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!

Ah, well that's cleared that up. I was expecting to recognise a named GC account using this image, with perhaps an explanation of what it represents.

You meant very small or modest GC accounts (the PK one that has >2K followers) with names that I don't know. The PK one is however, followed by 10 accounts for which I do recognise the name. I fully accept that we will all recognise different names and there's a cognitive disconnect there.

I tried this advanced search for interaction and got no returns for the biggest names that I recognised. (I didn't search on likes or such.)

(from:FondOfBeetles) (to:MsPeacheeKeen)

(from:AudreySuffolk) (to:MsPeacheeKeen)

(from:MenAtWork_MC) (to:MsPeacheeKeen)

For completeness, I also ran

(from:ALLIANCELGB) (to:Cyberbloke)

However, thank you for this.

• It's an insight as to what is considered as social media evidence gathering by some people and the robustness of inferences made from it.


• It let me tweak my rusty Twitter AS skills which I don't use enough to remember them automatically.


• I did end up in a byway as to the origins of the image which seems to have been adapted/adopted from various organisations. I'd not be surprised if the history goes back further than I've identified and lies in another source but there's a limit as to my curiosity about this.


• I wonder how much due diligence people put into researching an image before adopting it as a banner.

What is your interpretation of the one you have posted examples on Twitter profiles? And is it the original and the other one a copy? Have you any history about which was first?

@wate I've never seen either of those amended graphics, I like them. Thanks for bringing them to my attention.

I thought Moley did the amended version?

I am really keen on @Wate telling us what that version they have posted on a few twitter profiles actually means in their own words.

I'm not going to use it, I'm not on twitter or Facebook or anything like that. But I like Moley's work and the different message the graphic sends with the changes. PA can do one, so far as I'm concerned.

Can anyone tell me who the 'DJ' drag queen was on the Radio 4 show? I would like to look up their blog mentioned.

Just emailed Wokingham Libraries and my local councillors. I pointed out the possibility of protest with risks to customers as well as the feminist criticisms of DQSH.
See if I get any responses.

Went under the name "Maneater", I believe Screeching.

Thanks, I've tried and failed to find their website/blog.

An eyewitness account of the Leeds one yesterday, from @baddaytoquitsmoking who posted below.

grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/wont-somebody-actually-think-of-the

Thank you - that's a great article.

Holy shit!

He had left and was aghast that the decision had been taken to keep a large group of children on the top floor of a building while a fire alarm was going off, while an entire floor was evacuated and while staff and security “checked to see if it was a false alarm”.

The implications of this are staggering. Leeds City Council deliberately made the call to ignore fire safety protocol and evacuate one part of a building and not another, one containing babies and very small children. Whether a protestor had or hadn’t tripped it, surely safety should come first and foremost?

FFS!

Thanks, Eresh, that's an excellent article from Rebekah.

For goodness sake, Saulgravy. When you make accusations like that without any evidence at all, this is what we call 'defamation'. Any lawyer would be happy to explain this to you.

so Graham made me do it? Dammit. I must get rig of my WWGLD ring.

Well, I've heard back. Apparently this performer has been well received at other libraries in the county - I wonder if that includes the protest at Reading.
Also the performer has dbs check, staff are hot on safeguarding etc etc.
Didn't really address my points about being a sexualized parody of women.
Trying to decide if I can face emailing again.

Is it Samuels? If so, perhaps you could ask if safeguarding checks picked up this performers tweets and whether they dismissed those tweets, and why?

I am really very curious to know if social media checks are being done or not. And if so, what behaviour is considered suitable for children's entertainers.

It's Aida H Dee - I think that's Samuels?
What are the tweets? I can't see anything inappropriate on their account although it is nauseatingly self-congratulatory.
@VenetiaHallMasham I see you've complained to Wokingham too - any joy?

Maybe this will help:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11085685/Why-councils-spending-taxpayers-cash-drag-queens-read-children-Asks-KATHRYN-KNIGHT.html

If you do a search using specific terms like their drag name and terms like 'orgy' and others that relate to tweets, and choose images... you should get some images to attach to your email.

For instance, there is one of Arthur's sister Dora, from the show 'Arthur' that this person posted in relation to orgies. The images are out there. This person deleted them in an attempt to 'clean up' their tweets. But they were known enough that 'receipts' are easy to find.

If someone’s mum wanted to read to the kiddies and was posting stuff like that, there’s no way they’d be allowed, no matter how hard the cried and stamped their feet. Why do we infantilise these grown men and let them have their way?

Boadicea2

Maybe also search for 'love has no age', he regularly seems to post about 'terfs', and Andy Ngo tweeted screen shots of this person's threat to dox a woman too.