OK the whole drag story time thing

[Qcng]

I've seen posts on this board before basically completely denouncing drag story time, but I've never really gone along with the perspective that it's such an oh so terrible thing. So I don't join in on those threads. As GC as anyone I actually think, dressing up is fine for girls and boys, these people aren't trying to send a message to children that it's big hair and fake lashes that actually make you a woman, (unlike say, someone like Caitlyn Jenner would send that message). They're sending a message that boys can do dress up too, that being gay is ok, and being a man in makeup is ok.

Anyway, I came across an article (posted by a GC feminist who was rather sarcastic and not at all sympathetic) where the drag queen received online abuse after attending a school for drag story time. So that's what got me thinking really, I don't think anyone should be on the receiving end of a torrent of abuse over something like drag.

I know drag itself is for adults, sexually charged, drugs involved etc and I am completely against "Desmond" and "Lactasia" (sp?) I would never in a million years want children to be encouraged to do drag or be in that scene at all under the age of 18.
Drag story time isn't encouraging that though surely? Like having a clown do tricks in a school, they aren't there saying "you should all start learning to juggle and paint your face now".

In the school setting the drag queens are literally just reading a story, usually with a positive LGB message. They aren't making crude jokes and won't use their same stage name (EG "Flow Job" is just "Flow" and "Popping Cherry" is just "Cherry" etc etc)

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that DQ story time isn't actually that bad, and in fact does send children a positive message particularly to the gender non confirming/LGB/those with LGB family members?

Is the problem that they want to normalise being gay/lesbian, but being gay or lesbian isn't actually visible, and it's not actually appropriate to come in to read a story and talk about your private life. They want to normalise being trans, but trans people want to think they pass so aren't about to put themselves forward for a role that only works without passing. So drag queens are some kind of backhanded attempt to normalise both gay and trans people that actually misfires badly on both groups, being as what it's actually it's own thing and designed for adult entertainment.

Datum as disturbing as those pics are, I don't think they're from a DQ story hour in a school. They're from some other sort of LGBT event.

Possibly. But it's the normalisation of exposing children to an adult, highly sexualised concept.

It's not necessary to do this in order to promote acceptance of homosexuality. In fact, it has the opposite effect.

Neither is there a need to encourage kindergarten children into accepting adult, sexualised entertainment in the form of drag.

So who is it for?? The acceptance of homosexuality doesn't hold up. Neither does the acceptance of diversity, when it's adult sexuality aimed at children.

It's an insidious normalisation of exposing children to inappropriate situations. Some people just through naivete, others through misogyny, and some as a deliberate way of grooming.

Either way, it does absolutely fuck all for the children.

The lines between adult sexuality and little children are not just being blurred, they are being eliminated.

thirdfiddle, I think for many, RuPaul's Drag Race is the only exposure they have to a gay lifestyle.

So I think for people whose frame of reference for LGB lifestyles is small, they equate drag with being gay. They understand that 'we must all be nice to gay people' and they think that's what they're doing by inviting drag queens into schools.

I think there's also the fact that drag queens are often thought of as ticking the trans box too, so the people championing DQST see it as a win-win.

The whole point of a drag queen is to be a parody of a woman. Why the fuck are we seeing that as something that we should deliberately put in front of children and teach them to ignore their feelings of unease about??

I know drag itself is for adults, sexually charged, drugs involved etc

So why are you ok with it being brought to children, even when heavily modified?

Drag story time isn't encouraging that though surely? Like having a clown do tricks in a school, they aren't there saying "you should all start learning to juggle and paint your face now".

Then what is it encouraging, and how does a man dressed in drag help those goals?

In the school setting the drag queens are literally just reading a story, usually with a positive LGB message. They aren't making crude jokes and won't use their same stage name

Hopefully you've seen all the evidence on this by now that no, they're not just reading stories, they are twerking and flashing etc etc.

It's not usually a positive LGT purpose but a positive T purpose.

And I go back to... if they are just reading stories (which stories?) - then for what intent or purpose?

Am I being unreasonable in thinking that DQ story time isn't actually that bad, and in fact does send children a positive message particularly to the gender non confirming/LGB/those with LGB family members?

Why do you leave T out of your acronyms in this post, when drag queens are mainly all about the T?

Lgbt+ education for kids doesn't need to be delivered by a man dressed as a hyersexualised parody of a woman. I don't see anything positive for the kids to gain from it. I've been involved in delivering lgbt+ as a subject to quite young pupils. We talk about some people fancy the same sex and that's okay, we talk about how some people prefer to dress as the opposite gender and that's okay, and then we go on to talk about all these people who are doing cool things and one of the least interesting things about them is that they happen to also be L or G etc.

I just don't get why a drag queen reading a storybook badly is beneficial to children in any way. I think if it were part of a well thought out program of diversity whereby eg every friday people with lots of different skin colours, gender presentations, visible and invisible disabilities, eg speech impediments etc then.... then actually, I would still find somebody who represented highly sexualised and misogynistic views of women, an inappropriate person to invite to read books to children.

“ So drag queens are some kind of backhanded attempt to normalise both gay and trans people that actually misfires badly on both groups, being as what it's actually it's own thing and designed for adult entertainment.”

No. I don’t think the people behind this are that stupid.

In most of the picutres of DQST some of the children look VERY uncomfortable. Clowns/people behaving or looking very different from what is exspcted can scare many children.
I worry DQST is teaching children that their discomfort/fear about being in situations with individulas they find frighting is wrong, and they must basically shut up about being scared or uncomfortable incase they make someone else sad. This is the opposite message from safeguarding.

Because they look all glittery and colourful and have an extravagant personality. Children like that sort of thing.

\\

You could describe Jimmy Saville or Gary Glitted like this What children may or may not like is not a priority when safeguarding.

Christ Datun what in gods name is that a picture of ?

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz

That is 10-year-old 'drag kid' Queen Lactatcia. He is photographed, with, apparently, the winner of Ru Paul's drag race.

He is on film saying if your parents don't agree with drag kids, get new parents.

The other drag kid is 'Desmond is Amazing'. His mum promotes him, and he is seen in an adult drag club twerking on stage and having grown men throw money at him.

As well as being friends with an infamous murderer, who advocates for the use of drugs, and is photographed with Desmond under a poster talking about Ketamine.

Googling either of these children will bring up a whole host of disturbing concepts. All very similar.

Link

www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzz.ie/amp/latest/outrage-10-year-old-drag-queen-naked-adult-313565

Desmond is Amazing makes me feel ill, he’s so abused.

Yes I know it's a right wing news source,but the photos don't lie. Click on the link in the third paragraph to view the photos:

thefederalist.com/2019/07/22/public-library-deletes-pictures-drag-queens-fondling-children-story-hour/

It's problematic because its bringing adult sexuality and highly sexualised sterotypical portrayals of women into a space for children.

Children's story time isn't an appropriate forum for drag.

It's not much more complicated than that really.

Qcng this is the drag kid I was talking about but didn’t want to post a video link (it makes me really uncomfortable). But here is an article about it.

www.dailywire.com/news/11-year-old-boy-dressed-drag-dances-gay-men-bar-amanda-prestigiacomo

I’ll leave it to you to decide if this is a healthy thing to be promoted as ‘fun for kids’.

Thanks Datun. That's truly grim. There aren't enough red flags for it

Here's the BBC promoting Desmond, including a quote from him mother saying that his nightclub performance that Winesalot posted was just fine: www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-47177250/the-drag-kid-who-has-madonna-and-rupaul-as-fans

Speaking of Desmond, Blaire White has recently made a video about the concerning aspects of his life

The attached photos are Desmond's mothers reaction to the video. I find it utterly bizarre.

What is presented in the video is several years old. Everyone makes mistakes, even well known celebrities. We acknowledged the matter at the time. That's called growth.

The fact that its several years old means that he was only about 9 when he was simulating taking ketamine. Who is she talking about by 'well known celebrities'? Is she referring to Desmond? Is she implying it was his mistake to be associated with a murderer? Or is she referring to Michael Alig and saying that murdering someone was 'a mistake'?

She goes on to turn it around so that any questioning of what has happened to Desmond has such a negative effect on him and she is trying to protect him. She wasnt protecting him when she let him hang out with a convicted murdered was she? The minimising of all this and deflection is just so worrying, it's crazy!

They have been investigated by social services on more than one occasion I think, but apparently a 9 year old simulating taking drugs with an adult is nothing to worry about 🤷‍♀️

On top of all this, Desmond apparently has autism, which makes him even more vulnerable in lots of different ways.

Desmond has a half sister who has posted on the Desmond thread on kiwi farms.

I don't get what DQST teaches children about diversity anyway. They're not going to see people dressed like that outside of a drag show, are they? Which they wouldn't even be aware of if it wasn't for DQST.

The whole DQ message of "Be who you like, dress how you like" is total fiction for primary kids too. As soon as you get to secondary school you can't even have zips on your trouser pockets nevermind cut your hair in a none approved style because pockets and hair impact learning obvs'

I noticed Blaire White had commented on the video linked earlier in this thread- making the same points posters on here did. The exploitation of children is a subject she's covered in several videos.

The whole DQ message of "Be who you like, dress how you like" is total fiction for primary kids too. As soon as you get to secondary school you can't even have zips on your trouser pockets nevermind cut your hair in a none approved style because pockets and hair impact learning obvs'

This is an excellent point I had not considered before, thank you.

I went to see a pantomime when I was very young and screamed my head off at the pantomime dame, especially when their wig fell off half way through. I think if a drag queen had walked into my classroom when I was that age I would have died of fright!

“ They're not going to see people dressed like that outside of a drag show, are they?”

Well, in my day, we used to see them in soho at daytime but I think that children can accept drag, as much as they need to, without special events.

clymene thanks for that link. Hard to believe.