Drag Queen at a Primary School - continuation thread here - https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4490413-Drag-Queen-at-a-Primary-School-Thread-2?watched=1

[Lennyllama]

What are your views on a drag queen visiting a primary school for the day? Think thigh high leather boots with short revealing dresses and a dance show. The drag queen spent the day at school. Did a show for KS2 and then went around to individual classes to read a story book. The school had a themed dress up day. The theme was This is Me. Parents were not informed that this would be happening and were not given the option to opt in or out of the experience. The school has a very diverse mix of cultures and religions. This particular queen is easily found online, the kids were told their stage name and their content is rather steamy.

YANBU- It’s inappropriate
YABU- It’s appropriate

I have name changed for this.

@Bintymcbintface

THEY DIDN'T DO THAT AT YOUR KIDS SCHOOL!!

Anyone who "does that" as part of their public persona should not be anywhere near a school.

Oh goodness me. I think this is getting quite ridiculous. Everyone is conflating what happened with what might have happened.

All of these photos. WE ONLY KNOW OF ONE OUTFIT. The one in the photo that is online on Instagram/fb etc. The rest is hearsay.

Yes yes I know why would children lie etc but I'm just saying that, as the (actual) Queen might say: "recollections may vary".

@WarriorN

What is "queerness?"

I've not seen that on the curriculum.

Queerness by definition:

"Queer is a word that describes sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people may all identify with the word queer.".

Drag does fit into this as it goes against heteronormative stereotypes

@HipTightOnions

Some seem to be missing the point that we don't need a good reason to exclude someone from speaking to a group of primary school children; we need a good reason to allow them to.

This this this.

We need a really good reason, and "the dress wasn't that see through anyway" does not cut it.

Some people have taken leave of their senses.

Yep, yep, yep.

What is the educational benefit? What is positive, helpful, wholesome and useful?

'Queering' is about removing safeguards, explicitly about breaking down barriers. If you don't know much about queer theory I suggest you google it. Here's an informative film:

Lots of people seem to advocate for 'queering' things without really understanding what that means.

Google any well known person and you'll find less than savoury images of them, be it from real life or something they've done as part of their act. It really isn't difficult.

I mean Prince Andrew visited my school when I was in 6th form... That's just a tad worse

I don't care if they were wearing a twin set and pearls, what's the learning purpose?

If the random guy hired wore trackie joggers and a hoodie and went to read stories to the children what would be the point?

What was the teacher's purpose in planning that activity?

Dressing up in drag has nothing to do with diversity.

"Queer is a word that describes sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people may all identify with the word queer.".

Alternatively, many lesbian gay and bisexual people may feel that 'queer' is a slur.

And the roots of 'queer' theory go back to Michel Foucault, the renowned paedophile. I don't think it's something schools should be promoting.

@Bintymcbintface

The majority of RPDR fans are women from what I'm aware. Are we all dummies not understanding that we're being mocked, or taking it for the fun that it is and not being so daft as to think men in drag are going out of their way to make women the butt of their jokes

Women have the ability (or not in some cases frankly) to put drag into context and then either enjoy it or not.

Having a man's arse in your face during assembly, not so much.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queer_theory

Queer theory. It's a mildly interesting part of postmodern philosophy. Applied to sexual mores, it's very much not suitable for primary school children.

[quote Lennyllama]@ImWithBinty That’s just not true. Maybe for the younger children but my DC and their friends have all said they felt ‘weird’ about the visit. A friend’s DC said when the DQ bent over that half his undies went up his bum and they saw half a bum cheek. In what world is this acceptable in a primary school? How is it acceptable that someone paraded around their school in hooker boots with their arse hanging out making my kid and their friends feel weird and uncomfortable?!

My DC couldn’t explain exactly how they felt because it was a feeling they’ve never really felt before. And I’ll tell you why they’ve never felt it before, it’s because I’ve done everything I can to keep them away from anything sexually inappropriate for their age. I don’t appreciate a school making parental decisions for me. It’s wrong and the way they went about it was intentionally deceptive and underhanded.

Next week is world book day. We’ve been told that authors will be coming to read to the children. We’ve been told who the authors are and what books they’ll be promoting. Some year groups have even been sent chapters of the books via email so that parents can read over them to determine their suitability. They’ve done all of that for perfectly age appropriate books but they didn’t have the decency to let us know that an x-rated performer would be shoved down our kids throats as some kind of bloody role model?[/quote]
Spot on

Queer isn't on the curriculum.

Dressing up in drag does show diversity. It shows that people can wear what they want and that boys don't have to stick to trousers/shorts etc if they don't want to... As pp said, boys often get laughed at and picked on for showing an interest in something "girly"

But you cannot be non-discriminatory if it isn't acknowledged. Do you think that kids should just be taught that families are mummy, daddy, brother, sister and the dog? Or maybe there's 2 mummies, 2 daddies etc etc...

Look, I'm a teacher. 20 + years. Believe me, drag is the last thing not on the list when we look at diversity inclusion in education.

It's dressing up, sexually. Men get their kicks from it. It's called AGP.

Get a bloody panto in. At least that's a bad play.

It's also all over the tv so they don't need any more in schools.

Binty, you're describing different families. That is diversity.

Just to get this straight, You want to include the dads who put a sparkly dress on to get their kicks in the evening?

@Bintymcbintface

Dressing up in drag does show diversity. It shows that people can wear what they want and that boys don't have to stick to trousers/shorts etc if they don't want to... As pp said, boys often get laughed at and picked on for showing an interest in something "girly"

So ... boys learn they can wear pasties, thongs and fishnets? Why not just skirts and blouses? Why only the sexy clothes?

@Bintymcbintface

Dressing up in drag does show diversity. It shows that people can wear what they want and that boys don't have to stick to trousers/shorts etc if they don't want to... As pp said, boys often get laughed at and picked on for showing an interest in something "girly"

But I thought it was said earlier that drag queens made jokes about men, parodied themselves and encouraged the audience to be amused by their attire? How is ang of that that stopping people laughing at boys who want to wear dresses?

@Bintymcbintface

But you cannot be non-discriminatory if it isn't acknowledged. Do you think that kids should just be taught that families are mummy, daddy, brother, sister and the dog? Or maybe there's 2 mummies, 2 daddies etc etc...

Oh dear. You are very far off the mark if you think women objecting to drag are all straight, Binty.

The roots of 'queer' theory go back to Michel Foucault, the renowned paedophile. I don't think it's something schools should be promoting

Wait ... if the current appalling boundary destruction becomes commonplace, I've no doubt some will be along to "explain" precisely why this would be a good idea

If anything it's encouraging a grotesque, carcatured view of men in dresses

@Bintymcbintface

But you cannot be non-discriminatory if it isn't acknowledged. Do you think that kids should just be taught that families are mummy, daddy, brother, sister and the dog? Or maybe there's 2 mummies, 2 daddies etc etc...

Also some things we definitely DO discriminate against when it comes to children. Those would be: nudity, inappropriate performances, sexualised performances, sexist stereotypes, etc.

All this ‘there are sparkly dresses in school for boys to wear so DQ is no different’

Where are the platform stilettos? The fishnet tights? Why are they not in dressing up boxes? Hint: they are not age appropriate

• I mean, of course there are other things we 'discriminate' against including racism, sexism, aggression, etc.

@Bintymcbintface... it would be better to spend this effort making uniforms less gendered and not making girls wear silly socks and shoes they can't kick a football in.