Drag Show at school

[Iliveonahill]

My child’s secondary school, as part of Pride week, has an age appropriate drag show tomorrow afternoon.

Im really not comfortable with this. The drag shows I have seen over the years have mocked women and are really just a “woman face” show. Why is it appropriate in terms of inclusiveness and diversity to mock 51% of the population and in a school?

Thanks to OP for raising the blackface analogy (which I hadn't thought of before). How brilliant that you've triggered critical thinking in your son. Rather than just go for the lazy option of a drag show, perhaps the school could do better and have a respectful debate about whether schools should put on drag shows?
I bet most of the boys at the school are more interested in not having to sit in lessons rather than be interested in the show as such?

Nobody needs to be shocked while shopping or at school

But if no ones shocked how do you get your victim points?

When things become more common or main stream and acceptance and awareness grows , instead of that being a good thing. Instead of enjoying the freedom of adults being able to have drag queen's perform in pubs and clubs, and even having a TV show featuring frag Queens, the focus seems to then fall on finding another way to he outrageous , another boundary to try and cross so that there's a another sob story, another way to appear to be a victim ...its a vicious circle that just keeps going on and on.

10 years ago there's no waY toddlers would be allowed to crawl over strange adult males with fheir penis visible under their clothes in libraries. How much are we going to expose our children to vefire we go " hang on this isn't a gay thing thi is just inappropriate for children and would be regardless of who did it"

We need to start separating protected characteristics from behaviour because its not representative of the community in question and tagging it on to said characteristics is just allowing safguradung to be completely disregarded

I completely agree with you. It is not appropriate in a school.

If people want to go and see drag, then they can go. They shouldn't be MAKING children watch it as part of their education FFS.

I'd have no problem educating dc that drag shows exist, but they don't need to watch one to get the bloody idea.

I'd be keeping my kid off and I'd be telling the school exactly why.

I don't gaf what others think. Drag is as offensive to me as Al Jolson is.

I don't have any moral issue with drag or the whole "womanface" question. But it begs the question, would they put on a woman's burlesque/cabaret performance? If not, what's the difference?

It doesn't have any educational benefit. Is taxpayers' money going to be spent on this?

Drag is also not a sexual identity, so no, it's not teaching kids about being gay. If they want to talk about being gay, just get some normal gay people to come in and talk about their families. Nobody other than homophobes would possibly object to that.

Is that the ‘age appropriate’ drag queen?? Does not fit the bill!

I was told that drag and pantomime dames both have their roots in the days when women were barred from acting on stage, and female parts were played by men dressed and made up to appear more like women.

Things have moved on since Shakespearean times. The law no longer prohibits women from acting on stage, which it did in then.

I think it changed during the reign of Charles I, so mid-late 17th century.

The person in the furry suit, in a library. I wouldn't have believed that photo if I hadn't seen it for myself. There is no way that is appropriate for young dch.

I would keep my child off school and be honest about the reason why.

You’re not being unreasonable. I’d be keeping my son off that day - and I’d be emailing the Head and Chair of Governors to say why.

Spot on. In 1922 I would expect people to not understand how drag is misogynistic but in 2022 we now know better 😉

Yes. There are probably a lot of other parents who are not happy about it but do not feel comfortable saying anything, thinking they are alone.

Yes. There are probably a lot of other parents who are not happy about it but do not feel comfortable saying anything, thinking they are alone

Isnt it utterly ridiculous how us mere mortals still have to consent to our primary school kids being shown a pg movie. How parents have been prevented from buying alcohol when shopping with a child.

How social services would be called on us if we took our kids to a night club or a lap dancing club or let them watch Red shoe diaries or 50 shades.

How we can be fired fir serving 20 year olds age restricted products because unless we ask fir ID we are in breach of think 21/think 25 policies and that's a stackable offence. Such is seriousness of protecting the vulnerable from harm.

Yet we send them to school and they can be exposed to dice games and drag Queens and as long as we can even loosely tie it to diversity/inclusion its not only ok its celebrated.

Its beyond a joke

Indeed. There are many shades of misogyny of which it's now seemingly seen as contraversial to question which is a shame.

If you think this is acceptable, you have been successfully groomed to assist in grooming children.

Drag is never appropriate in schools & teaches nothing but unthinking acceptance of adults acting in a sexualised fashion in the presence of children.

It's about breaking their boundaries to make it easier for them to be abused.

Adult sexuality has no place in schools, or the lives of any child.

Wow, promoting misogyny at an all boys school (not envy) so, so sleazy. Yuck.

I completely disagree. It is an art form and I would be pleased if my DD’s school included a drag performance along with other types of performance. Live and let live.

There is no equivalent form of mockery of men....

I would not be happy about this. It's disrespectful to women.

That's a really good point. So many artists, actors writers etc are gay, why not celebrate them and their work instead of promoting niche drag nonsense, which has precisely nothing to do with the lives or work of the vast majority of the gay community.

So so wrong on every point.

@Lola4321 because blackface is racist and accepted as being offensive to an entire race of people. Feels like a disingenuous question. Drag is not offensive to all women. I am a woman and I enjoy drag shows. I do not agree that they are misogynistic or derogatory to women. This is also true of all my female friends. And I have many male and female gay friends who enjoy drag too. It is not accepted as universally offensive so trying to compare it to blackface is offensive in itself. I get that some women don’t like being represented in this way, but I also think a lot of people who are unhappy to have a drag act at their child’s school suffering from unconscious bias and prejudice. That doesn’t sit well with me at all.