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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

633 replies

flashbac · 11/07/2021 23:04

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?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
18
PaleGreenGhost · 12/07/2021 14:23

How am I supposed to teach my children boundaries when I can't be certain that trusted organisations like schools and libraries won't invite in people who, at best, don't understand children or safeguarding?

I raise my kids as "gender neutral" as possible. They love dressing up and don't especially conform. They don't actually need you to teach them free expression, thanks, but I'd be grateful if you stopped shoving stereotypes down their throats.

Why would an organisation want to link this wonderful free expression that children are capable of (if we don't stuff them in the footballer /princess box) with adult sexuality? What positive does that bring my children?

How are my children empowered to tell me that, for example, an adult who wasn't their parents was naked around them, if they are exposed to this at the library?

Children are so vulnerable to being groomed, to having their boundaries slowly pushed down in a way they cannot identify themselves at the time. That's why trusted adults are supposed to work together to keep them safe.

ChristinaXYZ · 12/07/2021 14:25

And Guido has covered it a (also with MP Wes Streeting's letter) noting:

"Vision RCL – who arranged the event – reportedly received £740,000 as part of the government’s cultural recovery fund."

order-order.com/2021/07/12/councillor-distances-himself-from-inappropriate-childrens-reading-event/

ChristinaXYZ · 12/07/2021 14:27

@PurpleHoodie

I am so sorry this happened to you. Adults have to acknowledge boundaries and stand up to people who call them prudes. It is the only way to safe guard kids

Hence the anger over the WiSpa incident.

Absolutely!
ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 12/07/2021 14:28

[quote ChristinaXYZ]I don't know if this has already been posted but the local MP has written to register his concern

twitter.com/Ecuadorian_Mum/status/1414568338366291969

and council leader has put out a statement

twitter.com/Jas_Athwal/status/1414562869375606795[/quote]
That Wes Streeting letter is pretty good, the council leader statement is pretty poor IMO.

rathertakenaback · 12/07/2021 14:28

@Winniewonka None are entirely volunteer run, but it looks like some will be. Don't get me wrong, we have some excellent volunteers, but the lack of DBS checking is a serious concern. I truly believe it's a child safeguarding disaster waiting to happen.

VexedofVirginiaWater · 12/07/2021 14:34

@Tibtom

It's a fake baboon's bottom

It is not a fake baboon's bottom - it is a fake human bottom complete with rectum.

Ooh - sorry, obviously I am not as well up on bottoms as I thought.
NewlyGranny · 12/07/2021 14:40

Just for a brief moment, hold your breath and imaging a primary age child turning up at school in a childsize version of this costume for World Book Day.

What would be the likely response?

C8H10N4O2 · 12/07/2021 14:45

Ooh - sorry, obviously I am not as well up on bottoms as I thought

Baboon bums:

www.istockphoto.com/photos/baboon-butt

At least some of the pictures from the website have other costumed performers apparently well up into the fake bottom whilst the "monkey" bends over.

Meanwhile, I am DBS checked to death in order to be able to visit secondary schools to talk to teenage girls about STEM. That is with teaching staff present and I share the materials before I go because they take safeguarding seriously. Unlike Redbridge council apparently.

PaleGreenGhost · 12/07/2021 14:47

Pleasantly surprised by the Wes Streeting response. Think I had him in mind as a bit of a misogynist but I can't recall specifically why.

NiceGerbil · 12/07/2021 14:47

In summary

Taxpayer money was used to pay a performance group with a highly sexualised act and costumes to come to a session designed for preschoolers.

They showed the children a dildo.
They simulated sex.
Then for extra fun they went outside and a man bent over on a bench to show his (plastic) buttocks and arsehole to the local population / picked a good time to bend over when fully veiled women were passing.

The library thought this was great fun and another agreed.

???????

PinkPennyPineapple · 12/07/2021 14:53

Placemarking

RedDogsBeg · 12/07/2021 14:55

Excellent post PaleGreenGhost.

Who benefits when children's boundaries are ridden over, who benefits when safeguarding of children is thrown in the bin? It sure as hell isn't the children.

MrsWooster · 12/07/2021 14:58

NewlyGrannys point needs repeated:
“ Question: how will children who saw this, and saw their parents laughing and taking pictures, respond when confronted by an adult male exposing himself?

It's being normalised. Sarah Everard's killer was a flasher first and it was minimised.”

Congressdingo · 12/07/2021 15:06

[quote CaveMum]This is the Cali response of “artist” we’re looking at. This picture is taken from their Flickr account. There’s no way they didn’t know what they were booking.

Link to Tweet: twitter.com/pro_nouns/status/1414327141735538693?s=21[/quote]
Well ummmmmmm yeah. Indeed, not for children or this particular adult.
Just who would want to see this and why?

CaveMum · 12/07/2021 15:12

@RedDogsBeg

Excellent post PaleGreenGhost.

Who benefits when children's boundaries are ridden over, who benefits when safeguarding of children is thrown in the bin? It sure as hell isn't the children.

And which group are the (usual) gatekeepers to the children - women.

Which group are currently being undermined and having their rights chipped away at - women.

Sensing a pattern yet folks?

Congressdingo · 12/07/2021 15:12

@endofthelinefinally

Asda was sending out a schools pack with a board game suggesting body parts that could be put together...
Oh God yes I remember this. It was revolting. The dice game where the idea was to discuss such things as anus/fingers/penis/mouth. And who could explain if anus/anus was the result what sex act would cover it.

Oh and bukake (that I had to Google then wished i hadnt) and the totes uncontroversial 11 year old girl hooked on porn. Right !

RedDogsBeg · 12/07/2021 15:14

And which group are the (usual) gatekeepers to the children - women.

Which group are currently being undermined and having their rights chipped away at - women.

Sensing a pattern yet folks?

I wonder exactly what horror has to happen before people wake up and join the dots.

Ninkanink · 12/07/2021 15:15

In the interest of accuracy, I’ve got to clarify that I think I got it wrong earlier. I believe the slogan in the supermarket (ASDA) children’s charity email pack sent to parents, without request by said parents, was ‘Love is never wrong’. Which anybody who knows anything about safeguarding would know is an absolutely appalling message to send to a child. IIRC this was the same pack that signposted parents/children to a book that described a child being made to perform a sex act.

Please if I’ve got anything wrong above, if anyone knows better please do correct me.

littlbrowndog · 12/07/2021 15:16

What the hell is queering the library for children 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

A library thought it appropriate to book this 'entertainment' for children and I feel sick
shouldistop · 12/07/2021 15:17

@Ninkanink it was love has no age limit was it not? And a link to a book about a 6 year old giving blow jobs

Ninkanink · 12/07/2021 15:18

Ah thank you, it may well have been.

I need to find that thread and re-read.

Ninkanink · 12/07/2021 15:24

Thanks!👍

TheQueef · 12/07/2021 15:28

Plastic Monkey Dick.
So many inventive ways to introduce Dick to children.
And it is always dick, I've yet to read about vulva being plastered about.

How far off the mark am I thinking children don't need to see any dick unless they own their own and even then shouldn't see anyone else's?
Honestly there is not a single solitary reason I can think of.
Not a one.