Deeply concerned about Child Safety in Bristol

[MatthewJTaylor]

From May 5th to May 8th 2022, the Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol is having performances of "The Family Sex Show".
This show is aimed at children 5 years old and up.
The performers involved get naked.
The discussion with the children is on sex, sexuality and sexual pleasure.

I cannot imagine brining a 5 year old child to a theatre where people will to to her/him about sex and show their naked bodies to her/him.

Am I the crazy one?

Sources:
The Family Sex Show website
Listing at The Tobacco Factory Theatres

Can't you complain to the police? Surely exposing oneself to children in this way is illegal....

Which has been the gold standard for pre-school education since I was a child.

Did people come into your nursery and get their kit off while wanging on about anti capitalism then?

The whole point of sex education is that it is delivered a little bit at a time, so that at each developmental stage, specific age appropriate material can be delivered to children in a way that they can process and understand. Not unleashing all of it to them at 5 years old.

Stuff that would be appropriate for a 5 year old wouldn't be appropriate for a 10 year old as the 10 year old would be too old for that material, it wouldn't be educational for them as they would already know it. It's like these RSE programmes in secondary schools, where the creators think it's appropriate to tell 12 year olds about every possible kink and fetish out there. It's sick, and it's a way of breaking down boundaries, which is what groomers do.

Also, is there any vetting on who is buying tickets. Like could a lone adult come along, someone doesnt have kids with them but who enjoys being around 5 year olds who are 'learning about sex'....could that lone adult steer the in the way that they want, given that this is a 'space to ask the questions no-one feels brave enough to.'?

I thought only america is going crazy (sexy summer camp Kentucky), but sadly is coming to Europe as well. What parent in their right mind would agree with this going-on?! I'm happy my kids are all grown up and had a lovely childhood and a normal school life, but what's to come for their kids is scary and sad

@Crikeyalmighty 1st shows are in Bath and also the preshow workshops.
@DoorWasAJar NSPCC education taught children that it was only sex abuse if it frightened the child. I can't link to thread but if you search NSPCC and abuse there's a thread from 2019 in feminist chat (Overtons window)

The Twitter link posted by @2fallsfromSSA includes this screen shot of words from a survivor of child sexual abuse that get to the heart of the issue.

Someone close to me recently revealed that they were sexually abused by a close family friend over several years from age 11-14. These words exactly mirror how they describe the way the abuse happened to them - the normalisation of touch, normalisation of "pleasure" and the normalisation of nudity lead to the normalisation of my friend, as an 11yo, fellating his abuser and allowing him to have penetrative sex with him.

This "show" is not good or right and it should be shut down.

If you look at the page which describes what will be discussed they say porn and STIs will be discussed. This is not appropriate for 5 year olds.

Talking to kids this young about porn, STIs is a safeguarding fail. If a teacher did so in school it would be a breach of safeguarding and they'd at least be disciplined or lose their job. It's introducing concepts they are not equipped to be able to deal with.

And you absolutely don't have to have an intimate relationship with a child to 'groom' them. Plenty of groomers don't. Jimmy Savile, for example.

Sex education outfits like this always claim to be supporting some form of progression (although that's a word that has been robbed of its meaning).

If they were sincere, a site like Mumsnet would be an amazing place for them to start their research. As well as being parents, we are the women who experienced the sex education of past decades, we are having relationships with the men who experienced the sex education of past decades. We can tell would be educational providers what went wrong for us.

They need to be upfront about what problems they are trying to solve and what they believe children need support with.

There undoubtedly are many problems requiring better sex education for kids. A read of the relationship boards describes man after man unable or unwilling to recognise female sexual agency and desire, and sex lives ruined by porn use. I wonder if these problems aren't the ones the producer of this show is interested in changing though? As it would involve admitting the power differentials between men and women and potentially lead to them needing to wipe their hard drive.

ThisEgg the company behind it is sponsored by the National Lottery and Arts Council England.

Taxpayers money.

From thisegg.co.uk:

Upcoming shows:

the egg, Theatre Royal Bath has appointed me a 2019 Leverhulme Arts Scholar. I developed The Family Sex Show as part of their Incubator Programme. This show has also been supported by Shoreditch Town Hall and National Theatre Studio's. It is being developed at Battersea Arts Centre and Sounthbank Centre too. it is touring in Spring 2022.

ThisEgg started R&D on motherEarth in January 2020. We will continue to develop that when we can.

@EvilKinevil

I thought the definition of feminism was interesting, if unrecognisable: “ Feminism activism which works towards people of all genders being equal politically, economically and socially. Feminism is a social movement that fights for the equality of all people. Feminists believe that people of all and no genders are equal and should be treated as such. It is also inclusive of all races, religions, cultures, ages etc. You do not have to be a woman to be a feminist.”.

For fuck sake. That has really angered me.

Feminism: the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes. Might get it on a t shirt.

@DoorWasAJar happy to. Probably needs a thread over in the naughty corner

As well as offcuts from the show – such as a reckoning with ableist language and an operatic song about the clitoris – it includes longer, more in-depth discussions about ideas of queerness, pleasure, friendships, and what they all mean to us as individuals."

That implies the clitoris song is in the show, PrelateChuckles, as one of the "offcuts", along with the discussions on "queerness" etc.

@mam0918

So it sounds like a live performance version of the body book by Claire Rayner?

Which has been the gold standard for pre-school education since I was a child.

I fail to see how its grooming and misuse of that word is really dangerous.

To 'groom' you have to develop an intimate relationship with the child - these people don't know these children, they aren't being invited to lunch, having one on one time, and staying in contact it's no more grooming than the pantomime dame in the Xmas play (who likely tells far more age inappropriate sexual innuedo jokes).

Frankly I don't get this. Misuse of 'grooming' - the word - is dangerous - but allowing things that might harm children is FINE? The show explicitly says it'll talk about porn and STIs to 5 year olds.

I think we see the agenda here.

Massive red flag. Should be investigated. We know what happens when people assume everything's fine - at the very least this needs investigating by the appropriate safeguarding leads.

@iMombie

What the absolute fuckery woke shit is this?!?

Absolutely this! The more I read about it the worse it seems…

WTF.

I really do not get why you’d take your kid to see this. I consider myself an open-minded, bleeding heart liberal sort of type- but why the fuck does an adult need to get naked on stage in front of kids?
If you’re in a changing room or on a beach and there are adults there in varying states of dress, while I’d still try and steer my kid away- that’s just people existing in their bodies. Getting on stage specifically to take your clothes off in front of kids is a completely different matter.

I doubt parents would want their kid’s teachers getting naked to talk about sex- so why is this okay?

If this makes me a judgey pearl-clutcher then so be it, I guess.

NSPCC thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3611569-Is-NSPCC-school-guidance-for-kids-re-sexual-abuse-shifting-the-Overton-Window-Need-expert-advise-to-break-this-down

Here's a more recent thread from Safe Schools Alliance: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4223916-nspcc-and-ssauk

The NSPCC has been taken over by queer theorists. Which is what this lot are

'Understand what you’re saying but frankly the sentence ‘That Clitoris song isn’t in the show, it’s in the podcast for older teens’ also fills me with horror. How is that any better ? Why are we subjecting adolescents to this shit ?'

Imagine the cringing and mocking a load of 16 year olds would if they heard the clitoris song

@unwashedanddazed

I hope they sell out and that the audience is entirely made up of old men in grubby rain coats. Wonder how many of the actors would feel happy to get completely naked then?

And then they play out their fantasies which have been ‘approved’ and ‘normalised’ in real life.

Men watch porn. Complain - get over it you are a prude or worse still engage in it to keep your man or to rebel or for female empowerment delusions.
Porn is about dehumanising us. All of us.

All for orgasms and pleasure not for connections.

I was physically and emotionally abused daily as a child. Someone hitting and thumping you as a child shouting you make me to this - they they apologise and beg forgiveness and force you to hug them and tell them you love them/ it took 30 years for me to untangle that mess.

God knows how children who have been groomed by normalisation of exposure must feel.

So if you can't take a child to an 18 rated film , is theatre without any similar schemes?

Seems wrong that a parent could take a 5 year old to this. Parental judgement can be absent. Parents can be abusers.

Watching the Jimmy Saville documentary, the question that keeps coming up in my head is 'how was this allowed to happen?'.

Then I see shit like this, and the pandering handmaidens who defend it, and I think 'this is how it's allowed to happen'. In plain sight.

A while ago I read an article by a feminist who stated that in her belief, the recent push to normalise queer theory, sex positive, kink stuff on social media and in schools had an ultimate goal, and that would the lowering of the age of sexual consent. Dressed up of course as 'liberation' for children - give them agency over their whole selves, or some other bullshit.

I actually think she was spot on. There is something very sinister going on right under our noses, and people (mostly women) who notice this and point it out are shouted down as bigots and prudes.

Have we learned nothing from the sex abuse scandals of the past?

Their FAQ page is confusing.
I THINK they are saying that they don’t cover porn, but that the show is an ‘alternative to porn’
Honestly, what a mess.

To 'groom' you have to develop an intimate relationship with the child - these people don't know these children, they aren't being invited to lunch, having one on one time, and staying in contact it's no more grooming than the pantomime dame in the Xmas play (who likely tells far more age inappropriate sexual innuedo jokes).

Persuading patents this is all part of being liberal and progressive is part of the grooming process. Groomers often aim to win the trust of adults first. Normalising adult nudity combined with discussion about sex and sexual pleasure means children may not recognise the behaviour as inappropriate when they encounter it in a different setting; after all mum and dad took them to a show with kind of stuff in it!

From the 'About' page: I wanted to make this show because I firmly believe that the better we all know about sex, pleasure and each other's bodies, the better.

..... Where's the throwing up feel completely grossed out emoji? 'Each other's bodies' when it's kids in the audience. Boak.

This show needs to be reported to social services and the police