To think that inviting primary children to witness erect penises, gang rape references and spikes up mens arses isn't artistic, it's pedophilia?

[ShouldIStayOrShouldIRun]

This art exhibition is being pushed by Gendered Intelligence, a group that works in schools:

www.transgendertrend.com/gendered-intelligence-training-teachers-kiss-my-genders/

The event is not age restricted, in fact children are being actively encouraged to go.

I have been informed by a very 'woke' friend that this is art and I am homophobic, kink shaming, and transphobic (because apparently even linking to the above website on my FB is, no matter what it says) and that maybe I should go with my own primary aged dc to 'broaden my mind'.

My mind has been broadened. That friend obviously shouldn't be let anywhere near my dc again.

AIBU?

• Opening post edited at OP's request

I don't think anyone is encouraging primary school children to visit the exhibition. That event was for teachers - presumably they were focusing on the gender identity artworks without sexual content.

There is a youth event for 13—17 year olds.

The gallery does say the exhibition contains some works containing nudity and sexual content but I don't see a reference to it being unsuitable for specific age children.

There's another thread on Feminist Chat.

@hopeygoflightly when you click on 'book tickets' you can see that it encourages children to attend.

Holy fuck... I’m speechless.

So the LGBTQ community is constantly saying 'how dare you link being gay to kink or paedophilia' whilst simultaneously marketing an exhibition about kink to kids?

Seriously can't imagine anyone taking their kids to see this and definitely not a primary school, could you imagine?!

Primary age children go free, which would be encouragement enough for some parents who weren't entirely aware of the content. A free day out with the kids, sounds good right?!

Group Ticket Prices:
Adult groups: £12.00
Secondary School, College and University Groups: £5.00 per student (Free tutor tickets when bringing a group of 10+ students)
Primary schools ages 4 – 11: Free (Free tutor tickets when bringing a group)
Lambeth & Southwark Schools ages 4 –16: Free (Free tutor tickets when bringing a group)

Seem pretty clear they are advertising to schools.

The meaning of ‘woke’ has expanded to encompass a number of other social justice issues since it was first used.

This is true but op seems to use it in an almost judgemental way of her friend which makes the term come across negatively. It is still mainly based on racial injustice

Interestingly the Adventure at sea event which features a CBBC presenter, and is about trying new instruments, actually has a 7+ age rating

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/131621-adventure-sea-2019#484541

Sounds like this exhibition was all about Trans. Trans ideology is homophobic and very misleading and negative for children to be listening to and looking at such garbage. I speak as an out and proud lesbian who does not find her sexual reality reflected to the slightest extent by any of this misogynistic crap. In fact I find myself erased by it.

OMG OMG OMG
Who does this need reporting to??

That’s their standard T&C’s for ticket sales and I don’t see how that adds up to them advertising or encouraging primary school children to come to the exhibition.
I can’t think of an instance where I haven’t checked that an exhibition or event or film is age appropriate for my kids before taking them to see it. I don’t even take them around half the Tate Modern stuff because I wouldn’t consider it age appropriate and they’d be bored.
This is a fuss about nothing. If you don’t want to see it or are offended by the content then don’t go. Now one is going to be dragging your 6 year old to this...

This is true but op seems to use it in an almost judgemental way of her friend which makes the term come across negatively. It is still mainly based on racial injustice

No, I agree that 'woke' has come to encompass far more than about racial injustice now. Its used for loads of things and is often used negatively for things that are nothing to do with racial injustice.

Well I've emailed the Southbank Centre to ask them, in polite terms, what on earth they are playing at.

Though judging from the two other blokes who have jumped onto my status they might see absolutely nothing wrong with it...

Obviously it is unsuitable for kids. Just stupid to suggest it is.

Yes, I don't actually see any evidence they're expecting primary school kids to attend the exhibition? I suspect if they have workshops for students, they are 'around' the exhibition themes rather than going into it, and be aimed at secondary kids, using some of the less extreme stuff.

The articles says the convenor was surprised by the number of primary school teacher attendees - maybe they had assumed teachers would know more about the nature of the exhibition and be mostly from secondaries.

I agree it sounds like the show has more to do with sex than sexuality/gender identity and was not appropriate for any school to go to really, as even with 16+'s I think that sort of exposure should be parents' choice and even if you assume 'all kids have seen porn', that doesn't mean all of them like it or want to see it, especially girls. (I still don't like porn - not moral dislike, I just find it ugly and stupid - had it been freely available as a teenager, I would never have chosen to watch it.)

Look, I am pretty critical of GI and think this exhibition was not a suitable one to centre training around, as I don't think one should twin BDSM with gender issues, as they are separate things and it just reinforces the idea of trans identities with kink (and I do believe that some peopl - but not 60 kids in one school - are trans) but I don't think their intention was to get primary school parties to attend this exhibition.

Am surprised Hayward isn't age-warning it - I've seen age warnings on much milder things at art galleries than this sounds.

See, I thought that about those general terms and conditions - they imply that the extra contribution is for helping kids come and see other exhibitions at the centre.

But the ticket prices...? And there is no age restriction?

LGBTQ lumps together very disparate groups with little in common apart from the fact that they are all minorities. T is completely at odds with LGB for example. L and G are often at odds too as lesbians love women and gay men are often at least as misogynistic as straight men can be. Neither L or G particularly understand what it is to be B and none of the groups are especially likely to identify or understand what it means to be Q.

So there is no such thing as 'the LGBTQ community'

In that case I can't inderstand why the Cbeebies exhibition has an age rating of 7+ on it and this one has none.

And they want groups of 13+ year olds to join in for three weeks.

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/136997-kiss-my-genders-youth-takeover-project-2019#events

Bloody hell.

None of that sounds like it has anything to do with L G B or even T really. It just sounds like porn.

But again add a letter or two and it's all educational and perfectly acceptable

In.plain.sight.

My (no resoundingly ex) friend said that this exhibition was designed to help children understand if they were 'queer'.

Queer doesn't just mean gay these days.

Groups like Gendered Intelligence say they're about breaking down stereotypes but really they're about promoting queer theory.

Queer theory is based on post modernism which teaches that there's no such thing as objective reality. Our reality is based on our perception and our subjective decisions to categorise stuff. So a table, a cat - or even a woman - are concepts that we apply to the world but which aren't fixed to external reality.

From this comes queer theory, that is concerned with gender and sees even biological sex as simply a concept applied to people, something we can change simply by perceiving it differently.

Queer theory is also concerned with breaking down social norms. It divides sex and sexuality into "normative" and "deviant". (Normative being seen as bad, deviant being seen as liberating, broadly).

Homosexuality is "deviant" according to queer theory and therefore a good thing as It's breaking with social norms. But, also, kink and extreme sexual practices that break with convention are considered "deviant" (and therefore a good thing) and therefore "queer". This, and people supposedly changing their gender means a bunch of people we would see as straight are now calling themselves queer.

Some queer theorists also teach that what's wrong with rape, incest and even paedophilia is not so much the act, but society's reaction to it - the social stigma. There are some pretty strong connections between paedophile and queer theory - postmodernism started with Foucault, and he argued for the age of consent to be removed completely. There's a good video on this on YouTube with Derrick Jensen. I'll link after breakfast if no one else gets there first.

How popular is queer theory? Very. It's taught in all our universities. Women's studies has been largely replaced with gender studies and gender studies includes queer theory.

Most young people who are into queer theory won't be aware of the links to paedophilia - but when you read the texts of queer theory they undeniably exist.

And it makes logical sense - if you want to break down all social norms and all kinds of "deviancy" are to be encouraged then that's going to include breaking down social norms that are there for a very good reason.

Disclaimer I'm just learning about queer theory myself. Will post links later but check out Selina Todd's talk at WPUK (transcript on their website, video on YouTube) which touches on this.

My (no resoundingly ex) friend said that this exhibition was designed to help children understand if they were 'queer'.

So they are implying that children can be exposed to art work depicting an erect penis and gang rape, and this will help them decide whether or not they are queer.

don't actually see any evidence they're expecting primary school kids to attend the exhibition

Look at the website and the prices for this show - this encouraged attendance by school kids including primary- with totally inadequate warning on the content.

Also the training the author of the blog went to, was marketed to specifically to primary teachers (among others).

Why the heck would a primary school teacher need to see that exhibition, in any professional capacity?

I'm sorry but even if they're not a tually encouraging children to go, the fact that children are even allowed to attend is concerning enough.

If a parent were to show a child an image of an erect penis, that is a safeguarding issue. But in the name of art, that is OK?