The Family Sex Show: police investigation

[theDudesmummy]

Some on here will remember that I was one of the people who made some official complaints about it, I contacted The Arts Council, NSPCC, CEOP etc. I also contacted Avon and Somerset police as ThisEgg's company was registered with Companies House at a Bristol address. I did not just complain about the stage show but also very much about the material that was being put out online.
The police have phoned me this morning and will be conducting an investigation. They are obviously asking about supporting evidence. Of course I directed them to the webpage, YouTube channel etc, but as we know, some stuff got deleted. There are however screenshots and archives available as I have described to the police officer.

I have my own screenshot of the part about the masturbating animals. If anyone has or is aware of any other deleted material, and they would like to make the police aware, please PM me and I can pass on the police officer's contact details.

I am still trying to find the material that was (I think) on Twitter (?), with the part about making something hurt less, and about whether it "bothers you if my body misbehaves". This is stuff I was particularly perturbed by and I cannot find it on the website, can anyone point me to where I saw that?

If you listen very carefully to the background voices there is some very disturbing stuff

I wasn't sure where to put this, but if anyone knows The Stage (theatre newspaper) they published several letters discussing the Family Sex Show, both supporting and against.

One letter that caught my attention was from someone who identified themselves as a "non-binary theatre-maker who makes theatre exploring stigmatised and non-mainstream sexualities", stating that they had been triggered by the Family Sex Show and had been demonised and made to fear for their careers because of not loving the show. The letter also discusses safeguarding, the lack of trigger warnings, grooming, weakening children's boundaries, and explicitly says the show is dangerous.

Other letters mentioned the dodginess of the website, and the lack of proper response from the company.

I know a lot of posters will be rolling their eyes at "non binary" but I actually think it's really significant that people who are clearly neck deep in the whole woke ultra-leftie theatre scene are publicly saying the Family Sex Show is dangerous and grooming. Because ThisEgg can hardly claim continue to claim all their detractors are right wing T**fs, can they?

www.thestage.co.uk/your-views/the-family-sex-show-cancellation-controversy--your-views-may-4 (Might need to register a free account to view.)

Thanks for the link @JemimaPuddlegoose. I do hate the way this has been framed as right vs left. It's so reductive (and wrong).

Thanks for pursuing this @theDudesmummy - even if it's disappointing they're unable to pursue this, I do hope this makes the arts council think more carefully in future about what they (we!) fund.

Very disturbing to hear of personal threats and hateful material being distributed. I do hope there will be a full and transparent investigation

Baroness Nicolson tweeted an excellent reply from Sir Nicolas Serota, Chair of Arts Council England in a letter dated 3rd May.

I have uploaded the image on imgbb as well as here on Mumsnet as MN images are displaying so poorly at the moment:

ibb.co/FwZ6Sgs

Text using OCR:

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne
House of Lords
London
SWiA 0PW

3 May 2022

Dear Lady Winterbourne,

Thank you for writing to me to express your concern, as well as the concern of people who have contacted you directly, regarding The Family Sex Show at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2022.

I would like to reassure you that we acted promptly to investigate the matter and to seek assurances from the production company. The proposed tour has now been cancelled, and no performances are planned.

The Arts Council never compromises on the safeguarding of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We require the organisations and artists we support to have appropriate measures in place, and this is part of the terms and conditions of their grant agreements.

Whilst our investigation showed that we had followed all of our processes correctly, we will be considering those processes and also what additional requirements for project organisers we can put in place in the future, in order to provide even greater assurance that children and young people are always safe and protected.

Thank you, again, for writing to me, and I hope this note addresses some of your concerns.

Yours sincerely,
Sir Nicholas Serota CH
Chair

Arts Council England, 21 Bloomsbury Street, London WC1B 3HF www.artscouncil.org.uk

Phone: 44 (0) 845 200 6200
Email: [email protected]

ps. There are several online tools for downloading Twitter videos. You do not need to have a Twitter account to use all of them. For example,

www.savetweetvid.com/

Search for "download Twitter video" to find more.

There are also several alternatives to YouTube for free hosting videos online once you have downloaded them from Twitter.

Some lists of alternatives - there are overlaps:

10 Best YouTube Alternatives and Competitors
reviewed by NordVPN
nordvpn.com/blog/youtube-alternatives/

YouTube alternatives: 12 ways to escape the algorithm
reviewed by Surfshark
surfshark.com/blog/youtube-alternatives

16 Best YouTube Alternative Sites 2022
reviewed by Twitgoo
twitgoo.com/best-youtube-alternatives/

Thanks for that link @JemimaPuddlegoose

Interesting to see that the "non binary theatre maker" gets the point, it is not a coincidence that they are a survivor of CSA. This is the issue. The battle is not between left and right, liberal and conservative, prejudiced and non-predjudiced, open-minded and closed-minded. It is quite simply between those who understand what CSA is and how it happens, and those who don't.

It is disconcerting though that people continue to defend this whole thing as if it is a freedom of speech issue. Which it absolutely is not (and even if it was, freedom of speech is not absolute, c.f. shouting Fire in a crowded theatre etc).

And the ridiculousness of the person who equates the response of actual child safeguarding experts to the clear grooming of TFSS, to the mob attacking a paediatrician. Total category error. Ignorant and irresponsible.