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!

I think the point is that what we have witnessed from recordings of these events is that they are very sexualised in terms of the costumes worn and the behaviours expressed.

The question then needs to be: why are they behaving in this sexualised way in front of children? What is the purpose of such behaviour in front of children?

It wasn't a grand day out, I was a student and working in the pub at the time. I'd no real interest in either bingo or drag, I was interested in paying my bills. 😘

If only you lot could tell the difference between a drag artist reading a children's story and a drag act.

If only there was a big enough difference, that's quite a large part of the problem. If we're prepared to just ignore the utter misogyny of it, of course.

If only you could tell the difference between a man reading a story to children and treating the boundaries of those children with respect and a sexualised performance by a man in a sexualised costume determined to violate those boundaries.

It wasn't a grand day out, I was a student and working in the pub at the time. I'd no real interest in either bingo or drag, I was interested in paying my bills. 😘

So, all this time, you've been comparing your working conditions as an adult with DQST as experienced by children in a library where this is paid for by the local authority? I'm more embarrassed for you. That's an interesting choice of comparison.

If only you lot could tell the difference between a drag artist reading a children's story and a drag act.

If only you could cease the faux ingenuity admixture with C21 open-minded cultural maven.

It seems we're all in for a lot of disappointment.

Drag Queens were definitely not reading stories to young children in public libraries in the 70s, when I was born. It is a recent trend.

Do you think it would be OK if a young boy wore a sexualised drag queen outfit on non-uniform day to school? Lipstick and wig and fake boobs and sexualised clothes. I mean, if its just fun dressing up would there be anything wrong in that?

Maybe write to Children’s Services and any Parents or families consortiums working with council.
Sarah Field (a former Labour MP and independent for Leeds last time I looked) was very active on this a couple of years back. I’m sure she might help if you approach her.

The fact is that kids would search DQ name on internet and bite more than they could chew, among other dangers.

leave kids alone is my motto

^You have not answered my question about who on this thread has said the existence of LGBT people is a child safety concern?

It's implicit. No one objects when straight people tells their kids fairy tales despite the fact that these tales are often romantic in nature (that is to say, implicitly sexual).

No, it is not implicit on this thread that the existence of LGBT people is a child safety concern.

I object to that victim/black mail statement used to shut down criticism of men dressed up as a parody of sexualised women to read to children.

That criticism does not imply that the existence of LGBT people is a safety concern.

I disagree, this kind of direct action and words are what is required so that parents understand what they're getting their children into.

I hope we'll be seeing a a lot more like this in the future.

^Drag Queens have been around far longer than you have been alive - this isn't something that has "suddenly" happened.*

We are talking about Drag Queen Story time for young children.

Drag Queen Story Hour began in 2015 in San Francisco.

Children definitely enjoy being read to, yes. Why is doing it in drag necessary?
drag depends on gender stereotypes (grotesque versions thereof) for its meaning. How does exposing young children to that benefit them? Shouldn’t we be trying to break down stereotypes rather than fetishising them?

I can’t for the life of me see how DQST is any more likely to promote diversity or inclusivity than the Black and White Minstrel show.

It is a performance style and convention designed to take a perceived ‘typical’ characteristic to an extreme.

Drag artists are performers, not people with a protected characteristic.

How are they a role model or inspiration to children who may well be aware of emerging homosexual feelings? Surely true inclusion and equality is recognising different sexualities as ordinary. Not claiming that performers exercising a fiction built on clouds of puff powder, fishnets and 6” fake eyelashes represent a role model for any reality? It’s preposterous!

I note we are back to the contradictions again - it all about diversity and drag queens are mostly gay - how would children know that, let alone the fact that the overwhelming majority of gay men are not drag queens so hardly a representative portrayal is it? Then it's all about just dressing up because children like to dress up - so why not a Pirate Story Hour or a Princess Story Hour?

Local residents where these are held need to ask their Councils/Councillors how much money is spent on this and where the money comes from. Taxpayers have every right to question what their taxes are being used for and to hear the justification for it.

I think it comes down to how library programming works in many public libraries.

Often they are asked to include various diversity targets in their programming. That ends up looking like, come to a Korean cooking demonstration and have a look at our cookbooks, or come to an African drumming workshop.

But when they try and figure out what their lgbtq+ programming will be, it's not obvious. Especially for kids.

Most public librarians are progressives, it's a problem really in library circles because it means there can be a lack of balance, and also that may be no pushback when someone get the idea that a drag is gay, and kids love dress up, so somehow drag is how to check that diversity box.

Thanks Sneakerheads.

I agree with PP that I don’t think protesting in that way is the best approach.

It’s a bit disheartening that parents have been objecting to these events for years and still they are happening.

On the topic of grooming, I don’t think all men are predators. Trouble is, sadly some are & we have no way of knowing which ones in advance. Often they are people who have encouraged us to admire & trust them - family friends, priests, teachers, policemen, youth group leaders & yes, drag performers. Look up Brett Blomme. They gain our trust by breaking down our boundaries, small steps at a time. Small children seeing men in wigs & dresses being normalised in an every day environment, are having their boundaries pushed - just harmless fun, it’s a library & books are good, the friendly ‘woman’ gave me a sticker…. etc. Children need adult guidance while they learn about personal
safety & who can be trusted. If adults don’t help to do that, we put children at risk. They may want to tell an adult that someone is making them uncomfortable or afraid, but their instincts have been undermined. Their parents, teachers, library staff have told them we must all ‘respect diversity’ & ‘be kind’. So they ignore that funny feeling in their tummies & sit on the ‘nice lady’s’ lap…. Children have no need of adult cabaret entertainment in their lives. They deserve adults who understand safeguarding & child development and who will respect their need for boundaries.

On the topic of stereotypes, we are repeatedly told that we should challenge them. I completely agree. I have very short hair, never wear dresses or make up & as a child was a proper tomboy. I am also a mum & a grandma. Nobody told me I was probably a boy because I preferred ‘boy’ things. I was allowed to grow up liking what I chose. In the era of raising my own kids, feminists had worked hard to dismantle the pink/blue divide in clothes & toys. Sadly it has hugely reasserted itself in recent years. Now kids are encouraged to believe they may have been ‘born in the wrong body’ if their interests aren’t 100% feminine /masculine. This is dangerous, regressive nonsense.
I think drag presents a parody of womanhood which actually promotes stereotypes which we should all want to see the back of, even when it claims to be challenging them. Sab Samuel (Aida H Dee) is a man. But when he puts on make up & address, he’s a woman & people use ‘she’? How does that teach children that stereotypes are wrong? It doesn’t. It plays right into them by saying if you put on a dress, you ARE a woman. If you want to be a woman, you need to have long hair & wear high heels. If you are male & like to do those things, or a woman who doesn’t, well maybe you need a new gender identity…? One that requires you to take medication to block puberty, or have your breast cut off. The two photos are from Aida H Dee’s FB page. Clearly he thinks wearing a dress is not only about challenging stereotypes….
By the way, the claim about suicide are completely untrue. Even the Tavistock has said suicide is very rare in young people with gender dysphoria. The post uses scare tactics that will terrify parents into seeking ‘treatment’ for their children simply because they like don’t like stereotypical pursuits.

Cassi sat right next ti Aida and couldn’t resist touching Aidas sparkly, rainbow jumpsuit.

Taken from an online review from a parent. Mumforce.co.uk . I'm not generally untrusting but dash is one that raises red flags.

The following review from a 7 year old on mixuptheatre.com.

Aida was really nice to me when I met her. I really liked her outfit especially her wig and make up. I want to be a drag queen when I grow up. It gets 10 out of 5 stars!”

something very wrong.

I'm not sure what I think about these protests but I don't thik they can say no-one's complained...
rdg.today/drag-queen-story-hour-interrupted-by-protestors/

Some pictures here from some DQST events in the US.

Children crawling over a drag queen who is lying on the floor.

elizabethjohnston.org/library-quietly-removes-photos-of-children-lying-on-a-drag-queen-at-story-time-after-massive-backlash/

Drag queen in mini skirt exposing himself to children:

www.theblaze.com/news/photo-shows-drag-queen-story-hour-performer-in-miniskirt-exposing-crotch-as-children-sit-close-by

The video in this thread of a drag queen teaching children to twerk (this was in the UK) has been deleted.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/3813857-Drag-Queen-Story-Time-at-the-British-Library?page=1&reply=93679020

The protest was by Alpha Team Assemble who until a few months ago raided Covid vaccination sites across the UK.

I was wondering what little King would think if a) a drag Queen or b) a (gay) woman like kongniece (tall, pretty, confident, smart, funny, kind firefighter who gets to do really cool - and dangerous - stuff at work) came and read to me on the library as a child.

a - would have upset me. I would have been scared by him and ‘known’ the jokes were naughty and that he was being rude about grown up ladies. I’d be confused that adults were laughing and wondering what this person actually ‘did’. Chances are I would have hidden behind my mum and cried.

b - I’d be following her around and asking if I could come on a ride along. I’d be thinking - hang on - big girls can be firefighters - or astronauts, or physicists (later my physics teacher said he didn’t like girls in his class), or even bloody train drivers. And she’d do it for free. As she does. She has set up training sessions for school age girls to get them into the service.

so sorry - I’m asking the ‘ooo it’s di-ver-si-teeeee’ folx - how does ‘a’ teach kids anything about diversity (or anything else)?

See that fascists attacked Reading Library - with a big banner saying
"welcome groomers"

I'm sure some will be saying they aren't really fascists. And others will as many posters are on here claiming all (gay) men are paedophiles.