Drag Queen Story Time

[LizzyStrata]

First time posting here, so not sure of the etiquette. My apologies if this is the wrong place to raise these concerns.

Reading Borough Council is planning to hold Drag Queen Story Hour events in our libraries during the summer holidays. I’ve written to my MP, my councillors, and the Head of the Library Service to raise concerns. I think drag is entirely inappropriate for children, as it is a form of adult entertainment, highly sexualised and misogynistic, that blurs boundaries and undermines safeguarding.

The response Ive had is simply that they have received very few complaints so no reason to cancel.

Has anyone had any experience of tackling their local library over this issue? Grateful for any tips.

Also, if you live in Berkshire ,would you be willing to write and share your concerns?

thanks!

Do any of the drag queens hired to read stories to children look like Dame Edna? The only ones I've seen pictures of are highly sexualised parodies of women.

Am I a pearl-clutching prude or someone with a warped and dirty mind? Make your mind up.

And no, I don't think there's something automatically sexual about a man in a dress. Where did I say I did?

I think those protesters should be ashamed of themselves. They have the nerve to claim they're trying to protect children, but it was their actions which would have traumatised the children, not the performer in question.

The notion that this performance is inappropriate is ridiculous. Just as a comedian will tailor their act to different audiences, this performer would do so too. Panto dames have been around for decades and no-one has called that sexualising or harmful to children. Whether you agree with it or not, if parents have decided it's appropriate for their children, you don't get to use your own beliefs as an excuse to scream words like those protesters were using in front of children. They should be locked up.

@spirit20 agreed, those women completely upset all the kids with their behavior and their own child too by the looks of things.

"Do any of the drag queens hired to read stories to children look like Dame Edna? The only ones I've seen pictures of are highly sexualised parodies of women."

Er, how exactly do the drag queens look different to Dame Edna? They all drag queens....

"No, I don't think there's something automatically sexual about a man in a dress. Where did I say I did?" Oh sorry, you only think a man in a dress is "highly sexualised" if he also puts on a wig and makeup. My mistake.

So why is a man dressed up in parody of womanhood a good thing for kids? What is it teaching them exactly?

‘Inclusion and diversity’ you say? oh yes for all the millions for drag acts they come across in daily life.

‘panto dames’ - oh yes exactly the same. Many a panto dames package and underwear I have seen as a child. Oh no I haven’t.

but do explain, I’m all ears.

The notion that this performance is inappropriate is ridiculous. Just as a comedian will tailor their act to different audiences, this performer would do so too.

Are you saying his erection was in order to tailor his act for children? Children's heads are clearly visible in that photo.

Oh sorry, you only think a man in a dress is "highly sexualised" if he also puts on a wig and makeup. My mistake.

Are you suggesting that there is nothing sexual about a man in a skin tight costume with a visible erection?

I'm not convinced that some posters are seeing what they think they are seeing. It could be a trick of the light or a zipper of a garment under his dress.

@CrossPurposes exactly but of course people with dirty minds will see what they want to see.

PinkNews
"I feel like we're in a second section 28 at the moment...queer censorship within the media is still going on, plus now it's all microaggressions of homophobia and microaggresssions of transphobia. I'm sick and tired of feeling like a second class citizen." 1/3

The poor me-ism beggars belief. Phobia this and phobia that. If he is sick and tired of people being angry with him for using children in this way to form his career, he can stick to doing drag performances in front of people his own age. People are not going to be shamed into going away for fear of being called transphobic/homophobic this time.

That still photo is from the drag queen reading at a primary school so yes to children not adults. Here is an article in the local news but for some reason I think we all know why they didnt use the photo full length

www.dunmowbroadcast.co.uk/news/education/dunmow-st-marys-drag-queen-story-hour-8674346

Heh. I think the notion that he would be considered a suitable children’s entertainer would be news to Barry humphries.
what an absolute twit this person is

Who’s keeping a bingo card of things said to dismiss women raising the alarm?

‘Dirty Minds’

’Imagining it’

There are other photos of this performer from other events reading to children showing similar they can’t all be dismissed as a trick of the light.

Heh. I think the notion that he would be considered a suitable children’s entertainer would be news to Barry humphries.
I think the point is that lots of us grew up watching him on telly as kids.

Anyway I’m out, we know disruptors use multiple deletions to get the thread pulled and that would be a shame if this was pulled.

I’ll go back to the day job where I know I am making a difference to women’s opportunities in India

that in no way establishes that drag queens reading stories is of benefit to children, I’m afraid.
but see if Barry is up for the gig by all means 😂

GoodJanetBadJanet · Today 13:41
Heh. I think the notion that he would be considered a suitable children’s entertainer would be news to Barry humphries.
I think the point is that lots of us grew up watching him on telly as kids.

Barry Humpbries as Dame Edna was a middle aged Melbourne housewife in whose persona he satirised society. The satire would have been completely above the heads of the children of the age shown in DQST,. The costume was not sex fetish version of female. The programmes went out at 10 p.m I posted on this earlier having looked it up.

Barry Humphries and 'Lily Savage' did not perform for kids in closed, close proximity spaces like library reading areas and schools. They performed away from kids in theatres on a stage and in working mens' clubs until they hit the big time with TV where toned -down sanitised versions of their acts were shown. There was no sense that they billed their acts as for children. Neither Dame Edna (whose make-up was decidedly old-lady not sex-club) nor Paul O'Grady had overtly sexualised or 'dirty joke' type names for their characters.

Kenny Everett's female character did have a name that was a bit dodgy I think and I used to find his character an comfortable watch as a kid. I never felt that with Dame Edna nor Lily Savage. Kids, like women, have good antenna for what's right and what's not. they should not have that blurred by well meaning or virtue-signally parents, teachers or Labour MPs.

If you are complaining to your library, council or school about one of these events the Safe School Alliance have an excellent, well-researched piece on the subject that you might find useful:

safeschoolsallianceuk.net/2022/01/09/drag-queen-story-hour/

I fear that you don’t know what ‘gender critical’ means @NYcupcake

did you hear any of the protesters say ‘women face systematic oppression as a result of their biology’?

that is far more likely to mark them out as GC

everyone in the world knows that men aren’t women, that doesn’t tell you much

I think some people have kidded themselves into thinking "men can't be women" is some kind of minority, niche view, when it absolutely is not.

From the Daily Mail

A few moments later, the protestor could be heard saying: 'You're probably teaching kids that there's 100 genders, there's only two sexes, no man can be a woman. We're here to protect children.'

This is straight out of the GC/Posie Parker playbook.

A few moments later, the protestor could be heard saying: 'You're probably teaching kids that there's 100 genders, there's only two sexes, no man can be a woman. We're here to protect children.'

Which of these statements do you think is untrue?

How many genders do you believe there are, and what are they?

How many sexes do you believe there are, and what are they?

Do you believe that men can be women?

However, a drag queen reading children a children's story is not entertainment above the heads of children.

"They performed away from kids in theatres on a stage" - you do realise parents sometimes take their children to the theatre?

The fact that Dame Edna is so often on daytime TV is because what she says is considered suitable viewing at a time when children are watching.