To update about The Family Sex Show

[theDudesmummy]

There are active two threads on this in Feminism but I feel I just have to update here for traffic. Although protests appear to have, for now, stopped the theatre production going ahead, new and highly disturbing material has today appeared on their webpage, clearly aimed at children. It (cheerily and breezily) suggests, among other things, that children search for images of masturbating animals on the internet and then draw what they see. I am not going to Google that term, I really don't want that in my history, but first, can you imagine what children will be exposed to if they search that, and second, this is pure and simple grooming of children into being abused. Masturbating animals? What larks! Lets have an arts and crafts session about it! Next steps: Masturbating with Uncle Jim? Why not? Masturbating Uncle Jim? Of course!

I have now made a complaint to CEOP. Others may wish to as well.

Peter Tatchell was the one speaking on radio 5, defending TFSS. Always worth reminding people of his opinions about “inter generational sex”. Creep

twitter.com/ratherberude/status/1513179497247428608?s=21

Those ''Songs'' are the epitome of cringe.
Toe~curlingly embarrassing.
Reminiscent of The Who's ''Uncle Ernie'' in ''Fiddle~about''

And yet JKR is the one Twitter wishes to cancel.

I really wonder why these young adults who so many are saying are just 'puppets' don't book themselves on an in-depth safeguarding course pretty quickly.

THAT would show good faith. And they clearly desperately need it.

Safeguarding training courses are in my experience often really quite upsetting because you have to see what adults looking the other way, not raising concerns, being unaware and uninformed, can do to children's safety.

Really they should be grateful to us because what they've been doing and proposing is so far beyond the line it's almost unbelievable.

Surely the normal reaction to someone raising a safeguarding concern is to offer to go on extra training, to apologise, to make sure it won't happen again. Not branding those raising concerns as 'bigots'.

Do these theatre people CARE that what they're doing could enable abusers to harm children? Could erode boundaries for children? Do they?

@theemperorhasnoclothes bigots and "extremists". I don't mind being called an extremist in this context because I am. On the spectrum from being pro child sexual abuse versus anti child sexual abuse I could not be further on the extreme end.

I imagine the theatre people would care, if they actually understood what they are being set up to do. Well, I hope so, because the alternative is very depressing.

@theDudesmummy
I imagine the theatre people would care, if they actually understood what they are being set up to do. Well, I hope so, because the alternative is very depressing.

They probably just can’t see it. They will have grown up groomed by society into believing sex of any kind and novelty is more important than anything else, - drip by drip - then added to that their need to be ‘queer’ and different, and pushing boundaries generally, in order to feel valid as artists.

Every generation of young people likes to believe it invented sex and is leading the way and showing society how it's done 🙄 it's usually harmless or mildly amusing, but it's going way too far now when it involves children, animals or extreme pornography.

The grownups need to step in and sort it out. Stupid half wits are going to happily put their own children at risk then exclaim "it was for your own good!" when little Rainbow Starlight Sunshine Boi reveals he/she was sexually assaulted by creepy Uncle Joe and half the street for 15 years.

Barrow spot on.

It's hilarious really - how do they think these Mums they are so dismissive of got to BE mothers? It wasn't via declaring our pronouns.

And agree theDudesmummy - I'm at the extreme end of not wanting children to be harmed by inappropriate sexualisation and erosion of boundaries.

They can be proud of being 'edgy' and 'arty' and 'queer' and I'll be proud of doing everything I can to prevent child sexual abuse and make all children safer.

Lyn Gardner, who wrote the original gushing interview with Josie double-barrelled, has written a handwringing piece in The Stage: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/theatre-should-be-concerned-by-the-cancellation-of-the-family-sex-show

You have to register to read it so here's a précis. Lyn firstly invites us to imagine whether shows like Jerry Springer - the Opera or Five Easy Pieces (about the Belgian paedophile Marc Dutroux) would have been made in the age of social media (odd - I thought they were? Obviously the right kind of social media). She goes on to say that the furore over TFSS has been driven by a small number of people - some of them not in the U.K.! About the show she says: The Family Sex Show – which I saw in an early development stage – is a thoughtful and inspiring piece of theatre designed to be shared by parents, carers and children together and which comes with accompanying workshops and discussions.

She understands worries about keeping staff, performers and audiences safe (were they at risk? I've asked for examples of the threats ThisEgg claim they have received but they haven't replied).

Lyn goes onto say: It says a great deal about our society and how we view children because The Family Sex Show probably wouldn’t cause a ripple in Scandinavia or much of Europe. Which seems an odd point to make shortly after referencing a man who raped and murdered several children and was part of a paedophile ring.

The comments aren't having any of it. Lyn doesn't mention safeguarding once. Lyn has two daughters and also writes children's books.

Lyn Gardner, probably the UK’s most important theatre critic / commentator and very good at it too, was also involved in supporting the company in some mentoring capacity during the show’s development.

I believe what she says about what she saw at the development stage. Which none of us / the protestors saw. But in this feature she fails to take into account that it is the material on the website that has caused people to react and to ask valid questions that deserve answers that never came.

It's possible to be edgy and arty and respect children's boundaries, privacy and safety. Not so sure about 'queer', given the history of the theory.

'The cancellation of ThisEgg’s production has the potential to limit further what is made and seen on UK stages, says Lyn Gardner'

What is she advocating for? Does she propose any limits at all? Does she prefer no age limits/guidance whatsoever for anyone - hardcore porn for young children, then, Lynn? Or can she appreciate that the landscape between 'no nudity please we're British' and 'Bacchanalian orgy for toddlers' is rather large and contains many shades of nuance, degree - and legislative precedent?

Here you go, programme covering the original scratch performance. Mentor: Lyn Gardener.
Safeguarding Advisor: :tumbleweed:
issuu.com/theatreroyalbath/docs/incubator_programme_2019_lo-res

I would like to know if Gardner wants her kids to be at a performance of the clitoris song. Did she take them to the theatre when she saw it?

She says they were advised by RSE experts but they are all the same people. Who have a bit on their website which says:

Neither gender nor sex are binary and women can have many different types of genitalia (vulvas, penises or other variants in sex characteristics). We must move on from this myth in order to create a safer and more inclusive environment for everyone.

They say they teach in accordance with dfe guidance but that isn't true as this ^^ is not factual but queer theory.

TFSS says:

Sexual development and behaviour in children starts from birth. It’s important that children are supported in their exploratory development, safely and comfortably.
And that is why they think the Clitoris song is suitable.

Loose quote

"This show will put pleasure at the forefront ... and imagine a future where no shame"

Shame is a healthy emotion that teaches boundaries. It's misplaced shame that's the issue.

A world with no shame would be one peopled by sociopaths and psychopaths.

It's extraordinary really isn't it? Do they think that's irrelevant because their families will be with them?

I don't know what the stats are for CSA within families vs strangers but I'd guess it would be similar to sex assault and violence for women. That most of it is perpetrated by men they live with.

Neither gender nor sex are binary

no, sex is most definitely binary. These people are just either fucking idiots or..it doesn't bear thinking about really.

It's probably been mentioned before but perusing their odd glossary which mixes up biology with stage terms, I noticed that there are definitions for vagina, vulva and clitoris but not for penis or testicles. Bit remiss isn't it?

Posted this on one of the other threads about TFSS but might be of interest here - includes comments from children in the test audience at Incubator Festival at Theatre Royal Bath in 2019 confirming cast were completely nude and how brave it was that they did this 'just to help us learn'. www.outspokeneducation.com/post/staging-the-conversation-the-family-sex-show

@Clymene School Of Sexuality Education, whose 'curriculum' is the framework for the show according to Josie Dale-Jones and one of whose members is a co-producer of TFSS, are very focused on vulvas and clitorises (and making playdough models of them) and want RSE to be 'less phallocentric'. I think lots of people would agree that RSE in schools should not be phallocentric. But that doesn't mean it's appropriate to write about how it can feel nice to gently touch the clitoris on a website aimed at children 5 and up, surely.

What I want to know is, who the hell are the parents that want to take their kids to see this show. It is just beyond belief really. Why are we teaching children thay sex is a myth anyway? What is to be gained by this? It isn’t a myth is it, you know sex is real which is why people actually exist as a man and a woman created another boy/girl. Whatever if there are some that don’t want to be the sex they were “assigned” but just leave the kids alone!

"Remember... not all vulvas belong to women" is fairly chilling, isn't it? Women don't own their own bodies?

My vulva is mine, in the same way I don't own my partner's penis although he may jokingly say I can have it whenever I want it .

I find the most chilling part of that the statement about making 'it hurt less'.

They want to teach children that sex will hurt but can be made to hurt less.

Who exactly are they preparing these children for?

It's grooming in plain sight!
Children... look at this, hear these terms, try this out, it's "fun".