A library thought it appropriate to book this 'entertainment' for children and I feel sick

[flashbac]

I thought it was a joke, a photoshop job, a hoax even but it's not.

WTF

A children's entertainer in a library with this costume?

twitter.com/StandingforXX/status/1414247886242598912?s=19

What the hell is this?

@Hyacinth88

It's a fake baboons bottom. Part of a story.

Perhaps you could explain how that make the story appropriate for a childrens event.

Even if this "act" was booked in good faith as an appropriate performance for the Library, why, in the name of all that is holy, did a member of staff not take one look at the costume the second they arrived/came out of the changing room and say "No way, get out!"??? Allowing the "performance" to go ahead at all should be the nail in the coffin of the jobs of every employee/volunteer on duty that day.

I dont think there is anything to suggest that this monkey is anything to do with lgbt etc

Its possible that in seeing the rainbow costume someone made a potential link and therfore felt unable to say anything but that's a bit of a reach really.

This library has however hosted a drag queen story time before so this is probably the starting point. I'm personally against drag but if adults want to go see ot that's up the them. The point is obviously that drag is entertainment fir adults

When the library chose to bring it to children, well that's a muddying of the boundary line right there. How do you justify one example if adult entertainment as being OK to show to children ( even when said drag Queens sanitise their performances fir children they are still googleable by children and therefore should that happen children will be exposed to the adult side of drag) but then decide another form of adult entertainment isn't appropriate.

This is why we are here. Because the boundaries have been blurred, you overrode safguarding on.one aspect then expected it to be upheld at another. Safeguarding isn't pick n mix.

Is it illegal to have a costume with a swinging appendage

It's illegal to show children dildos.

For accuracy, that is the University of Sussex library Twitter not any public library service in the area.

And fwiw I'm.not blaming the drag Queens. They are on on websites doing exactly what they say they are going to ajd are toning it down.as requested etc that's not the issue. That's all open and honest about what they are and what they do.

Its thise who think.its appropriate in the first place that are the problem

@PaulaPetunia

I keep hoping it's a hoax..

Oh it is real alright - councillors discussing it, not particularly politely:

twitter.com/HasAhmed_/status/1413931013340807172

twitter.com/Jas_Athwal/status/1413933691420778496

@beastlyslumber - don't judge ALL libraries on the actions of Redbridge, Exeter and Sussex.

Leeds libraries have doubled down on the booking of adult drag performers despite many complaints from women. I suspect this is true of quite a few .

@Whatwouldscullydo

And fwiw I'm.not blaming the drag Queens. They are on on websites doing exactly what they say they are going to ajd are toning it down.as requested etc that's not the issue. That's all open and honest about what they are and what they do.

Its thise who think.its appropriate in the first place that are the problem

That is not good enough. They should say 'we are adult entertainers and it would be wrong to blur the boundaries for children so I must turn this booking down'.

Take away the rainbow fur and what are you left with? A unknown man walking around encouraging children to touch his plastic dildo. Wrong. As a parent if your first instinct isn't "get the fuck away from my kid" then you need to have a good, hard look at yourself and your priorities.

What also really pisses me off is the picture of them next to the Muslim families with women in burkhas. Its not my religion, and I know that there is an element of control/sexism etc, but modesty is important to those ladies and this totally disrespects that.

Now, I'm going to share a personal experience to explain why this is problematic from a safeguarding perspective for people who might think that this is art, that it's ok, that genitals aren't the problem.

TRIGGER WARNING BELOW

I was repeatedly abused by a relative who is peadophile as a child of 4 or 5, and one of the things that happened was that he had a BBQ apron with a print of a bare chest with a printed apron on, and it had a sewn on fake penis underneath it. First the peado made me hold the fabric penis whilst my mum and dad laughed and once I was used to that he got me alone and switched it for his actual penis.

Now, it was already funny when i held his fabric penis, so following that lead it felt like it should be "okay" to touch his real penis. I didn't feel like I could talk to my parents because they had laughed at my discomfort earlier and encouraged my boundaries to be crossed.

That erosion of safety leads to something called complex PTSD, its like what soldiers get but rather than recreating wartime violence sex abuse CPTSD sufferers recreated the horror of being abused, the helplessness, the disgust and fear by someone who is meant to protect them. It destroys lives.

I might email that to the libraries involved, actually.

It’s easy to miss when your eyes are naturally drawn to the hideous monkey, but if you look at the video posted earlier, the strawberry costume is far from benign. It looks like a giant red erect cock and balls to me (the balls stick out from the performer’s legs).

What sort of person wants to dress up in that outfit in front of children? This is disgusting on every level.

Iirc tib

There was one drag queen who called it out. That footage circulated in twitter for a bit.

@waterlego - according to their website, the monkeys are a great, fun act for mainly events! Wish I’d screen-shotted their marketing blurb - strangely, their website isn’t working today!

So far, 36 of 911 people on this site thought this costume was completely fine.

Would love to hear their reasoning

[quote Winniewonka]@beastlyslumber - don't judge ALL libraries on the actions of Redbridge, Exeter and Sussex.[/quote]
I won't. But they are not the only libraries who have had dodgy events, and there seems to be very little understanding among librarians (at least those I've seen online) of why this is a problem. It seems like anything goes, as long as it's covered in glitter and rainbows. It frightens me, and I don't think I'm alone.

@Whatwouldscullydo

Iirc tib

There was one drag queen who called it out. That footage circulated in twitter for a bit.

Was it this video from Kitty Demure?

@RadandMad it’s a cult of deviancy, preying on children and vulnerable young people. Brazen and deliberate sexual assaults on women and children, backed up with grooming on a society-wide scale. Truly horrendous.

I am perpetually angry about this, and have been for years. We’ve talked and shouted and discussed and pleaded and fought to raise awareness for years now.

This is going to get a hell of a lot worse before people properly wake up, unless something is done NOW. By then a huge amount of damage will have been done. Get angry! Get protective over the women and children in your community, your schools and your libraries!

Those of you who’ve not seen things like this before, might be time to check out the ‘charities’ and organisations whose pamphlets and teaching packs have been sent into schools for sex education and some of the highly questionable methods they use. Really nasty stuff.

We see you. And now a whole lot more people are going to see you.

Horrendous. Who on earth thought this was appropriate.

The sort of people who now identify the very word 'safeguarding' as a so-called dogwhistle. And it doesn't stop there. Allegedly there are algorithms that can track concerns relating to safeguarding in order to dox, threaten and intimate those who express them, all under the pretext that those people are guilty of specific forms of 'phobia'.

Admittedly I haven't seen hard evidence about the algorithms. But I've certainly witnessed the doxing, harassing and threats, the extremity of which is undeniable these days to anyone with their eyes even slightly open.

The timing is also interesting. Post #MeToo, and before that, post Hollywood/UK small screen circles were making headlines owing to exploitation of minors. Anyone associated with this murky cesspool became persona non grata. Pasts caught up with some of these men - because they're always men - and in some cases, prison sentences were handed out.

The old phrase springs to mind 'to every action is an equal and opposite reaction' - much like the one claiming the #MeToo women were jumping on the bandwagon and must be lying. This is pushback. It's concerted. It isn't accidental. It's by design.

They are hiding in fucking plain sight and organisations like this library (and the tolerance of a certain acronym on Twitter) are less turning a blind eye than actively encouraging them to do it.

How in the hell did we get here? (Rhetorical question because, of course, we know).

Yy screamin That's the one.

They've deleted the website but yesterday were happy for this to be on it?

@Keepitonthedownlow

They've deleted the website but yesterday were happy for this to be on it?

Dear god.

Some posters hide the feminism boards. This is an important topic that shouldn't be relegated to the 'naughty corner'

For good reason. I don’t think it’s up to you to decide people need to see topics they have chosen to exclude.

This is nothing to do with feminism. Unless PPs are implying that safeguarding children is something only women should be responsible for?

What it is is something all of us should be outraged about. It’s a publicly funded library FFS.