To not get this - Ant & Dec

[Ilostit]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-60464528

The bottom line is dressing up like this abs wearing this amount of make up isn’t what it is to be a woman.

This is one total utter bullshit article from the bbc.

Ant and Dec’s act was supposed to be fun but there’s nothing harmless about drag

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/135af662-9713-11ec-addf-533e9597e348?shareToken=2e29ea6fd97de94e73adb776bf18c4eb

I fail to see how it will change any childrens lives let alone any 'queer' childrens lives!

I find the pair of them absolutely risible now and not in a good way.

There have been a number of threads on the subject of Drag Queens and children recently, and not just in the Feminism: Sex and Gender board. One AIBU the other day was 87% against out 3000 and it only stopped because the thread had filled up.

It is bad enough that they are doing it, but that the BBC flagged it up as being for children is just awful.

yanbu. I hate drag

Dec looks like he is really enjoying himself, very comfortable. I wonder why.
What a load of virtue signalling from Ant and whoever thought (from behind the scenes) that this was a good idea.

I just can’t see why kids need to see men dressed like this. Bonkers.

Does anyone remember Lily Savage? Paul O'Grady did everything in drag for years and no-one complained.

OP not about Ant and Dec per se but Drag Queens and children.

It didn't really bother me, but DH wasn't impressed - especially as it's a family show and drag is known for its close to the wire humour, fine for adults that chose that, but not children.

@tillytoodles1

Does anyone remember Lily Savage? Paul O'Grady did everything in drag for years and no-one complained.

He stopped doing it. Says he won't be doing it again.

I don't think Paul O Grady's target audience was kids

@tillytoodles1

Does anyone remember Lily Savage? Paul O'Grady did everything in drag for years and no-one complained.

Not on childrens tv he didn’t

I can’t honestly imagine any of the gay people I know looking at straight men dressed up as a parody of women and think “thanks guys, I feel really seen” given that the gay people I know are all just living totally normal lives, wearing normal clothes, working, dating and in no way dressing up in a “female” costume.
And young gay men? Thinking that this is something that gay people do?
I think conflating drag with being gay is totally odd and not inspiring in the slightest for children - if anything, it risks making gay children question themselves more because this kind of outlandish dressing up isn’t the norm for the vast majority of gay people.

As a child growing up feeling that I wasn't straight, seeing drag queens on television wouldn't have helped me in any way whatsoever. I mean, it might have prepared me for just how much misogyny awaited me in life, but that's about it.

What's the definition of 'queer children' in this article? Do we usually categorise children in such a way? Aren't they just 'children'?

Makes me feel really uncomfortable. Whilst some young people have a very early sense of their sexuality, we don't talk about 'gay or straight children' do we? We leave children out of it all.

My DD who likes "boy's" stuff and thinks she might be gay would certainly not 'feel seen'. I think she would feel really uncomfortable and alienated.

She is not a boy trapped in a girl's body either, she just likes what she likes and neither of us should have to fear her expressing herself.

The authorities (Inc. BBC) are putting male fetishes above female sex based safeguards in all walks of life.

@Ilostit

I just can’t see why kids need to see men dressed like this. Bonkers.

They don't need to, in the same way they don't need to see characters in films die or fight or kiss but they see it. It's just entertainment I don't like ant and Dec but I thought their performance was funny and inclusive and most kids would just laugh and enjoy the show and not question why men are dressed as women. (Unless they have parents who are scared their children might grow up to be inclusive accepting people)

Our local library do story time sessions with 'drag queens'. I don't understand it.

I thought their performance was funny and inclusive and most kids would just laugh and enjoy the show and not question why men are dressed as women.

What was inclusive about it?
If children regularly watch Ant and Dec it'd be more unusual for them not to question why they're dressed up as women than it would for them to question it.

I don't have a problem with Ant and Dec doing drag, it was not offensive. Although Ant looked very uncomfortable. I watch RuPaul's Drag Race and see no issue with it. Yes, some behaviour is misogynistic- but that's everywhere and I call it out when I see it. Drag Queens are other to me, I don't see me (as a cis woman) in what they do.

@autienotnaughtytie, do you think drag is inclusive of women and girls? Or is inclusivity of men and boys the only thing that matters?

The rise of MRAs, the eroding of women's, sex based protections, promotion drag in primary schools is all on the same spectrum.

The message is that women have got too big for their boots.

“@crossstitchingnana

I don't have a problem with Ant and Dec doing drag, it was not offensive.”

You didn’t say your age, but I presume you aren’t a child.

The BBC is flagging this as being wonderful for gay and queer children - thereby
a.conferring sexuality and sexual orientation to children
b. suggesting drag/ cross dressing/transvestitism/being trans gender as a way to pave the way for them.

They shouldn't be targeting children with this.
Actual professional drag artists are just that , they don't pretend to be women and everyone knows they are not. Anyone who has been to a drag club will know that they are very polished performers, and very risqué.
And not for children
I'm disturbed by this obsession with sexual orientation and gender identity being pushed on young impressionable kids