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

@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).

Really ???!!! Grooming may not be the intentions in the sense we’re familiar with, but it has it’s place in this. A five year old goes to the show, sees people he doesn’t know naked and talking about sex. He’s with his parents, so his perception is that it’s ‘normal’ and ‘allowed’. So what happens if, god forbid, that child ends up in the hands of someone who is intent on grooming him for their own perverted ends ? He’s easy prey because he’s already seen strangers naked and talking about sex, touching, pleasure etc. He doesn’t fully understand things - how can he at five years old ? He hasn’t got the skills to process what he’s seen and heard properly, so by the time he realises that what’s happening to him isn’t ‘normal’ it’s too late. And by the way, any responsible parent wouldn’t take a child to see a pantomime dame in the Xmas play if they knew the jokes were age inappropriate. Same thing.

It says it was been developed by

Battersea Arts Centre & Southbank Centre and supported by National Theatre Studios & Shoreditch Town Hall....

So in other words it's had a lot of taxpayers money from The Arts Council thrown at it. Who does one complain to?

an operatic song about the clitoris

So bloody transactional and reductionist.

@2fallsfromSSA What’s the thread on SSA, please?

Porn is about making money - lots of it

Also do 5 year olds need to know about sex ? I think we all know the answer to that question

@Ereshkigalangcleg

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.

Oh, maybe. I thought it meant bits taken out of the show. It's almost as if clear language is important !

Again, I can't see how anyone thought an educational show about sex should be aimed at ALL AGES 5+.

If it's appropriate for the young ones, it'll be shite for the older ones.
If it's useful for the older ones it's incredibly wrong for the young ones.

Grooming definitely doesn't have to involve contact. Paedophiles are often invested in changing attitudes and normalising behaviours in society because they know it will make it easier for them to access children.

It's ok to be curious about stuff like this. Many of us who understand safeguarding are also people who get naked and love good sex. Be curious too about why women that resist stuff like this are cast as prudes, dried up, old, pearl clutching etc.

One of the best /only defences against abuse that women have is spotting behavioural patterns in abusers. It happened with Jimmy Saville and with the spy cops scandal. Notice how those women are always discredited initially. Who does that benefit?

Claiming that feminism is not women's fight for rights is a serious red flag. Who benefits from stopping women talking amongst themselves, spotting patterns?

[quote 2fallsfromSSA]@Lynnthesearesexnotgenderpeople

twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1512077179839909892?s=20&t=IWmUkfHkPcagyGvJDvwJSA[/quote]
Thank you for that link, that really brings it into focus

What are the credentials of the people creating this show as well? What are their qualifications in education, child development, safeguarding?

The whole thing should be investigated. Including any parents who are keen for their children to be exposed to this shit. As another poster said, I would also like to complain. Not just because of any tax money used but the fact that this has been allowed. It's incomprehensible anyone would think this was OK.

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).

@mam0918 Pantomime dames using a bit of innuendo that goes right over small kids' heads is NOT the same as adult strangers stripping naked right in front of them while their parents are seemingly okay with it.

@Giveaschitt

The (presumably accidental) leaving in of lorem ipsum in this quote suggests they're just making them up...

That's brilliant! Unless the parents were called Lorem and Ipsum...

BTW there are family workshops and a 'panel discussion' around this show prior to the actual show, at the Tobacco Factory Theatre:
tobaccofactorytheatres.com/whats-on/

[quote DoorWasAJar]@2fallsfromSSA What’s the thread on SSA, please?[/quote]
NSPCC and SSAUK www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4223916-nspcc-and-ssauk

twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1512077174706040850

We are a naturist family (we are not naked all the time! But we have no problem with nudity and on holiday we go to naturist beaches, and have a boat on which we are naked etc). This show I find deeply disturbing and would no way ever take my child to. Nudity is absolutely fine. It is nothing to do with sex, if done correctly. This is emphatically not.

Jesus fucking christ.

This creeping acceptance of pedophilia (because that’s what it is, look into it it’s been gaining momentum since the 1970s), is getting horrific.

Any parent who agrees with this sort of “show” is part of the problem.

You can groom parents too. Parents will generally assume kids show are checked to be suitable for kids. I know I did when my kids were younger.
Shows like this also mess with parents boundaries as to what is / isn’t appropriate to discuss with their children.
Stuff like this never came up when my children were young, I took them to a play or show and didn’t even think about it, now parents seem to get bombarded with it.

Wake up everyone this started a while ago in primary schools with the content of sex education increased

@lovescats3

Wake up everyone this started a while ago in primary schools with the content of sex education increased

What specific content do you mean? I have seen what my kids have learnt so far and it seems fine. They are not all the way through primary though.

This show has nothing to do with the PSHE curriculum.

Another thing about that awful glossary, why are theatre and sex terms all mixed up? it's so odd and ill thought out. The whole thing seems far from being finished: they are still auditioning, there are many typos (including vulva and clitoris) - yet the first showing is on the 28th in Bath.

MAYBE they will reconsider and raise the age limit. I think it could work okay if so. But as others have said, what teenager would want to go to a show about sex with their parents?!

I like to think there's nothing nefarious going on, just youthful naivete and wanting to be seen as 'right on'.

Wow. This makes rainbow dido butt monkey look like Paddington Bear.

This is part of the widespread sexualisation of society and no I am not a prude it's very sad we have a lot of unhappy teenagers in this country watching porn and feeling pressure to be sexually active before they are comfortable with it

@Tilltheend99

You seem to be overreacting. From the website link you shared, everyone seems to be wearing clothes. It is described as Sesame Street meets Flight of the Concords. Sounds more like Horrible Histories for sex education trying to make it engaging.

So, if it is at a theatre then the content will have been examined for safeguarding already.

If you are five you will have your parents with you so parent has already given consent to talk to their child learning about bodies etc and can discuss the themes more after the show.

Unless you can prove with better links that something bad is in the show, then you are scare mongering at best.

I don’t believe talking to children about things like sexuality and inclusion is wrong if anything, those seeking to ban children from hearing words like gay are causing the damage.

So, if it is at a theatre then the content will have been examined for safeguarding already

Who's job is this?
The writer's can't examine their own work.
The actor's can't examine their own work.
The building management hire the building out, are they expected to have a mortality clause in the contract? So who is challenging to see if the content is age appropriate?

Who's job is it looking at the safeguarding, where is the public document breaking down what is or is not age appropiate for 5 year olds?

www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/mar/08/and-now-for-a-song-about-the-clitoris-the-joy-of-sex-education

I remember the tampon dipped in Ribena,” saysJosie Dale-Jones, her fingertips pressed together as if holding on to the string.“The way it swelled up immediately.” In school, Dale-Jones recalls her sex and relationships education as being “near to non-existent”. There was the purple-soaked tampon, the classic condom rolled on to a banana and the “general fear-mongering” of pictures of STIs pinned up on a board. “But never a mention of why you might want to have sex,” she says, rolling her eyes. “Never anything about empathy or pleasure, or how any of it might impact other people.”

With a team of eight performers, Dale-Jones is making a show about sex and relationships for ages five and above. Accompanied by workshops and panel talks,The Family Sex Showtackles topics including boundaries, gender, relationships and masturbation. Through a series of artistic responses and conversations, the group want to help make it easier for anyone, of any age, to talk about these sticky, tricky topics. “I don’t know another subject that we only talk about once and then we tick it off as if it’s done,” Dale-Jones says. “The learning is never over.”

Whats the appropiate lesson around a 5 year old and having sex?
Why is that likely to not ve suitable for a 20 year old?

I don’t believe talking to children about things like sexuality and inclusion is wrong if anything, those seeking to ban children from hearing words like gay are causing the damage.

What poster was seeking to ban the word gay?

I haven't yet RTFT so sorry if this has been mentioned, but wasn't Bristol also the area where the poster on here, Sarah, was thrown out of a sexual abuse/rape survivor group because she was upset about the male bodied person in the group? I'm sure if memory serves it was Bristol. If so, it seems like an area that is determined to remove all safeguarding barriers for women and children no matter the cost. I would no feel safe living there as a woman or raising children there.

@shreddednips

This is absolutely mind-boggling. I've taught the PSHE curriculum across KS1 and 2 and this is a million miles away from what's taught in schools.

Of course children shouldn't grow up feeling ashamed of their bodies or feelings, but this is not the way to deliver that message. It's incredibly dangerous to give children the idea that it's normal for adults to talk to them about sexual pleasure and show them their naked bodies. Furthermore, the way the show is described makes it sound like it's being presented as a good thing.

It's not the same as age-appropriate discussions and sex education taking place in the context of a safe family unit. Outside of that context, or the context of sex education delivered by a teacher in a class trained to teach these topics appropriately, it's not acceptable for adults to discuss sex with children AT ALL. Otherwise, how can children be expected to tell the difference between factual conversations with safe adults and grooming. If it's normalised, children may not find it odd or uncomfortable when someone has nefarious intentions.

Finally, I can make a decision about whether this is something I want to go and see because I am an adult and I have a full understanding of what to expect. Five year olds, and any child for that matter, are not able to consent. If somebody wanted to get naked in front of me while talking about sex, I would expect them to obtain my consent first. Non-sexual nudity, like in the context of seeing a parent in the bathroom or someone getting changed at the beach, is not the same as this- because the entire premise is around sexual acts and feelings.

All of this.

Nope, nope, nope. What the fuck is that all about? I mean, we hardly have to ask.