Obscene costumed volunteers handing out summer reading at Redbridge library

[WombOfOnesOwn]

A library had a man in a rainbow monkey costume, with a dildo penis and a fake exposed butt, handing out summer reading books.

Look at this obscene sex clown mocking and terrorising local Muslim women:

twitter.com/HasAhmed_/status/1413931013340807172/photo/2

The library is, of course, apologizing about it now:

twitter.com/RedbridgeLibs/status/1413975910433366020

But during the event, they thought it was pretty funny:

twitter.com/turtillachip/status/1414255270038016009

What is happening? Why should parents going to the library's summer reading program worry that THIS is what they'll see? The website for this troupe of "performers" clearly shows this monkey performer with his fake penises inch from children's faces. There has been no vetting. No safeguarding.

And there'll just be an apology, another "isolated incident." Of course, the local Muslim women and girls know exactly what this library thinks of them now, and what may happen to them if they choose to even walk nearby. Do we think they're going to want to go in?

I was born in the early 60s. When I was growing up there was almost no public discussion of child sexual abuse. Many children who tried to tell somebody what was happening to them were punished for dishonesty, returned to abusive parents/foster parents/boarding school staff, and so on. No criminal records checks on people working with children and other vulnerable people. No safeguarding policies. Young teenage girls who became pregnant were labelled as sluts, but the fathers escaped scot free, with little curiosity about whether the girls had been coerced.

The sea change came in the 1980s. I remember hearing social workers, researchers, police officers and others with professional knowledge talking about how common it was and being extremely sceptical because I just couldn't believe this vile abuse could be commonplace. I now see I was extremely lucky to grow up with no experience of this.

That is a superb letter from the local MP posted below! He’s up there with the Baroness. His sense of outrage is palpable.

@WorkingItOutAsIGo

That is a superb letter from the local MP posted below! He’s up there with the Baroness. His sense of outrage is palpable.

Yes, it's great.

Also glad to see Wes Streeting is able to do this as he's recovering from cancer treatment.

Mandinga’s accounts are a bit odd. Looks like the directors haven’t taken anything out of the company so as to keep it as a going concern for the last couple of years.

This debacle could be the final nail in the coffin for them.

The title of this thread refers to ‘costumed volunteers’, I very much doubt they were volunteers. This will have been a paid for service, it would be interesting to know what level of due diligence was carried out on the supplier and how much they charged.

Was the AIBU thread on this deleted?

Aibu thread still up and running.

@NotTheFunKindOfFeminist here’s a link to the AIBU:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4294337-A-library-thought-it-appropriate-to-book-this-entertainment-for-children-and-I-feel-sick?msgid=109001790

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Thank you for what you posted about the Paedophile Information Exchange P. I.E. and the links.

A section in the article from one of your links speaks volumes about the Mandinga group’s response to criticism as transphobic and their justification is a comparison to monkeys in a zoo.

Copy and paste of paragraphs from article:

Professor Jennifer Freyd coined the acronym “Darvo” to describe a set of tactics perpetrators often employ to avoid being held accountable for their actions.

Perpetrators frequently Deny their behaviour, Attack the individual who is holding them to account and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender, so that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the victim into the alleged perpetrator.

morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/easy-pie-rebranding-paedophilia

I firmly believe that this man in a monkey costume adorned with dildos knows exactly what he is doing and his comments show unrelenting tactics towards grooming people into accepting his predatory behaviour.

ScreamingMeMe
I hope your thread stays in AIBU @Oceanbliss. Every parent needs to be aware of this, regardless of their opinions on feminism or gender identity.

@ScreamingMeMe I agree and hope the thread stays in AIBU. I’m not the OP of that thread just one of the many posters. I’m trying to read both because there are many valid, interesting and important views being expressed in both threads.

I was very interested to read the definition of grooming you posted @Oceanbliss

openly or pretending to accidentally expose the victim to nudity, sexual material and sexual acts (this in itself is classified as child sexual abuse but can also be a precursor to physical sexual assault)

Posts talking about grooming often get deleted. Presumably because an objection can be made as to whether the person exhibiting the behaviour intends to groom. But your definition seems to remove this judgment? Is that right, do you think?

Whether dildo monkey intended to groom children or not, his behaviour was doing it anyway. He was 'openly exposing children to sexual material' (the dildo).

Interestingly my post mentioning grooming is no longer deleted. And I hadn't yet go round to emailing HQ to question the deletion.

Posts are not pre-moderated. Deletions come from reports. I hope HQ can now be a bit more confident over posts regarding grooming and that it's possible to be about behaviour, which may or may not be intentionally dangerous.

I'm thinking of the Wi Spa man too. He may not have intended to groom, but it would have had that effect anyway.

[quote PronounssheRa]I do wonder whether it's this kind of stuff that will open Labour's eyes to what is going on. As Labour councillors and the MP for the area are speaking out about this.

mobile.twitter.com/cllrkatebutler/status/1414251442312028164[/quote]

And yet Wes was one of the group who were bullying Jennifer James.

And yet Wes was one of the group who were bullying Jennifer James.

It's was that Labour against transphobia thing, if I recall, involving lily madigan and a list of women who they wanted suspending from the Labour Party. Streeting also used to work for stonewall.

@Datun

I was very interested to read the definition of grooming you posted *@Oceanbliss*

openly or pretending to accidentally expose the victim to nudity, sexual material and sexual acts (this in itself is classified as child sexual abuse but can also be a precursor to physical sexual assault)

Posts talking about grooming often get deleted. Presumably because an objection can be made as to whether the person exhibiting the behaviour intends to groom. But your definition seems to remove this judgment? Is that right, do you think?

Whether dildo monkey intended to groom children or not, his behaviour was doing it anyway. He was 'openly exposing children to sexual material' (the dildo).

Interestingly my post mentioning grooming is no longer deleted. And I hadn't yet go round to emailing HQ to question the deletion.

Posts are not pre-moderated. Deletions come from reports. I hope HQ can now be a bit more confident over posts regarding grooming and that it's possible to be about behaviour, which may or may not be intentionally dangerous.

I'm thinking of the Wi Spa man too. He may not have intended to groom, but it would have had that effect anyway.

This is a really important point. Whenever posts are removed because of the mention of grooming, it seems to be it’s considered a direct accusation of someone being a predator. But anyone can contribute to grooming. If this sort of thing (or any of the things that might get called grooming here) are laughed off by people, I think those people have both been groomed into thinking it’s okay, and are contributing to societal grooming of others into thinking it’s okay. It doesn’t make that person a criminal, but it demonstrates how even the littlest of contributions can make this grooming overall.

The inability to call behaviour grooming, both here and in the wider public, contributes to these sorts of things continuing unabated.

The Post Millennial:

thepostmillennial.com/watch-man-buttless-rainbow-monkey-costume-literacy

Children are most definitely in danger, I couldn't watch this poor baby

twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/1414670202336317444?s=21

The Daily Mail on line is now covering this. Have not had time to read the comments yet.

I had a quick look at the comments. This has really enraged people.

Someone (probably a man) suggested ripping off the dildo and use it to chase the performers off.

I wonder is more men are peeking now when they see the reality of everyone under the rainbow umbrella. I think they could tell themselves that they were inclusive and accepting with the drag story hour. There is no excuse for the monkey and it really brings everything home.

[quote littlebilliie]Children are most definitely in danger, I couldn't watch this poor baby

twitter.com/mattwalshblog/status/1414670202336317444?s=21[/quote]
That's horrible

Daily Mail:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9781507/Parents-disgust-Labour-council-hires-actor-rainbow-coloured-monkey-costume-fake-penis.html?ico=amp-comments-addcomment#comments-9781507

I find this photo of Monkey Guy with Strawberry Man holding the “Monkey and Me” book the most offensive as it so clearly signals their target audience. Did Monkey Guy hope to be snuggling up on a floor cushion reading Monkey and Me to a small child, wearing that costume?

If I was the author of Monkey and Me I would be pretty pissed off too!

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9781507/Parents-disgust-Labour-council-hires-actor-rainbow-coloured-monkey-costume-fake-penis.html

The fact that the library's apology is along the lines of "we didn't know at the time of booking" with no acknowledgement that they let the show carry on and laughed about it AFTER it was obvious what the monkey person was wearing is worth highlighting again and again.

"We're sorry, we didn't know" when they clearly DID know and were happy with it for a period of time.

Also what about the actors? They are not blameless in this.

The author of Monkey and Me is Emily Gravett.

When DS was small he loved her Orange Pear Apple Bear book. I do not remember the bear having a giant dildo strapped onto him at any point in the book. I can't imagine she's taken to drawing dildos on the characters of her other books.

So those defending Dildo Monkey by claiming that Dildo Monkey is a just a character from her book is disgraceful, an insult to her and her work.

And claiming that Dildo Monkey is an anatomically correct and so excused by being a realistic monkey while ignoring the fact that he's also rainbow striped and therefore not realistic is disingenuous to say the least.

They are scraping the barrel with both justifications.

Now that the defenders of Dildo Monkey have taken to claiming that wearing giant dildos while reading to children is perfectly normal and it's transphobic to object to it, it will be a bit of a minefield for the author to speak out about and I wouldn't wish it on her when you see what these people have done to female authors who do speak out (JKR, Amanda Craig, etc), but what must she be thinking about the way these libraries and this theatre company have chosen to represent her book?

I'm also still not sure why objecting to Dildo Monkey is transphobic, but logic and reality doesn't seem to be their strong point.