09/04/2022 17:36

Never too old to learn that 'pegging' doesn't always relate to the washing line.

Flumsnet · 09/04/2022 17:27

Camilla Parker-Bowles is patron of bath theatre! Surely she wouldn't accept this

Imnobody4 · 09/04/2022 17:10

Meet Josie who is a white female with dyed red hair wearing gold earrings but doesn't have pierced ears. She's responsible for this idiocy.

twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1512257114994970625?t=2rQ1MBJI-3HVx_U1InqmHg&s=19

MatthewJTaylor · 09/04/2022 16:41

@FOJN

One of the performers is quoted somewhere on the theatre company's website stating that the highlight for them was getting naked and singing about genitals.

There were at least two teachers on the other thread who claimed to understand safeguarding and thought this was fine and definitely not grooming!

If I ever saw a bloke say in public that he likes stripping of in front of kids whilst singing about his penis, I'm sure there would be a mob within moments. Normal people are not tolerant of this stuff.
tabbycatstripy · 09/04/2022 08:34

This sort of thing is where I seriously part company with the ‘sex positivity’ movement. Sex itself is nothing to be ashamed of. Autonomous adults should do what they want to do. But there are ethical issues in the sex industry: pimping, prostitution, the conflation of sex and violence, the involvement of kids in that world.

I don’t want to see us become a much less liberal society, but I can see it going that way if people keep pushing this sort of thing under the auspices of ‘sex positivity’. Eventually people are going to start backing more conservative laws, as they are doing in the US.