RIBA - Architecture day for children featuring a Drag queen

[AlsoNotAGirl]

Royal Institute of Architecture (RIBA) is having a family fun book day tomorrow introducing architecture and buildings to children. Lots of great activities…

except the last activity of the day is with the Drag Queen story time Aida-H-Dee
No connection to rest of the day
www.architecture.com/whats-on/family-fun-day-architecture-book-day-2022

Demonstrates that architecture is more of a male world then? Weird considering I deal with a lot of women architects. They could have done something so good for little girls. Sigh.

I'd have thought the main inclusivity concern of architects would be disability access issues. DQSH is pointless, regressive and irrelevant in any situation.

Excellent point regarding disability access, Seahorses.

Livelifeinthebuslane

men in drag including pantomime dames always grossed me out as a child. I found them repugnant and insulting and couldn’t understand why they were mainstream entertainment. One of the reasons I became feminist

I wonder if they will have photos of this part of the event on their website next week?

If you are a member of RIBA you can write, complain, and if you feel strongly, end membership. This does not seem appropriate for a professional organisation.

Very good points about 'inclusivity' when it comes to architecture.

• It is still a pretty male dominated industry, both directly and wider (eg construction, surveying etc) and despite there now being more female architects, it would be great for more young girls to see that this is an industry open to them.

• Disability access in buildings should be at the forefront of minds in the industry as the main 'inclusivity issue', seeing as these people actually design buildings.

What a male adult entertainer dressed as a caricature of a woman has to do with either of these 'inclusivity issues' is totally unclear, therefore we can conclude that this is just patriarchal, virtue signalling bullshit.

It would be interesting if the RIBA representative who responded to the complaint as per upthread could clarify exactly what “inclusivity” means to the organisation. Who is being “included”?
Reading this thread it’s very clear that many people here not only feel excluded and alienated by this choice of activity for a “family fun day” but also positively repulsed.

I’ve never met a drag Queen architect yet. So inclusive of who exactly? They say the words but don’t actually think about what they are saying.

They seem to think if they just parrot inclusive inclusive inclusive at you that’s enough, but as previous posters have said, what exactly is inclusive about a drag queen?

Frankly architecture is still in the dark ages when it comes to disability access or indeed access for women with Prams/pushchairs! Where is their inclusivity for architects with a disability? Where is the evidence that when redesigning public spaces they’ve considered womebs safety

All of that would take effort & money though. Far better to get in a parody Of womanhood to read stories innit

I did write a piece on the future of the industry and how to get more women involved (after reading Invisible Women) and it did get hacked back - but I did mange to get in some relevant facts mwahahaha.

@FrancescaContini

It would be interesting if the RIBA representative who responded to the complaint as per upthread could clarify exactly what “inclusivity” means to the organisation. Who is being “included”? Reading this thread it’s very clear that many people here not only feel excluded and alienated by this choice of activity for a “family fun day” but also positively repulsed.

RIBA member I know was outraged. As I said before, it's not appropriate for a professional organisation.

Now if he was dressed as Big Ben I might be interested.

@Zeugma

RIBA? RIBA ??

FFS.

Couldn't have said it better!

RIBA are out of touch they thought CAD was a fad I had one tell me that hand drawings were superior. Architectural technology is inferior the universities thankfully caught up more quickly.

As for women v men I've seen good and bad in both.

Women I know have set up small businesses working from home fitting in with the family as do female GP's .

Trust your gut when choosing an architect word of mouth also useful

As for public buildings they're designed and built by committee so many fingers in the pot both in the practice and in the clients. It's a wonder anything gets built

@Queenoftheashes

Whenever I’ve seen drag queens it’s been in 18+ venues with alcohol licences

A maxim to live by.

I have zero problem with drag in clubs and have been ushered into many a club by a drag queen in my time. I've been to many gay clubs and seen all sorts if shenanigans going on, there and other clubs. But I was over 18 and made that choice willingly. And wasn't particularly phased at that point, as a sexually active adult myself, to walk round a corner or I to a toilet and see adults having sex. But if anyone tried to expose my pre-sexual children or teens who are just working out their sexual identity to that I would rip their fucking heads off. Drag queen story time is just a hide in plain site extension for me.

@AlsoNotAGirl

Livelifeinthebuslane

men in drag including pantomime dames always grossed me out as a child. I found them repugnant and insulting and couldn’t understand why they were mainstream entertainment. One of the reasons I became feminist

This was me too. My dad's union used to get tickets for their members' children. They used to stick us all on a bus to the theatre. I was always begging to be let out. I used to be very frightened of all the 70s performers like Hinge and Bracket too. I am also afraid of clowns, and to me, the modern day drag queen with the scary make up is really not that far off. As a child, I would have had a terrified reaction to being up close to a drag artist in school or the library. However, just as I was told not to be silly and not allowed off the pantomime bus, it is very hard for small children to just walk out of a situation in school or a library they feel uncomfortable with. Especially if they have adults coercing them to stay put.

A pp said that the parents know in advance it's a dq and they are responsible for their children and if the event is suitable, but if your standard knowledge of dqs is from the likes of lily savage or pantomime dames you may not think to look up this particular dq or any other in fact and by the time you realize it's not appropriate for your child for whatever reason it's a bit late. Your in the room and you can either stay and hope it's all ok or leave and potentially upset other people or the dq.

I mean it depends how the room is set up but I can see issues happening if you want to take your child out.

To riterate; this won't have been an architect who made this decision to plan the event and who is in it.

There's at least 1 or maybe more people running the education team. They may not have any architecture background. Part one perhaps and then have decided not to continue to part two.

Many people in these roles in other organisations were teachers.

@Theeyeballsinthesky

They seem to think if they just parrot inclusive inclusive inclusive at you that’s enough, but as previous posters have said, what exactly is inclusive about a drag queen?

Frankly architecture is still in the dark ages when it comes to disability access or indeed access for women with Prams/pushchairs! Where is their inclusivity for architects with a disability? Where is the evidence that when redesigning public spaces they’ve considered womebs safety

All of that would take effort & money though. Far better to get in a parody Of womanhood to read stories innit

From RIBA's own website, info for those wishing to visit their very nice headquarters at 66 Portland Place:

Our main facilities have step free access. Access to the Henry Jarvis Hall and Foyer is by steps only

How very inclusive.