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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Family Sex Show - 'Cancel Culture' - in the Guardian

119 replies

DomesticatedZombie · 10/05/2022 20:40

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/10/cancel-culture-rightwing-activists-family-sex-show

'... the world – especially the digital world – we live in means that we don’t have control over what we or our children see.'

OP posts:
PrelateChuckles · 18/05/2022 22:14

mobile.twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1526894161466736642

mobile.twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1526894326374141953

mobile.twitter.com/Baroness_Nichol/status/1526894644205846528

I agree the response from the Arts Council doesn't actually say any funding has been withdrawn or anything specific. It's deliberately vague. The Baroness tweet said 'grant removed'.

Clymene · 18/05/2022 22:18

MagnoliaTaint · 18/05/2022 16:09

It should all be quite clearly laid out, grants given, grants repaid, etc. I think that's how AC operates, no?

I've only applied for and received one Arts Council grant but I had to get quotes for everything and then we got the grant based on those. In the end, things didn't work out entirely as planned (we had to change the venue for one thing), as long as we demonstrate that eg the £300 they'd allocated for fairy lights was spent on arc lights, they didn't seem to mind. But we had to provide evidence of audiences, impact etc and that we had achieved the goals we'd set out.

So for this, any money they got for actually putting on the production, I assume they would have had to return. If they got funding to develop it as a concept, well they did that.

EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 18/05/2022 22:32

jumpedintwice · 12/05/2022 12:06

If anyone is free on 20 June, there’s a discussion on this (‘Censorship: Alive and Well in the UK?’) streaming or in-person in London. I am sure the audience could do with a bit of balance www.the-knot.co.uk (I can’t work out how to link to the specific event, so you might need to go through the programme and look for 20 June events).

Not possible to do a direct link to that part of the programme. Scroll down here to expand Censorship: Alive and Well in the UK? and you'll see this.

www.the-knot.co.uk/full-programme

Monday 20 June
2 - 3.30 pm, In person and livestreamed

Panel: Josie Dale-Jones (ThisEgg) & Sînziana Cojocărescu (BÉZNĂ Theatre).

Host: David Byrne (New Diorama).

In a climate of ‘protected heritage’ and government-backed culture wars, artists risk becoming a lightning rod for reactionary criticism. Often overwhelming public outcry towards productions and people are a possibility we should all better prepare for.

What’s it like in the centre of the storm? How can you best handle it? Is it ever right just to give in to the pressure?

“Handling extreme reactions, press pressure and government interference are, sadly, a necessary part of a creative’s tool kit. This panel of artists who’ve been on the front-lines aims to begin a conversation about the skills, resilience and planning we’re all going to need going forward” – NDT Executive Director Will Young.

Request an In-person ticket
Request a Livestream ticket

theemperorhasnoclothes · 19/05/2022 01:04

It would be fantastic for a safeguarding expert ( a real one not a self-identified 'expert') to attend that debate.

tabbycatstripy · 19/05/2022 09:25

Baroness Nicholson has tweeted a very encouraging response she received from Arts Council England about the Family Sex Show. I’m not sure precisely what she means by ‘child sex show nasty quashed’ but it sounds about right and I’m cheering her on anyway.

Lots of political space between me and Emma Nicholson but she is an absolute warrior for kids.

Artichokeleaves · 19/05/2022 14:29

aims to begin a conversation about the skills, resilience and planning we’re all going to need going forward

Having the qualifications and knowledge to know wtf you're doing would be a start.

Wittering that other people having boundaries is mean and that you all need to get better at overcoming other people's boundaries? Particularly people who have a lot of knowledge you don't? Doesn't help much with credibility really. But I'm sure they'll have a lovely time sympathising with each other about how fabulous and misunderstood they all are.

2fallsfromSSA · 22/05/2022 07:53

SSA wrote to the guardian following their article. They did not publish it so we have published it ourselves:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2022/05/21/family-sex-show/?fbclid=IwAR2qpASNwuCVQ6JVCdDguxB-GpVpZmEu2RhT6wz3ZVGJ9ZjVDxIpGSdE73s

Here is the text:

In the platform afforded to Josie Dale-Jones in her recent article “Cancel culture? My play was shut down by rightwing activists before it even opened”, she makes fallacious claims about safeguarding campaigners.
Safe Schools Alliance were unashamedly outspoken in our criticism of her project “The Family Sex Show”.
We are non-religious and apolitical. Our focus is entirely on child safeguarding, a vital set of protocols Ms Dale-Janes clearly ignores. We have no connection to Citizen Go.
Criticisms of the play included its “supporting activities”: perhaps you would like to ask children in your family to Google “animal masturbation”, or craft genitals out of playdoh to fill the time before school and bedtime. We understand these activities have now been removed from Ms Dale-Jones’ website, but the fact they were deemed suitable in the first place raises significant red flags.
We would now urge her to spend less time in her ill-informed protestations and more on reflection, which is a very important aspect of safeguarding.
In her play she asked adults to simulate sexual acts, appear naked, and discuss sex in graphic detail in front of children. It is baffling that we need to explain why this is way beyond “not appropriate for children”. Children cannot consent and at the very least, this will lead to grave confusion about whether strangers are allowed to show them their genitals.
Good sex education is key – and we fight for it every day – but it needs to be done in an age-appropriate way with an understanding of the realities of grooming and child sexual abuse. This show is harmful to all children, not least those children who may be attending who have experienced abuse.
Tanya Carter and Tracy Shaw, Safe Schools Alliance UK

Birdsweepsin · 22/05/2022 07:57

Good letter. Wonder why they didn't publish it?🙄

SamphirethePogoingStickerist · 22/05/2022 09:06

Probably something about the content being too graphic!!

BraveBananaBadge · 22/05/2022 09:56

A good, sensible letter. The Graun asked for reader's opinions under the original piece iirc, but not those opinions I suppose. Have had a quick look to see if they have published any response at all but couldn't find any - has anyone else?

MagnoliaTaint · 22/05/2022 10:02

Excellent letter.

2fallsfromSSA · 22/05/2022 12:02

I don't think they published any letters on this topic, despite asking for opinions.

If anyone is on twitter please do share:

twitter.com/SafeSchools_UK/status/1528118206426128388?s=20&t=otj9meOTpZAMm6GLkyftKA

TheBiologyStupid · 22/05/2022 12:19

BraveBananaBadge · 22/05/2022 09:56

A good, sensible letter. The Graun asked for reader's opinions under the original piece iirc, but not those opinions I suppose. Have had a quick look to see if they have published any response at all but couldn't find any - has anyone else?

Nope, I was keeping an eye out for a response, but nada, zip, zilch.

FrancescaContini · 22/05/2022 15:54

@2fallsfromSSA
Excellent letter. Thank you.

No reply yet? Wondering why…🤔

StopStartStop · 22/05/2022 16:05

I wrote a response for The Guardian but lost my nerve and didn't send it.
This was it:

I suggest that the cancellation of ‘The Family Sex Show’ was
an example of the proper application of responsible citizenship and censorship, applied with the intention of protecting the well-being of children. It was the best possible outcome, and Josie Dale-Jones might wish to learn from the response the British public made to her offer.

Aspiring to protect children from abuse, we restrict the material offered them, setting boundaries regarding sexual content. Parents talk about sex in response to children’s questions, giving age-appropriate answers. ‘The Family Sex Show’ aims to break usual boundaries, and children – attending with parents or guardians, or having the show imposed upon them in school assemblies – would not have agency to remove themselves from the situation.

Not the single nude scene but the concept and content of the show, intentionally or not, was ‘grooming.’ The title, ‘The Family Sex Show,’ was a red flag. When ‘families’ are involved together in ‘sex,’ we call that ‘incest.’ It is illegal.

The public response to ‘The Family Sex Show’ was appropriate and reasonable. The potential for the show to be a gateway to further grooming was recognised and addressed. The theatre company, ‘This Egg,’ (isn’t ‘egg’ a term for a person who has not yet understood himself or herself to be transgender?) might well be able to present the show to adult audiences in future, but hopefully children will continue to be protected.

IcakethereforeIam · 22/05/2022 16:10

@jumpedintwice and @EmbarrassingHadrosaurus thanks for the info. on the knot thingy. It's not clear from the site if it's an interview/pity party for Josie D-J or if the audience can ask questions. Like, did you stop to think that some of the criticisms may be valid? Have you googled 'masterbating animals'? Would you like me to do it now for you?

The Guardian...wish I could say I was surprised.

TheBiologyStupid · 22/05/2022 16:22

I wrote a letter to The Guardian at the time of the original story about The Family Sex Show being cancelled, back in April. It didn't appear, of course:

Dear Letters Editor,

It's worth noting that the website for The Family Sex Show (Sex education theatre show for children cancelled after ‘violent threats’, 19 April), which appears to portray itself as teaching materials, contains the information:

"In the show, we mention masturbation.
All kinds of animals masturbate - not just humans! Use the internet to find some examples of other animals that masturbate.
Why don't you draw the animals you’ve found?" [ thefamilysexshow.com/bodies-touch ]

If suggesting that children and young people make Google searches like that doesn't raise some legitimate safeguarding concerns I don't know what does!

MagnoliaTaint · 22/05/2022 20:41

The Guardian (or maybe Observer) did publish a good piece from Catherine Bennett on the Family Sex Show.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/24/beware-having-opinion-on-sexually-inappropriate-theatre-age-you-10-years

BootsAndRoots · 22/05/2022 20:58

Let's just use a lines they use all the time "cancel culture doesn't exist" or "there's no such thing as cancel culture, only consequence culture".

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