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?

It's not sick at all newname

I've heard the same said about racism...it was bollocks then and its bollocks now

You wonder what goes on in my head? Well let me tell you...

First of all I said I would complain about the joke. Sexualisation of children is absolutely not ok, and shouldn't happen in any form. Not as a joke or otherwise, and certainly not at a venue like this. It absolutely needs to be complained about, and I hope the majority of the audience do the same. The act should not be booked again, as it's just plain an simple unacceptbale. I would have been disgusted to hear it, and probably would have left, but not livid.

The reason I am not livid is because (1) this is not sexual abuse. It's an awful, inappropriate and unacceptable joke and all the other things above and (2) getting livid helps noone.

When adults are talking about children opening their legs of course that's inappropriate. Of course that's where the mind goes. That's not sick in the slightest. It's more concerning you don't see an issue with the sexualisation of children.

Open your legs children is referring to adults.
I know you will say it is not, but it is.
You just do not understand the terminology used. You drop in on a culture you do not understand and then use one line for faux horror.
Lots of drag queens talk to the audience as if they are an older adult talking to younger people.
I do not like drag queens as it is misogynistic, but it has nothing to do with paedophilia.
If your complaints succeed, they will just make it a ticketed event in the future shutting out lots of people who are skint.
But more worryingly all your faux outrage will be used by the right-wing to continue fuelling anti-gay and lesbian sentiments that are on the increase.

@Icanstillrecallourlastsummer

You don't seem to understand the basics around our laws re sexual consent

At 16 a child can have sex with an 80 year old if they so wish.

We are children until 18, can have sex when we are children legally in this country. With adults if that's the way we want to go.

The joke is just that, a joke. And I can bet most in the audience were laughing

Also this, many drag queens refer to adults as their children, so based on context they might be even speaking about the adults in the audience.

You just do not understand the terminology used. You drop in on a culture you do not understand and then use one line for faux horror.

Even if you are right people are entitled to be horrified at what they think is a joke about child abuse...its not faux anything

@antelopevalley It might be part of the culture but that doesn't make it ok to use language like that. Particularly in a setting that is clearly aimed at the general public. The way we use language is important and is taken on face value. It would be the same as if they had used racist language. That wouldn't be ok just becuase that was part of the culture (not saying it is, but for the purpose of my example). Some things just cross the line, talking about children spreading their legs in a sexual way is one of them.

Lots of drag queens talk to the audience as if they are an older adult talking to younger people

I have seen this before

Yep, the wiser, more experienced woman/older mother hen figure. When it couldn't be further from the truth.

Very sick and twisted....It's a sad sign of the times that they felt so emboldened to say such a thing! How much further will all of this acceptance and love is love crap go...? How long before pedophiles start using the term "Oh well, love is love!" Looks like this sick little freak show is geared towards that kind of sick sh*t.

This has nothing to do with lesbian and gay culture @antelopevalley. Take your homophobia elsewhere.

If a culture says things like that about children then it's not a culture I want anything to do with....you say you think they were referring to adults, well why not call an adult an adult? leave kids out of it...!

Nice to see your main concern is the risk of the entrance fee increasing though...

Exactly. I do not like the culture, but this line is NOT referring to actual children.
It is like when Facebook bans British people for talking about fags when they are talking about cigarettes.
The same word can have different meanings and drag culture is a subculture.

Sick sick sick.

And as for Drag Queen Story Hour, how anyone would want to take their children to something like that is beyond me. In the last few weeks I saw two acquaintances on Instagram sharing stories of their babies at drag bingo and drag story hour. So wrong.

This is pie isnt it.

It's disgusting and not funny,it's nothing to do with with age .

I have not wasted through the entire thread but I hope you complained op

You could have stuck to your comment about open legs and got an echo chamber, OP.

I'm not naive enough to think the bit about gender surgery etc doesn't have an agenda.

Drag queens are not trans and should not be mixed in with them.

Or they might be talking about kids. We're just meant to laugh along and guess are we?

You do not have to laugh. Just understand that the same words mean different things in different subcultures.

Actual babies at drag bingo are not being harmed at all. Just as babies are not harmed if adults talk about adult subjects.

Trans umbrella

According to Stonewall Drag Queens fall under the Trans umbrella

@Blackmoggy no you're supposed to understand the context.

Which we on MN not in the audience can't gauge

How are people defending a joke about paedophilia in even an explicitly labelled adult-only event?
I have no experience of CSA but would find that horrendously offensive and upsetting, because I have children and was once a child.
What if an audience member HAD suffered CSA? I would be fairly willing to be some of those mutilated "drag kings" have done as the incidence of trauma and abuse in young trans-identified females is pretty high.

This place really is becoming more and more like the daily mail comments section by the day