Author/illustrator of 'Grandads Pride' chosen as artist for the Summer Reading Challenge

I agree it's a real shame what has happened to Pride. There needs to be a strong pushback.
The hysteria comes in calls to prevent an illustrator illustrating children's books and promotions because of one ill-judged illustration. I don't agree with cancellations.

That’s a worry. As per my previous post, adults are one of the targets for grooming and conditioning into blurring the boundaries between adults and children for sexual purposes.

Sadly you seem as unable as the author is to understand the boundaries of appropriate material for young children. That is a grave concern.

Do you how men sexually attracted to children use grooming and conditioning? It’s not all aimed at the children. Adults with responsibility for children and parents are the target and are quite clearly susceptible to it as you perfectly demonstrate.

Please read up about this before you attempt to justify this big red flag further.

Imnobody4
Presumably you want all men dressed like this prosecuted.
I just think there's justifiable criticism and then there's hysteria.

I agree, and concluding
Presumably you want all men dressed like this prosecuted
is an excellent example of hysteria

It's disappointing that bringing children to a Pride march now has to be a judgment call for parents of young children because they know there are going to be people there wearing - or not-quite-wearing - inappropriate fetish gear, exhibiting sex toys etc.

It has moved so far away from its lesbian and gay roots, it really should be re-branded as just a Grand Day Out for anyone at all.

I guarantee that if a children's illustrator had included an illustration of a man in BDSM gear for a book written 20 years ago, he would have been told to scrap it and draw something else. At the very least. He probably would have been quietly "looked into" or quietly dropped after that. If it would have been wrong then, why is it acceptable now? I wonder what's changed?

Perhaps it's because it's ubiquitous now.
Perhaps it's because activists have infiltrated everything, including publishing.
Perhaps it's because Pride was taken over by people who decided that we all wanted to see their fetishes.
Perhaps it's because Pride was taken over by people who decided that they were entitled to force their fetishes on everyone else, including children.
Perhaps it's because there are forces at work trying to groom children (don't pretend there aren't).

or

Perhaps it's because no one feels able to say "no" to entitled men anymore because you'll lose your livelihood and/or become a target for groups such as Bash Back.

Or all of the above.

I guess because it's a way to show what to expect in a way that's non threatening? I really don't know.

I don't love the pic but if it was of a woman wearing a skimpy costume for whatever reason it would be the same. I guess I'm imagining a very little kid wouldn't notice it and doesn't know the sexual context. And that people who don't want their kids exposed to it wouldn't buy and read them a book about Pride.

Ok so why have it in a book aimed at ages younger than that?

JFC. I'm against cancelling authors and illustrators okay?

Countless GC authors and illustrators have been cancelled for wrong think etc

This is just the other side of the coin. It is not proportinate to ban an illustrator from children's publishing for this one illustration.
The motives of the Summer Reading Challenge are to get children reading. The artwork they've chosen is perfectly acceptable if not to my taste.
If you'd seen the number of complaints about children's books I've had to deal with over the years, you'd understand or perhaps not.

Everyone knows that including a picture of a man wearing fetish gear in a book aimed at small children is inappropriate.

Some people pretend not to understand it.

To quote a tweet that gained a lot of traction some time ago: "It's amazing how much leftist discourse is just them pretending not to understand things, thus making discourse impossible."

I’m a library worker, I didn’t realise it was the same illustrator who drew Grandads pride.
I think the illustrations for this year are mostly good but yes I would question the reasoning behind using an illustrator who’s had recent controversy, as someone else has pointed out, children’s literature in general and the reading agency specifically are captured.
One of the characters is a girl in a hijab which I’m not too keen on.

No I wouldn't take my little kids to it. Only if they seemed interested and wanted to go after about 9/10.

Are you ok with it for your dc? When young that is

If it’s only for a select few who make the decision and are ok with it it doesn’t need to be written into children’s books.

Idk. Not really. But I think it's a choice the parents make if they take their kids to it. If someone isn't exposing their genitals and it's not massive dildos/strap ons, it's akin to Notting hill with women in tiny costumes shaking their arses.

People don't have to go if they don't want to see that type thing.

Presumably you want all men dressed like this prosecuted.

Men dressed like this in public? At a supposedly "family friendly " event? Where everyone who is there has to see their fetish out in full view, whether they have consented or not?

Yes, I'd agree to prosecution.

BTW,

No child will leap to BDSM. They probably won't even notice.

Getting children "used to" things they really should see as suspect, if not dangerous, is a thing. It's called grooming.

Is dc seeing bondage gear at Pride ok?

I'd like men dressed in bondage to keep it in their bedrooms, of course.

Why are you so invested in showing it to kids?

Fwiw, here's a link to an earlier thread that's about the book

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4821642-granddads-pride-a-picture-book-for-under-7s?page=1

Jfc 'Love is love is love'. I'd forgotten that was in the book.

If you think kids going to Pride need to see men in BDSM gear because its 'realistic' then I just do not know what to say.

I'd agree if he drawn a man leading another man wearing a dog collar. This can easily be swept aside by 'awful fashion sense' by parent. No child will leap to BDSM. They probably won't even notice.

He's illustrated a Pride march. This is an accurate depiction.
Presumably you want all men dressed like this prosecuted.
I just think there's justifiable criticism and then there's hysteria.
[Just tried to spell check this. A I refused - inappropriate content]

There's a pic of another old man in fetish wear but it's not the granddad from the story. The story is quite sweet really. It's only that one pic that everyone hates. I kind of see it's a bit much but if you're going to go to pride you might see something like that so I guess it's trying to be realistic.
It's hardly telling children to get into bondage.

I see! 😄

It's not only all the BDSM gear he wears, there is also the Love is Love paedophile motto, as well as a book with MAP - code for paedophiles, used by people who want to normalise paedophilia.

Yes I am.

It’s from another thread about an advert for Surrey(?) Pride being a family friendly event where someone responded to the OP saying a figure in bondage gear was wearing ‘leather accessories’ and couldn’t see what the OP was fussing about.

ETA: I was just using their logic in a reductio ad absurdum way to explain why it wasn’t a man dressed in fetish gear and anyone who thought it was is an uptight pearl-clutcher.

So this is what you think even having seen the picture linked by @TwoLoonsAndASprout ?