Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Drag Queen Story Hour

52 replies

gymorgin · 15/05/2023 12:11

Help me consider all views on this. On one side I think drag queens should have their day and be left in history as not appropriate as a feminist point of view. On another, I can see how it could still be allowed for entertainment but perhaps only adults. However, I then think about panto and that has always been deemed acceptable so perhaps there is nothing wrong with this.

I can't quite decide how I feel about this. Help me consider various viewpoints. (In a respectful way.)

We are super excited to announce that Drag Queen Story Hour UK will be joining us for Pride Month!
A fabulous storytelling drag performer will be reading you some exciting stories in a glorious and unique storytime show, just for us!

OP posts:
VickyEadieofThigh · 15/05/2023 12:12

Not appropriate to read stories to children. I fail to see why it's even a thing.

CampervanKween · 15/05/2023 12:14

As a child I felt mortified and upset by the pantomime Dame as I felt it was mocking women. I don't feel any different about drag and never have.

Poopoolittlekitten · 15/05/2023 12:15

This has been done to death. If you don't like it, don't go. And don't take your kids.

bellinisurge · 15/05/2023 12:15

Nothing like panto. Adult entertainment which is not for kids. Why don't they ever gave drag Queen story hour at Old People's homes? You know the answer to that.

neverbeenskiing · 15/05/2023 12:16

If you really want to "consider all views" on this particular issue MN isn't the place. Also, there have been many, many threads about this subject on here so if you want to know what the majority of Mumsnetters think you could read those.

slowsundays · 15/05/2023 12:17

I'm a feminist and I don't have much of an issue with drag as adult entertainment.

As for drag queen story hour, I'm not against it with restrictions. That is to say, DBS checks and appropriate non-sexual costumes.

Drag can be an art form but most of the drag acts are so oversexualised that it's not appropriate for children. Wouldn't have an issue with Dame Edna reading to kids but the likes of the lot on Drag Race? Nope.

Cattenberg · 15/05/2023 12:23

slowsundays · 15/05/2023 12:17

I'm a feminist and I don't have much of an issue with drag as adult entertainment.

As for drag queen story hour, I'm not against it with restrictions. That is to say, DBS checks and appropriate non-sexual costumes.

Drag can be an art form but most of the drag acts are so oversexualised that it's not appropriate for children. Wouldn't have an issue with Dame Edna reading to kids but the likes of the lot on Drag Race? Nope.

Completely agree. I’ve been to several pantomimes and never seen a dame who I thought was inappropriate for a family show, but some drag queens definitely are.

justteanbiscuits · 15/05/2023 12:28

slowsundays · 15/05/2023 12:17

I'm a feminist and I don't have much of an issue with drag as adult entertainment.

As for drag queen story hour, I'm not against it with restrictions. That is to say, DBS checks and appropriate non-sexual costumes.

Drag can be an art form but most of the drag acts are so oversexualised that it's not appropriate for children. Wouldn't have an issue with Dame Edna reading to kids but the likes of the lot on Drag Race? Nope.

You don't need DBS checking if you're not left alone with children, which ANY story teller in a setting like this should not be.

Abhannmor · 15/05/2023 12:29

gymorgin · 15/05/2023 12:11

Help me consider all views on this. On one side I think drag queens should have their day and be left in history as not appropriate as a feminist point of view. On another, I can see how it could still be allowed for entertainment but perhaps only adults. However, I then think about panto and that has always been deemed acceptable so perhaps there is nothing wrong with this.

I can't quite decide how I feel about this. Help me consider various viewpoints. (In a respectful way.)

We are super excited to announce that Drag Queen Story Hour UK will be joining us for Pride Month!
A fabulous storytelling drag performer will be reading you some exciting stories in a glorious and unique storytime show, just for us!

I can only quote the views of Danny La Rue , probably the most famous drag queen since WW2.
He actually did panto and drag at the same time - panto in the day and drag at night. He said they were completely different art forms.

Surely he was right? I'm struggling to see any similarity between , on the one hand Widow Twankey and the Ugly Sisters and on the other Flo Job and Anna Bortion.
Of course Danny was far more talented and subtle than the latter two examples. There's no way he would have done his drag show for children however.

SquirrelFeed · 15/05/2023 12:35

I don’t get the correlation between wanting to dress up and read stories to kids. Why do drag queens enjoy it? Why is it popular? Why not volunteer at an animal sanctuary or pick litter? Baffled.

OnTheHamsterWheelOfDoom · 15/05/2023 12:40

I really don't get the moral panic over this. It's not like they're half naked and reading 50 Shades of Grey to the innocent kiddywinks.

No one thought twice about taking kids to see drag at the pantomime when I was young. Somehow we all grew up unscarred by the matinee performance with granny and grandpa.

Unicorntearsofgin · 15/05/2023 12:49

I’m feminist and would have no issue going to a drag show but I do object to it for children.

I find the pantomime comparison disingenuous at best. I don’t think anyone would have an issue with pantomime story hour but pantomime and drag are totally different.

lifeturnsonadime · 15/05/2023 12:56

It's a way of foisting queer theory on children and breaking down boundaries of what is acceptable around children.

It is wholly inappropriate.

There is no need for oversexualised males in drag to read stories to children.

This is what happened at one children's event. https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/07/13/the-rainbow-dildo-butt-monkey-is-no-laughing-matter/amp/

If you think that is appropriate then your moral compass needs checking.

The ‘rainbow dildo butt monkey’ is no laughing matter

A council's decision to allow an adult act to perform for children represents a tremendous moral failure.

https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/07/13/the-rainbow-dildo-butt-monkey-is-no-laughing-matter/amp

Gtsr443 · 15/05/2023 13:01

Drag and panto are not the same thing.
Not the same origin. Not the same history. Not the same ethos.

Apart from anything else most dames are brilliant performers and actors.

Original poster
gymorgin · 15/05/2023 13:01

slowsundays · 15/05/2023 12:17

I'm a feminist and I don't have much of an issue with drag as adult entertainment.

As for drag queen story hour, I'm not against it with restrictions. That is to say, DBS checks and appropriate non-sexual costumes.

Drag can be an art form but most of the drag acts are so oversexualised that it's not appropriate for children. Wouldn't have an issue with Dame Edna reading to kids but the likes of the lot on Drag Race? Nope.

This is a good viewpoint

OP posts:
Original poster
gymorgin · 15/05/2023 13:02

neverbeenskiing · 15/05/2023 12:16

If you really want to "consider all views" on this particular issue MN isn't the place. Also, there have been many, many threads about this subject on here so if you want to know what the majority of Mumsnetters think you could read those.

Don't see why not.

OP posts:
JazbayGrapes · 15/05/2023 13:02

Done to death and its a big fat NO!

3dogsandarabbit · 15/05/2023 13:14

In the 1800s it was tradition for the lead part which was quite often male to be played by a woman and the dame to be played by an older male. This has changed now apart from the role of a male pantomime dame.

I don't think anyone needs to dress up in drag to read stories to children. It's pointless to the story telling.

SunnyEgg · 15/05/2023 13:17

lifeturnsonadime · 15/05/2023 12:56

It's a way of foisting queer theory on children and breaking down boundaries of what is acceptable around children.

It is wholly inappropriate.

There is no need for oversexualised males in drag to read stories to children.

This is what happened at one children's event. https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/07/13/the-rainbow-dildo-butt-monkey-is-no-laughing-matter/amp/

If you think that is appropriate then your moral compass needs checking.

Blinking heck, no thanks

Yfory · 15/05/2023 13:25

"We've done this one" - and now we are discussing it again....... and thats ok!
If you dont want to you are perfectly at liberty to scroll past.

Bintymcbintface · 15/05/2023 13:26

CampervanKween · 15/05/2023 12:14

As a child I felt mortified and upset by the pantomime Dame as I felt it was mocking women. I don't feel any different about drag and never have.

C'mon no you didn't, children don't think that way. Have your own opinions about drag but don't bullshit about how you were appalled by panto dames as a kid because they mocked women as if other kids that may attend this event will

vodkaredbullgirl · 15/05/2023 13:31

Not this old chestnut again. I'm sure they will be appropriately dressed for story time.

LaviniasBigBloomers · 15/05/2023 13:32

I feel I've said this a million times, but as a former student of theatre: pantomime dames and drag queens aren't the same thing. It's like, I dunno, the difference between a classical orchestra and a punk band. Both play music and have the same building blocks to their performance, but are as different as different can be.

thebellagio · 15/05/2023 13:37

I'll be honest, I don't watch drag race, so I don't know a huge amount about current drag queens. But from what I have seen, the drag queens of older days, like Lily Savage and Dame Edna seemed very "kind" and though they could be a bit cutting and sarcastic, everyone was in on the joke.

But the ones that I've seen lately almost seem a more fetishist style of drag - its much more acerbic and boundary pushing and the targets don't seem to be in on the joke, they seem to be the butt of the joke, Does that make sense?

Personally, I wouldn't take my kid to a drag time story time as it just seems so odd. Like who is it for? What are the kids themselves getting out of it? Or is it for the parents entertainment, in which case, why involve the kids at all?