Drag Queen Story Time at the British Library

[TundraDweller]

Three Drag Queen Story Times in one day -

www.bl.uk/events/family-day-young-rebels

My kids have known that two men can get married or that some people have two mums since they started to understand that stuff. No drag queens required

I gave up my TV licence but from a few years ago but from memory.
Marrying mum and dad have episodes with same sex couples.
Molly and Mack
Hey Duggie
The dumping ground
Tea and mo
Pablo

*We had alternative family books in my primary school library.

Paw - knowing about lesbians and gay dads since 1975...*

Yeah, we've got loads of good books (as I said).

I honestly never said there wasn't books on the subject. I said most fiction books aimed at preschoolers featured nuclear families. Obviously lots don't. But most do. That wasn't really my point though - I was just saying that it didn't seem like the books in that story were inappropriate in any way.

Shine on Harvey Moon (mid 80s show set during ww2 I think) had a sympathetic gay character in it.

I gave up my TV licence but from a few years ago but from memory.
Marrying mum and dad have episodes with same sex couples.
Molly and Mack
Hey Duggie
The dumping ground
Tea and mo
Pablo

Big fan of Pablo and Tee and Mo. Never thought of Hey Duggie like that - have never really been able to work out who Flop is in relation to duggee! Will check out the others.

But isn't the whole concept of 'princesses don't have to dress in pink' (as in the statement, I haven't heard of the book) trying to dismantle these regressive stereotypes? Granted, 'princess' is a bit problematic, but isn't it basically saying girls don't have to dress in pink eg be 'girly' and conform to gender norms? I'm all for that message.

Well yeah, but then at the same time you have the likes of Mermaids (who appear to be under the same LGBTQIAXYZ rainbow flag as this lot) going into schools with shite like this, telling children that if 'the sex they were assigned at birth' doesn't match their 'gender identity' then there might be something 'wrong' with them that needs 'correcting'. Which to me, just totally reinforces stereotypes.

And of course from my own childhood, Arthur, whose teacher is gay.

But isn't the whole concept of 'princesses don't have to dress in pink' (as in the statement, I haven't heard of the book) trying to dismantle these regressive stereotypes? Granted, 'princess' is a bit problematic, but isn't it basically saying girls don't have to dress in pink eg be 'girly' and conform to gender norms? I'm all for that message

Yes, but the best people to model that are the parents and those surrounding the child.....by their own choices, and by what they choose to expose their child to. Obviously you can't shut them off from contemporary society altogether - but what you model yourself is most important.

To be honest that drag queen featured above gives me the creeps, and i wouldn't want him anywhere near my granddaughter. And I'm someone who was around drag culture a lot in my youth..... ( even then I didn't like it.......)

And telling little girls that they "don't have to wear pink" is kind of reinforcing the fact that maybe they do. I didn't have to have anyone tell me that when I was a child ----because it just wasn't a thing......and even when my daughter was young, it wasn't so much of a thing.......

I blame American consumer culture If I'm honest....and Disney. Disney has become an obsession for many.......Disney channel; Disney stores etc......

I don't think Duggie is in a same sex relation ship but the crocodile is adopted.

I am in the UK. My DD is 4 - she doesn't like Justin, unfortunately; I've really encouraged it as her cousin has autism so I was hoping she'd watch Something Special, but she's not keen on him

I don't think kids like drag......and even Justin with is fairly innocuous humour leaves them cold and a bit confused.

@terfsandwich, it's interesting what you say about Oz libraries being 'colonised' by TRAs.
I do not believe for one second that that's what happened here. I am not in the sector now, but for one thing there are very few librarians left in public libraries. An absolute axe fell between about 2005 and 2007 (before the credit crunch you'll notice) which obliterated the professional level completely in public libraries. There are now maybe 2 or 3 professionally qualified left per county service. Upper management have of course protected themselves, and the low-paid or even unpaid assistants 'whom they soooo value' are left holding what's left.

I think the infiltration of trans is a combination of the fear of being political, which has been growing - ironically becoming political because of that lack - and even more, the pressure here to become "more relevant" and "more exciting" and "more new" etc etc. In a service which is still so popular volunteers are prepared to run it, which attracts more users than football matches. More more more.

And telling little girls that they "don't have to wear pink" is kind of reinforcing the fact that maybe they do.

Yes, it kind of reinforces an idea that 'girls generally do wear pink but you don't have to if you don't want to'? which again very subtly gives the message that if you don't want to, then you are not a proper girl? I don't know?

I think the reason we no longer try to train the public in Dewey is part and parcel of the dumbing down approach. Everything has to be simple and put straight into people's hands with the minimum of effort from them, otherwise they will just walk away. In academic libraries a similar trend might be user's abuse of the request system rather than looking for a book on the shelves themselves, or a 'google-type' front-end to every single subject specific database (without google's power).

If that is what you meant anyway!

Yes - professional children's specialists don't exist in library services any more. I expect this has all been organised by an arts organisation.

dragqueenstorytime.com/diary/the-british-library
'She'll have you gagging for more'

I’m imagining sassy little toddlers shimmying around, speaking Polari and snapping their fingers ‘mummy - I’m just gagging for more milk...’

Thank you to posters explaining queering the library

I’m curious to see how these drag queens are dressed. I really didn’t think they’d get away with any risqué outfits, I thought they would be glammed up in a ball gown type outfit!

Agree 100% that it’s going to be about wearing down kids’ boundaries (and making kids feel bad about having boundaries and especially voicing them), for the benefit of being kind to adults’ feelings, which is an absolutely shit burden to place on kids.

Another previous thread :

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/a3534643-Paedophile-at-Drag-Queen-Story-Time?msg_id=85636127#85636127

Plus a previous thread including discussion on explicit art exhibits wrt families visiting them

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3612554-Hayward-Gallery-exhibition-Gendered-Intelligence-teacher-training-event-about-it?pg=3&order=

I know these venues and institutions often have incentives from trustees and funders etc to bring in more diverse visitors including families and they will no doubt be wanting to bring new younger visitors, so they are perhaps naively trying new things.

Writing to them to complain is an excellent thing to do because the reality is that they will be alienating a diverse set of parents who might potentially visit or do currently visit, just as much as they may be attracting some parents who may have come to that venue just for the drag queen story time...

Well they aren’t going to be dressed like ‘Doris the librarian’ are they?

'She'll have you gagging for more

Quite hideous in my view.

Wow Elvira vibe there. What is this teaching the kiddies again?

So much of what children are exposed to is just so ugly......the stuff of nightmares.

When I was little I would have loved to see a better dancer in full costume read me a story. Or the real Paddington bear.

Better dancer! Ballet dancer 🩰

I'm quite finely tuned when it comes to aesthetics....and I just find most drag damn ugly.