Drag Queen Story Time

There's another protest going on in Crewe right now, hopefully we'll get some more women inside the venue again.

These leaflets are being handed out to the general public who seem to be in agreement with the gender critical message.

You are making assumptions about my opinions. I, personally, do not object to people who think DQST is wrong because they believe drag is adult entertainment and doesn't belong in children's presentations at libraries. I also think to campaign against this, or to protest against it, is fine, if you are so inclined.

What I have objected to in this thread is THIS particular protest, in which a small group of terrifying people which includes alt-right conspiracy theorists who have previously protested vaccine sites shout about paedophilia and autogynephilia to toddlers. That this is under the guise of "protecting children" and objecting to it is "silencing women" boggles the mind.

It's a leap that there are "good" protestors (the women, probably GC, who must not be silenced!) vs the "bad" protestors (the men shouting outside). They could be well part of the same group -- there was a vaccine site protested on my road where most protestors were women, and plenty of women are involved in alt-right/white supremacy/conspiracies about jews and paedophiles being the new world order.

The group of protestors was small and I do not believe that there's any chance the "good" protestors were unaware of what the "bad" protestors were shouting, which included well known far-right dog whistles.

Well I think the point of the event in my synagogue was to say that Jewish people come in all shapes and sizes and we are all part of one big jewish family. Also that it is ok to be who you are even in a religious setting and not hide who you are. That was my main take from it anyway. Maybe a lot of people think 'religion is not for them', because they made certain life choices but thats not true. I chose my synagogue because it is welcoming to everyone; religion is something that should be accessible to everyone who is willing to learn. As for drag story hour in a library, I do agree the benefit is not obvious to me but I have never attended one. I know how I feel about the event I attended because i felt I did gain something from attending it.

This is a genuinely interesting story, but doesn’t explain the benefit to children of exposing them to a genre which relies for its meaning on adult transgression of gender stereotypes.

I could quite easily articulate the value of say a female firefighter reading to them and talking about her job. But a drag queen? I’d love to hhear some articulation of the benefit you perceive the children will get

MenopausalMe
I also do not want to share a platform with neo Nazis on any issue but I am not going to ignore safeguarding risks to children because neo Nazis may also be protesting. Agreeing the sun shines is not the same as sharing a platform

I agree with what you said there. Although not about DQSH, this is an interesting article about how the far left and far right can end up having a lot in common. This was originally in the New York Times but you can read it free in this publication.

The Far Right and Far Left Agree on One Thing: Women Don’t Count

www.akilligundem.com/the-far-right-and-far-left-agree-on-one-thing-women-dont-count/

Exactly right. The promoters need to explain what the benefit to children is. The benefit of exposing them to a genre which relies for its meaning on adult transgression of gender stereotypes is not obvious to me, but I am willing to listen to any arguments which are advanced.

Come to think about it, i once attended a great Purim event at my synagogue which featured a talk by a drag queen (alongside talks by a convert to Judaism; an ex ultra orthodox jew and a gay rabbi- theme was behind the mask along with dinner cooked by a social enterprise run by refugee women). I really don't remember if there were kids as the event ran until 9 plus pm on a school night but I wouldn't have expected any event at a synagogue to exclude kids! I think there may have been an earlier event featuring crafts and a children's reading of the megillah and that was only for kids but the later event never said no kids. I don't recall anything i thought would be inappropriate even in a religious setting and certainly no revealing costumes. The event took place inside the sanctuary!

There was also a drag queen providing evening entertainment during the Biennial (which I didn't attend and it was on Zoom due to covid).

Yes, it wasn't racism that led people to want to protect the girls who were being groomed by these gangs, but it was the fear of being labelled as racist which prevented some of those people from acting.

What posters like @exceptmeandmymonkey and @onthefencesitter don't seem to understand is that different people have different reasons for objecting to DQST. Some of them are anti-gay, anti-trans etc. Some of them just want to protect children. Some of them might be part of both groups. Most of the people on here just want to protect children (is that surprising on a site called 'mumsnet'?)

It's important that a fear of being labelled transphobic or homophobic (when we are not) doesn't stop us from calling out practices which are harmful to children.

Perhaps one of the posters who is in favour of DQST could explain how it is beneficial to children to have a story read to them by a man dressed as a grotesque parody of a woman, who may be visibly aroused by doing so.

What the hell are people thinking

It's the sacred caste. Drag queens are under the trans umbrella, so are part of the LGBTQ++++ 'community', which can't be criticised and which never does anything wrong. Therefore they can't be predators, or commit crimes. All LGBTQ++++ people are to be considered pure and incapable of harm.

It's the either/or thinking of people who endorse gender ideology. Either all people in a certain group are predators or none of them are. They are incapable of understanding that acknowledging that some people in this group are predators doesn't mean that anyone thinks they all are.

But..but.. aren't drag Queens at least supposed to "tuck"?? And for that matter actually dress "as women" (whatever that means)?? This person seems to have purposefully chosen an extremely tight revealing catsuit with untucked (aroused??!) male genitalia?!! In front of kids!! I know we talk about in plain sight but come on! What possible legitimate reason could there be ? Am I missing something ??

Yes I don't think women should have been scaring toddlers and babies but how has this event been allowed to happen. There's another photo of all the kids surrounding the "queen" and hugging/touching them at waist height! What the hell are people thinking

Yep

when people in authority start neglecting their duty, they leave a gap

shouting ‘peadophile’ in a library in front of a bunch of kids isn’t ok, and neither is inviting adult entertainers to do their act to children

In the case of this particular library "protest" which you admire, the people at the centre appear not to be "women" as a general category but conspiracy theorists, including Michael Chaves, the anti-vaxxer/alt-right/white supremacist. Here you can see Chaves' own videos of the event, including him referring to the drag queen as "the degenerate."

The video I saw was of two brave women inside the library, then when they are escorted outside by the police they talk briefly to a male passer-by about what was going on.

Yes, I'd like to start with Marjorie Taylor Green. Plenty of women have shit ideas.

In the case of this particular library "protest" which you admire, the people at the centre appear not to be "women" as a general category but conspiracy theorists, including Michael Chaves, the anti-vaxxer/alt-right/white supremacist. Here you can see Chaves' own videos of the event, including him referring to the drag queen as "the degenerate."

twitter.com/CovidRadicals/status/1551516857500327938

The conspiracy theorists are now posting photos of the event to private channels, trying to identify those involved. I'm sure nothing untoward is intended by posting photos of their faces and suggesting they are paedophiles. I particularly recommend Michael Chaves video where he says that the world is ruled by Satanic paedophiles, which fits neatly into existing antisemetic conspiracy tropes.

Nothing to see there. Definitely not alt-right/white supremacist/whackaloons. Just "women" and saying that this is wrong with this protest is "silencing" them.

It’s exactly what you think it is, when that photo has been used in positive news reports they have been careful to only use above the waist only. They know what it is to but are choosing to ignore it

The video of the women shouting in Reading Library is difficult to watch - especially as the child of one of them clearly is very very disturbed by it all and screaming. I don't think they would have come over well to any of the parents there. They just sounded unhinged shouting 'paedophile' to children. I don't endorse this, but neither am I happy that DQST went ahead.

So you're in favour of silencing women?

Ok.

Absolutely. Sick of women being blamed for this shit and being associated with these bad actors

What movement?

To be clear, the argument here is that a drag queen reading stories to children in a library setting is damaging, but an unhinged person shouting "paedophilia!" and "autogynephilia!", scaring the shit out of a room of babies and toddlers, is "being heard"?

It's the push of gender ideology that is most worrying..but most library staff are totally ignorant of this or do not fully understand the issues.

What a shame there's no effect. I feel that the places that have booked this do not remotely get it and will not.

It's bizarre to have adult entertainers come and read to very young children. It would make more sense with teenagers, but then, performers like Aida H Dee have a trans crusading message, despite not really being trans themselves.

As for living in the 50s? We're getting all the clichés here from people entirely missing the point. I've no problem with drag, my friend does it, I've got a problem with it being served up to 0-5 year olds in libraries. So that makes me a prude in this conversation to some, but a reasonable person to many others.

Leeds libraries advertised this on facebook yesterday...it's the only post on their page that doesn't allow comments.

I strongly disagree with dqsh..but this is not the way to challenge it. Protests like this are fuel to the drag queens belief that they are the most marginalised and discriminated against in society. They thrive on this kind of drama.

That said I know that any complaints that are made to the library service are NOT taken seriously. Quite the opposite in fact.

Seems to be similar to the way the far right in the UK picked up on the grooming cases by Asian males. We all know they didn’t give a damn about the girls involved. They simply saw an opportunity to progress their cause, because the authorities were not acting due to misplaced concerns about racism.
when the authorities fail to act responsibly they creat a space for bad actors to step into.