To be LIVID at the National Theatre?

[helpmeunderstand04]

I was at the National Theatre festival this Saturday which was advertised as outdoor live music, dance, performance, workshops and family fun. I thought great, perfect way to spend a Saturday.

We were there from 6:30 and the drag act on stage was promoting inclusivity and had, what started as a great message. They said...

'We need to teach our children to open their hearts, teach our children to open their minds and to teach our children to open their legs'. The last line was said with the same tone as if it was a risque joke.

Both me and DP are just disgusted by what we saw. We couldn't believe it. This act had a short dress on and their bulge was showing through out. It was just plain weird. Fine in a club, not at a festival literally targeted as being good for families.

From then the evening just got weirder. There was a drag queen and a drag king contest. Great! I literally had never seen drag king acts and was really excited and thought it was great representation and diversity.

However, with every single drag king act they took their clothes off. No drag queens take their clothes off, but the drag kings did and were showing their scars from their mastectomy/gender affirming surgery. I do get the message that they are proud and don't need to hide and really I do agree with that. But it just felt weird that women who now identify as men are still having to take their clothes off, where as the drag queens didn't remove one item of clothing.

AIBU in feeling angry at the marketing team at the national theatre?

You are basing your zero evidence on what you thought someone said?

Perfect.

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/drag-queen-story-hour-who-is-it-for

But it's not just these predators using drag as a convenient cloak to get closer to children. It's the children being encouraged to tuck dollar bills into thongs. It's the sexual double entendre names.

Drag is adult entertainment. Why are people so keen to repackage it as family friendly entertainment? What is the point of drag queen story time?

Who is benefiting?

@Norma27 Thanks for the info. Didn't really want to google child abuse.

You've given five names, from different countries mostly the USA, mostly within the last ten years or so.

Do you know how many child sex offenders are there worldwide in a decade, and how many are drag artists? And what proportion of the overall population are drag artists?

You can only speak with authority about drag being associated with child abuse if you've considered these figures, or a rough estimation at least. So I'd be interested to see your workings. If you have any.

The same questions go to @Clymene, who appears to be using a very non-neutral source.

@MaryMcCarthy how many is too many for you? 1 child abused is too many for me. And do you believe drag is appropriate for children? Especially sexually explicit drag. And that jokes about spreading childrens legs are acceptable?
Predators are beginning to use drag as a way to access children. I don’t care how much safeguarding children offends you, but we will continue to fight for the safety and indeed innocence of children.

Well said Norma27, it always n+1 isn't it, as long as them or their children are not the +1.

@VestofAbsurdity it really is always n+1. How people do not care is beyond me.
The normalisation of children being exposed to adult themes and sex is so worrying.

Great summary!

Drag is adult entertainment

I've no idea why things like drag story time exist...what would be the point of it

We, no, she doesn’t say Southbank at all. She says ‘lots of babies and children were there yesterday’.

Yes, the op said there were, right at the beginning.

The more people who can see you trying to shut down the discussion down the better

I agree completely - the enabling, minimising and all the rest is a bit more obvious on this thread than some, but much better that it's done in plain sight so people can see it for what it is, rather than it be hidden away

@Norma27 How many is too many for me?

I've just described the variables. "Too many" would be when drag artists represent a larger proportion of sexual offenders than the rest of the public. That's when I'll concede you have a point. But you've not provided any data whatsoever, you've provided five names whose crimes span ten years and two continents. It's literally meaningless. You obviously have no understanding of statistics.

@MaryMcCarthy
i have a great understanding of statistics thank you.
I also care about children and safeguarding too. It astounds me when posters like you don’t.
When safeguarding children we make it harder for predators to access them. Not easier.
Can you explain why children should learn to spread their legs?
Can you explain why children need to be exposed to sexual content?
I look forward to hearing your reasoning.

@Norma27 unless you have some statistics, what you're saying is meaningless. If there's no additional risk from drag artists, how do you approach safeguarding?

@MaryMcCarthy if you cannot see that talking about children spreading their legs and normalising sexual content around children is a safeguarding risk then there is no hope for you.
However, please keep that sunlight shining.
All the quiet things being said out loud.

However, please keep that sunlight shining. All the quiet things being said out loud

Exactly. Every bit of minimising. Every bit of reductive language. Every wide-eyed, faux-naive reaction. Every "let's just get this thread put somewhere else, shall we?" Every "what possible risk IS there..." Every slithery little attempt to normalise CSA.

Bright sunlight. Words written down. Bright light on every single one of you.

We will carry on seeing you.

So we wait until there’s evidence of child abuse before we stop kids being exposed to adult material which is explicitly transgressive in intent?
🤡 🤡 🤡

Seems so and that woks out so well for the victims.

Of course, if them and theirs were the victims they'd be singing a completely different tune.

You are being ridiculous.

A common refrain when people raise concerns about abuse.

It’s on Twitter now

@AlphaPie, what a very interesting name you have in this context. Just a coincidence I’m sure…

Looks like the comments on Twitter think it is outrageous too.

Good. The more people see this and learn about the insidious language and behaviour around this subject, the better.

Light light light.