Drag Queen Story Hour

[Distractable]

I thought these had all stopped, but I've just seen one advertised at my local library. massive sigh My kids are no longer that age, but I wonder if anyone has any experience of objecting to these. Is there any point in drawing attention to the massive inappropriateness of toddlers being read stories by people who normally perform very adult shows to adults? Do they ever get cancelled if people object?

@PepInYourStep

As an aside to the main conversation,

PP said: How lovely to have to explain that one to my daughter as we pass by.

You don't have to explain everything to young children. When raising mine, I found that "that show (item, whatever) is for adults, I'll explain when you are older", and then a firm no and change of subject when entreatied to explain further, worked fine.

Well, obviously. But I would prefer not to live in a society where our local theatre is advertising a misogynistic parody of womanhood. Is that really too much to ask?

Drag is cabaret for (some) adults with woman-hating undertones. Hardly suitable for children imo.

Rather like the posters suggesting promoting great lesbians in the arts for the month, one way to change this is for say a group of grandparents to get together to organise story time or wheelchair users or just a variety of groups going into libraries to do story times. Nurses?/Uniformed services/religious leaders?
There was a radio 4 programme quite a while back about how niche being a drag performer was and DQST is quite a useful way of diversifying income and getting a daytime gig so it’s two groups’ interests meeting

Why on earth would any community who still uses derogatory terms for women (if enough prominent drag queens declared it hateful to use the terms they would be out of parlance by now) be considered a positive thing for children to experience.

And in this age of purity spirals, why are posters willing to overlook a group know for using such misogynistic terms widely? Including misogynistic stage names and acts.

It seems rather hypocritical to call out feminists objecting to drag queen sfory time on a feminist board when you consider it that way.

There is no need for drag queen story time.

Didn't one of these in the states have a FQ that turned out to be a sex offender?

And one in Scotland posted pictures of school children on their website along side the more adult version photos.

There are pictures online of kids crawling over drag queens lying on the floor.

Some have inappropriate outfits.

No one called flow job should be reading to children.

Amd yes. Rainbow dildo butt monkey should not be forgotten.

Nor should the twerking lessons.

If I turned up to school and pole danced I'd ve sent straight back safguarding isn't something that appears to be bothered with with this.

That if course is on thise hiring
The drag Queens are exactly who they say they are on the websites which are right their and accessible fir anyone wanting to look.into it.

One drag queen has spoken.out about this saying its not fir kids. They are horrified at this

When I was in primary school we had a WW1 veteran come in and read us Burns. This was early 70s. I still remember that - it was wonderful. He was amazing.

A drag Queen would have scared me to death.

Pretty aghast that some PPs are continuing to defend this - it is grotesque….

What really concerns me is that some people are so busy trying to look woke that they forget to do basic safety checks on the men who want to 'perform' to little children. A few drag queens that have performed in libraries have since been found to have criminal records for child sex abuse.

And while I'm not suggesting that most drag queens are predators, there's evidence to suggest that many of these men actively encourage the children to sit on their laps or climb all over them.

@kagerou

No one is forcing kids to go :/

I've never been (and I'm guessing people judging haven't either) but i doubt they allow inappropriate comments. Its probably more like having a panto dame than the OTT drag queen sets at adult venues.

So you think it was perfectly okay to have a man dressed as a woman called Flowjob speak to 7 year olds in school? A man dressed as a woman with porno pictures all over their social media? Not appropriate at all. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51617457

Cross-dressing and transgenderism is so far away from the normality of having two same sex parents or accepting sexual orientation in children.Totally disingenuous to say it's part of that "education process".

And while I'm not suggesting that most drag queens are predators, there's evidence to suggest that many of these men actively encourage the children to sit on their laps or climb all over them

Oh god yes I've seen the pictures.

Not one person on this thread would let their child crawl all over their teacher either male or female. Most teachers also wouldn't allow that to happen. And teachers are dbs checked etc. I doubt anyone popping on to read a story is checked as other adults are present.

This blind spot is ridiculous. Anyone who thinks it's homophobic or whatever to object is simultaneously saying that actually lgbt people are incapable of behaving appropriately ( which of course is not true) so need to be able to allow lids to fall all over them in order to do their job. That's the homphobic behaviour

@EishetChayil

It's bloody everywhere. My local theatre is displaying huge posters of a drag act named "Filla Crack". How lovely to have to explain that one to my daughter as we pass by.

I explain it as - it’s what men think women are but they have no idea. Mine are you 10 & 7 so I have to explain it that way.

Before I understood why I’ve always found uncomfortable - but having been educated on Mumsnet I know why .

Drag is an adult performance show, On par I guess with burlesque. Would the library be happy for a scantily clad, heavily made up woman to be reading to kids with her crotch visible. If not, why does the drag thing make it appropriate?

If anything, I think it could give entirely the wrong impression about gay and trans people - similar to the excessively camp gay characters and stereotypes in older sitcoms.

Presumably gay men do not want to be characterised in that way (I’d imagine just being a person/dad living their life like anyone else) and despite the “trans umbrella” thing, I’d imagine most trans women want to be taken seriously as a normal member of society, not these cartoonish characters. And as others have said, the obsession with drag queens and nobody else is hardly diverse.

That’s before you even come to the blurring of boundaries, misogyny and inappropriate social media content (which imo should be completely separate to anything they do with kids - different name etc).

From what I’ve heard of them, the DQ makes it more about them than the story they read. A good storyteller should be able to hold attention with their words.

I actually think the DQ is just a gimmick to get the parents in (whether they think it’s fun or edgy, whatever) like the man dressed as Ronald Macdonald for a Macdonald party in the 80s - I never liked those either - anything with men dressed up, hiding their real appearance behind a mask. Always gave me the creeps.

I asked my library if the women from the Lap Dancing club could come and read some stories and teach the kids to twerk (they had they drag queen who did that) - they blocked me.

I resent how this is dressed up (no pun intended) as "diversity", and teaching children "tolerance". I don't want my daughter to be tolerant of misogynist mocking of women. Her best friend has two mums, her uncle has a boyfriend. I myself have had female partners, which I will tell her about one day. It's totally normal to her. We've come a long way; I'm staggered at this current insistence by the likes of Stonewall on portraying LGBT as freaky degenerates.

If they wanted to normalise it they would invite normal people to do story time. The firefighter who happens to be gay. Or the doctor who is trans. The footballer who is a lesbian. The two dad couple to read a book about different families. Real world examples of what LGBT is.

Instead... its just people dressed up in an over the top manner. It would even make more sense if they dressed as specific characters.

What are they for? No, really, what are they actually FOR? I see no purpose to a man dressed as a caricature of a woman outside the panto or adult cabaret. And as for being "inclusive", are these drag queens claiming to BE women (some of them have beards)? And if they are, surely drag queens are men, so if they're women they're not drag queens. So nobody's being twansphobic if they object....

@SunnyDelite

What are they for? No, really, what are they actually FOR? I see no purpose to a man dressed as a caricature of a woman outside the panto or adult cabaret. And as for being "inclusive", are these drag queens claiming to BE women (some of them have beards)? And if they are, surely drag queens are men, so if they're women they're not drag queens. So nobody's being twansphobic if they object....

It is queer theory breaking down societal norms - like the norm of protecting children from sex.

For all the naysayers - Would you want your toddler rolling around on the floor with a man you didn't know?

Well - that parent is going to be kept up all night with a screaming toddler having nightmares. Serves them right.

Drag is a sexualised adult entertainment form. Promoting the term to children means children will go on the internet and google it to see what it is - and that will be a flood of inappropriate images (such as the social media posts already mentioned above) and videos. They then wonder why their library/teachers/friends' parents are promoting it to them, and what else is okay. They might find 'Desmond is Amazing', and that's a whole other level of grooming.

I remember when my friends parents took her 15 year old brother to see a Follies Berger type show (they are French). She was raging that it was an adult show and totally age inappropriate. And that was singing and dancing with a few nipples.

Wonder why drag queens are ok but black and white minstrels aren't..?

When was BAME person story time? Disabled person story time? Elderly person story time? Since when are men who dress as parodies of women diverse?

Well, exactly. It’s the opposite of diverse. I’d love to see story tellers from the huge range of other countries and cultures, for a start. And stories by and about people with disabilities or facing other challenges. Older people talking about their youth — to children, that’s like another world.

But an ‘adult’ entertainer with a persona based on smutty sexist jokes??? How does that enrich a child’s life?

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Posted late yesterday and have been busy since then. Some useful ideas to send to the council (or perhaps a couple of my local councillors who I suspect would not be keen on sending their grandchildren to these sessions).

There are no groups who do story time at the library. Just extremely strange that they think that this is a good way to represent diversity.

@kagerou

No one is forcing kids to go :/

I've never been (and I'm guessing people judging haven't either) but i doubt they allow inappropriate comments. Its probably more like having a panto dame than the OTT drag queen sets at adult venues.

I used to think it was no different to a Pantomime dame, but it is very different. A pantomime dame is not a drag queen, he is playing a comedy character of an old woman, often with big cake hats on and a frumpy dress and is not presented in a sexualised way, and he is on stage as a performance - not a man acting out his fetish! Children know the dame is something that is being presented as comedy in the context of the rest of the show which is comedy. Drag queens are men presenting as overtly sexualised women to feed their own fetish. If children are taken to this - what choice do they actually have? The whole woke drive to accept these fetishes into mainstream society is what is encouraging parents to think this is completely fine and good fun - particularly I see mothers not seeing the harm in it, but this is because they are for the most part unaware of the fetishistic nature of transvestism and drag queens - as I would have been until not long ago. I've seen many pictures of these readings and the drag queens look how they always look, which is OTT. I even saw a clip of one teaching children what twearking it! WTF??? Men acting out their fetishes have no business around children and this is why no point in history it has ever been deemed appropriate for them to be with children - even Ru Paul Drag race is on after 9pm. They have all the rights in the world to do as they please amongst other adults in the appropriate environment, but we don't allow people with BDSM fetishes to read to children - although I wouldn't be surprised if that were to be suggested next!