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!

Hm. I think feminists are best advised to give all this a bodyswerve. It's not helpful for children. The confrontation only further entrenches everyone and nobody listens to each other. Lots of unsavoury groups there for a fight, as far as I can see.

I went to the Leeds protests in a reporting capacity today. Not affiliated with any groups, purely on a solo mission.

I'm gonna be writing it up ready to go tomorrow, so shares and circulation boosts would be greatly appreciated.

😞

Funny how libraries cancel the likes of Julie Bindel after one complaint but drag story time survives all manner of demonstrations. Surely libraries / other venues won’t want to be bothered with this level of demonstration on a regular basis.

It's more obviously TRAs in this shot, very similar crowd to those protesting KJK's events.

I'm reluctant to think anyone can summarise rather than speculate as to people's views based on photographs of a crowd. I've been on demonstrations that were reported as SWP because 6 people turned up with placards and made it seem like they'd organised the event. Photographers obliged by taking shots that emphasised six these people in a crowd of several thousand.

The above photographs aren't in line with my impression of previous protests where the ones that I'd seen involved masked people dressed in black to resemble ninjas etc.

Funny how libraries cancel the likes of Julie Bindel after one complaint but drag story time survives all manner of demonstrations. Surely libraries / other venues won’t want to be bothered with this level of demonstration on a regular basis.

It does seem to be very skewed. So many academics have been disowned by their own unions who may even actively support action against them.

For an example otherwise, I can only point to NSPCC's initial support and defence of some questionable behaviour from a member of staff.

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/childline-the-nspcc-and-the-gender

Disappointing lack of nuns in these pictures.

wrt to this and your other comment, I can see several Patriotic Alternative posters and a very large banner with something written across the foot that I can't quite read but may also be associated with them.

I would think, and I may be wrong, that this is a similar scenario to the one that I described with SWP and various events. That these are people who've positioned themselves for a photo op to publicise themselves and their allegiances and they've negligible interest in the actual event.

As a general point, I'd be rather surprised if anything above a comparative/scant handful of people who are opposed to DSQT would be signed up to the wider political philosophy of Patriotic Alternative. Looking at the photographs, I can no more pick out the parents on either side of the 'opposing' faction photographs than the other. I can say I'm surprised at what seems like a greater presence of men than women in one of those photographs (unless it's just the angle).

Just to pick up on the SWP mention.. they run Stand Up To Racism, who co-organised the Leeds drag queen support protests.

There is a huge concerted effort right now to equate feminists with other groups.

It's unsurprising, we've seen this frequently before. Accusations of us all being funded by the American Right continue to be flung around with abandon and no evidence.

One thing I would note, while so many new visitors are diligently working here to discredit women working to protect our rights ... these groups you're seeing start to pop up now ... the ones that feminists warned you would pop up when the word got out about sterilising children and including males in women's spaces ... These groups have nothing to do with 'gc' women or feminists. Nothing at all.

There are no burly blokes from 'Patriotic Alternative' on here discussing how to support escaping victims of domestic violence, or helping breastfeeding mothers, or discussing how limiting gender stereotyping is. At least, I highly doubt it.

So - why are you on here, trying to pretend we're the same people? Presumably an effort to slur feminists? Force-team us with unrelated groups? Meanwhile, how is making fake sneery goady posts on Mumsnet actually going to fight the fash?

Have any of you given any thought to the long term consequences of this?

Many of the 'antifa' people seem to be in the whole thing purely for a fight. I'm not interested in fighting - I want to protect women and girls, I want a peaceful world that's safe for everyone.

If you disagree with feminist ideals, then why not actually do the mature thing and discuss them with us? Tell us why. Try to change our minds. Flinging insults and lies around does nobody any good and helps nothing.

I've never seen that graphic before today (the figures under the rainbow umbrella). What GC accounts have you seen it on? I haven't - I'm also wondering what you're using as your timeline to be confident that Patriotic Alternative hasn't merely latched onto causes that it wishes to exploit for publicity? afaict, according to wikipaedia, Patriotic Alternative set itself up in 2019 which is rather recent although it's inline with previous very small organisations with similarly extreme political philosophies.

Accusations of us all being funded by the American Right continue to be flung around with abandon and no evidence.

Maya Forstater has a good thread she's just posted about a very vague report that is as evidence free as you would expect (or correctly anticipate).

twitter.com/MForstater/status/1555975063588913152

gate.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mapping-AG-Movements-in-the-UK-Report-1.pdf

What happens when you've been using the term 'right wing' as a vague insult for so long that nobody actually listens or cares anymore?

Treat words with casual contempt and they become meaningless.

Does nobody know the 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' story anymore?

Do they? I know that's been claimed and it seems rather unclear. However, I can see that SUTR promoted the Leeds DQST as quite multi-faceted.

twitter.com/AntiRacismDay/status/1555925254840762368?

On the general point of how consistently anti-woman and pro-authoritarian any extreme political positions can be:

However, the [SWP] lost many members and its reputation between 2010-14, following allegations that reports of sexual abuse and rape were mishandled. In 2010, allegations of sexual abuse were first levelled against the then National Secretary of the Party, Martin Smith who became known simply as ‘Comrade Delta’. In 2012 the complainant clarified that she had been raped, yet the SWP refused to contact the police and instead dealt with the matter internally.

The Party’s Complaints Committee was accused of taking a victim-blaming approach, such as by asking about complainants drinking habits and sexual past. The Committee eventually found Martin Smith not guilty. Members of the Party who disagreed with the verdict were simply told that they could leave the party and, in 2013, members of the party were expelled after publicly discussing the case on social media.

By 2013, more accusations of rape were made against the party’s senior management. It was depicted as a ‘systemic’ problem. By 2014, the Party had Yet SWP has repeatedly tried to rehabilitate its reputation through a series of front organisations and campaigns aimed to recruit members for the SWP and cleanse the party’s image.

This has, however, not stopped the SWP from trying to rehabilitate their reputation and it has been repeatedly alleged that SUTR is a front for the SWP with this exact intention, yet it remains difficult to identify the exact connection between these two groups. As the CUSU policy on SUTR points out ‘lead members of the SWP, such as Weyman Bennett, are also senior figures in other movements such as Stand up to Racism’ but beyond this not much is clear.

www.varsity.co.uk/news/19423

When SWP protested a WPUK event.

womansplaceuk.org/2021/10/30/open-letter-swp-abusive-protest/

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0019rrf

'The row over drag queens reading stories to children.

A spate of protests outside libraries has focused attention on the idea of drag queen story hours - drag queens reading stories to young children in libraries and other public spaces. For some, it’s the perfect way to build acceptance of LGBTQ+ identities, plus it’s fun and fabulous for the children. For others, it risks exposing young minds to adult entertainment and complex themes of sex and gender.'

I was expecting someone I'd recognise as GC but fair play, you've located an account with 316 followers garnered over 10 years who has had what looks like a striking uptick in posting activity of late.

They are satirical edits of the original by Mole at the Counter on twitter.

"Can someone please edit it so the man and woman and umbrella are the rainbow cours protecting people for the men's rights activists gender ideology pink, white and blue colours"

@moleatthedoor please I need this

🙏🙏🙏

twitter.com/UKHomosexual/status/1549676099575189506?t=Dm2NSf5tDCSdCNMlUdyeEA&s=19

"Could you do one with the umbrella in the suffragette colours?"

twitter.com/Helinhandbasket/status/1549827414326484993?t=v_XoapNcF-8EP1LY3VDSEg&s=19