Drag Queen Storytime at my local library (photo attached)

[Carla786]

I had a lovely trip to my local library yesterday. Spent a long time there choosing books, basically the whole time there was a very noisy toddler event going on in the next room. I didn't mind, they host a lot of stuff for various people & that's good.

As I left, I looked at the posters of various things they were advertising. I saw one for 'Mama G', clearly a drag queen, which I photographed for identification purposes. I thought this nonsense of drag story hours might be quietening down, but clearly not at my library. I'd never seen them advertise anything like that before 🤦‍♀️

Checking the photo when I got home, I saw the event had taken place that day, while I was choosing my books. I wasn't listening particularly hard, but from what I heard it sounded more like a 'panto dame' style event than anything sexualised. It still seems odd and inadvisable though. If a drag Queen wants to do panto style entertainment for kids too, he should have a separate line in that, rather than mixing it up. 'Drag queen shows ' are by nature sexual and adult, so 'drag queen' shows blur boundaries whatever the content/intention.

Drag queen is not a protected characteristic. The man dressing up as Mama G is a male actor. There is no reason not say "he"

Oh how different this would be if it was blackface, yeah im in agreement with those that dont really want to see men parodying women, it reminds me of minstrels, there's no place for it anymore. Its outdated and not even funny.

Well obviously not because the job of a policeman is not to entertain, it’s to keep people safe. The job of a teacher isn’t to entertain, it’s to teach.

The job of a performer/actor is to entertain. Drag has been used for centuries (both genders) as a vehicle for entrainment. Look up the history if you don’t understand it.

Are you fundamentally against Shakespeare because men played female characters? Should we ban Hamlet?

So theres sometimes characters at seven stories library in Ouseburn in Newcastle if youre Northern.

I dont know if they read to the kids or just wave at them and take photos. But i think it would be lovely if The Gruffalo read the Gruffalo/Gruffalos child.

But his fame came from being The Vivienne. The papers reported the famous death. They did also use James and the right pronouns where needed. But using the gutter press as an example isn't the best

And you are using this thread to slag off the profession that James absolutely adored and relished...

Lily Savage and Paul O'Grady were both famous in their own right, that's why it was different

Do you not know the history of the kilt? It has nothing to do with parodying women.
The whole intent of drag is parodying women.

Yes, it would have scared me, though as pps have said similar stuff like clowns etc is promoted as for children, though many are also scared by that.

Good point re the stories - what stories were read? I don't remember hearing anything specific... the snatches I remember didn't seem to be about gender ..

If you are talking about the actor. Yes. But if you are talking about Mama G then it's she...

My kids would LOVE this.

I think it looks great fun ..why should it be more deep than that ? Bet the kids loved it.

Well being as the parents were there... if they felt the book was inappropriate then they remove their child

Ffs some posters make it sound like this was compuslory

Agree re press differences,but otoh couldn't you say similar re actors famous for a particular character? The press doesn't normally report their obit using the character's name etc, even bad papers.

Why? I wouldn't refer to (the deeply unfunny) Mrs Brown as "she"

Agree re kilts. Dragging (see what I did there) kilts into this debate is risible regardless of anyone's views on drag queens. I cringed at that post.

I would add i was watching this in the 90s and Matthew Corbetts hand puppets cuddling wasnt a problem then.

It might have been a scandal in 1965 but wasnt when I watched.

I do know that the first couple ever shown sharing a bed on TV (oh the scandal) were Fred and Wilma Flintstone in the cartoons

Traditionally men played female characters because women were barred from being actors. There was a reason for it.
Reading to children in a library isn't "entertainment" : it is educational. To teach the children to enjoy and benefit from books.

"it sounded more like a 'panto dame' style event than anything sexualised"

So not sexualised, panto dame style, like the panto dames children and adults have enjoyed in entertainment for years? Have you had an issue with panto dames in the past or is this post just a hunt for attention because you know MN is big on gender issues?

You would though

Because Mrs Brown is a character who uses she/her

Brendan O'Carroll on the other hand...

Because they aren't always appearing to the world as that character

The Vivienne was always The Vivienne

Interesting, thanks for the info.

I agree re principal boys often being a way to ogle. That dates back to the Restoration when cross-dressing plots were kept to objectify actresses, who were generally seem as sexually available.
Peter Pan being played by a woman is similar (though minus the catcalling), I remember reading one critic who noted 'Peter being played by a leggy lady was a none-to-subtle way of ensuring fathers were part of the jolly family outing' 🙄 I think that was also due to difficulties of using child performers for Peter though.

Do performances of Peter Pan still sometimes cast a woman? I personally think the principal boy tradition did at least mean the cross-dressing focus wasn't entirely on the man (pantos seem to focus mainly on the dame now), and couldn't the costume issue be adapted?

My issue is with the drag billing, I thunk that's a slippery slope. He should have billed as panto dame.

I do have smaller quibbles re panto dames but I don't think they're necessarily misogynistic per se so no, I don't have a blanket objection to panto dames.

I had the true pleasure of knowing and working alongside a drag queen, very British style of drag, Widow Twankey meets Kylie Minogue sort of look. This man could sew a frock, style a wig, paint a face, sing a song and crack a joke with the best of them. When he did Story time it was nothing bad, kids loved the colourful dress, big hair and larger than life persona as well as the silly entertainment of it all.

There was no smutty innuendo, overt messages about homosexuality or early indoctrination into the gay scene. The whole thing was a simple message about differences and acceptance in a format kids would find entertaining. There was nothing about girls liking girls or boys liking boys, girls being boys and boys being girls, it was purely about people being different and that being OK.

One thing he was dead set against was any form of adult humor or innuendo. His own words were, "Keep that away from the kiddies". He did the whole story time for a while and really thought he was doing a good thing, he stopped though when there was backlash (not against him personally but the concept as a whole).

Great, I’m glad you know the history.

I feel for your children if you don’t see a storytime session in a library for children as entertaining.

You’re right, books, reading and libraries must be utterly joyless and purely educational. God forbid any of them crack a smile.

Who?