Children being read stories by Drag Queens on World Book Day

[AssignedPuuurfectAtBirth]

One of whom refers to himself as "Bristol’s Resident Slag".

WTF now?

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/parents-anger-over-drag-queens-1254111

Ds would definitely have a day of unauthorised absence because of this.

on the simplest level - so long as not remotely sexual - it has to be a good thing that kids see men enjoying dressing up in "women's gear "- and still being clear they are men..... this is extending the definition of man, and not pushing the envelope of being woman....

though I hope it is balanced by other initiatives in the rest of the year around girls/women being able to do anything....

I'm not sure whether this specific act is appropriate for schools, as I haven't seen it, but I would agree that drag acts are usually an adult entertainment.

I disagree that drag per se is sexist or misogynist though. The act only works if the audience knows it's a man - drag highlights how absurd gender stereotypes are, and how heels, make-up, dresses etc do not add up to Woman. It's the very opposite of the TRA's argument.

If a man can do make up and heels better than a woman (and drag queens can certainly do all that stuff far, far better than most women), then that stuff cannot be what makes a woman.

And to the pp who asked why don't they do hyper-masculine drag if it's all about parodying gender stereotypes - that's exactly what drag kings do.

Where are the white men in blackface teaching children diversity by reading them Tintin in the Congo.

I don't like drag, but I wasn't able to really put my finger on why it felt so wrong to me until I read "Beauty and Misogyny" by Sheila Jeffreys.

She doesn't talk much about drag in the book. What she does talk about is beauty practices and her analysis of them as "harmful cultural practices". She describes beauty practices as being a marker for women's status in male supremacist society; a marker for our inferior status, as us as being defined by men. The trappings of femininity often literally hobble women, they restrict our movement, they tell us that in our natural state we are ugly, smelly and unfuckable. The trappings of femininity mark us out as the sex caste, as lesser, as objects, as body parts rather than whole human beings like men.

We are socialized to accept beauty practices as normal even as fun, glamorous and for ourselves. But beauty practices throughout time and place consistently "other" girls and women.

And now to the bit about drag. I had a light bulb moment when Sheila Jeffreys described beauty practices as being the misogynistic equivalent to the antisemitic yellow star. Beauty practices are our yellow star.

And that's why drag offends and upsets me. Because it is deeply offensive for my oppressor class to find entertainment or pleasure in putting on my yellow star.

Not only would my children not be attending school if drag were to be present there but I would also be sending a copy of Beauty and Misogyny to the headmaster with a letter quoting the section about the yellow star of femininity.

Under male supremacy there is nothing progressive about the trappings of femininity. And men putting them on is not satire, it is profound fundamental misogyny (even when not intended as such).

I'm fine with this too. I don't object to men wearing dresses - actually, I'd rather it was more accepted for men to wear dresses - or people adopting an alter ego. None of that requires me to believe for real that you can be a woman with a knob.

@RealityHasALiberalBias the question was why don't male performers do hyper masculine drag, if it's just about extreme sex-based stereotypes. Do any men do that?

(though, Beachcomber and thebewilderness - I do take your point about blackface.)

I don’t take their point about blackface - skin colour is innate, biological. Performed gender stereotypes are not. To accept the blackface argument is to accept the idea that make-up defines women. Drag proves that it does not.

Some drag can be misogynist, certainly, but I disagree that it is inherently so.

I don’t believe drag is just about extreme sex-based stereotypes, but you might find the film Paris is Burning illuminating. The New York drag scene in the 80s did indeed involve parodies of e.g. Wall Street traders and other paragons of masculinity, performed by gay men.

Skin color is innate but biological sex is not? Black and white grease paint is as accurate a representation of Black people as Drag performers are of the female half of the population, which is who they are parodying.

I didn't mention blackface.

I said that the trappings of femininity are the misogynistic version of the antisemitic yellow star. That is, they are a badge girls and women wear to mark out our inferior status and our membership of the sex caste.

Think about how unacceptable it is for women to have hairy legs for example. Why is that? It's because it is non compliance with the badge.

So when men wear our misogynistic badge and they and an audience find it amusing and entertaining it is a profound insult.

If drag were really challenging this it would make women angry about our oppressive sex role and men ashamed about their position of dominance, selfawarded superiority and unearned privilege.

Bringing this into schools is hideous. But unfortunately not terribly surprising considering the current neo-liberal misogynistic climate.

I don't like the drag act. I find them insulting. I wouldn't go about black face as a parody of black people. They are also incredibly crude, and the whole overacting drama queen attitude..? It really isn't my cup of tea and I'm far from prudish. I wouldn't want them in a school. They are reading children's books but I wouldn't want a bunch of porn stars in a school reading children's stories either. They are adult entertainers. How do you explain to your child what their day job is? No thanks.

Although in this country drag has different roots, in America drag started as part of the Minstrel acts. It was a deliberate poke at the perceived “masculinity” of black women. Blackface + Women-face is massively racist and misogynistic and it doesn’t become acceptable just because the blackface has been lost.

I used to think that drag was just a bit of fun until I watched Ru Paul's Drag Race and was appalled at the way they talked about women, calling women "fish" and laughing at the idea that they were better at being women than women were. It really drove home how rooted in misogyny the whole concept is - could you be a successful drag queen if you didn't find women inherently absurd?

Sex is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act.

Harrassment is a type of discriminatory behaviour that is unlawful under the EA:

(1)A person (A) harasses another (B) if—

(a)A engages in unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, and

(b)the conduct has the purpose or effect of—

(i)violating B's dignity, or

(ii)creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for B.

I think a decent case could be made by parents of girls that this head teacher is harrassing female pupils on the grounds of their sex by bringing in drag queens for compulsory lessons.

Unless it's a private school they'll also be required to comply with the public sector equality duty which means they not only have to not discriminate, they have to actively consider how the decisions they make affect different disadvantaged groups and how they can actively advance equality.

Everything Datun has said about grooming is spot on.

Beauty and Misogyny is an excellent book and you can download it for free here.

While looking for that, I noticed Unpacking Queer Politics is also available here. Everybody should read this book!

Certainly no surprise to me.

Common sense and experience seems thin on the ground right now.

www.google.co.uk/amp/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5485931/amp/Drag-queen-taught-kids-tolerance-posted-abusive-tweets.html

She goes into schools to teach children as young as two to be open-minded about transgender issues.

She called former Tory Minister Ann Widdecombe a ‘fing venomous, hypocritical bint’ in one tweet, and TV host Kim Woodburn a ‘vile c’ in another.

Apart from anything else, there's this insane complacency that people cant read. That your behaviour shouldn't be beyond reproach even if you are giving guidance to kids.

On hate crimes of all things. Ffs.

😂😂😂