Drag Queen Story Time - and a business opportunity for the GC

[expandabandband]

So, I went into my local library to calmly state my problems with them having Drag Queen Story Time in a couple of weeks. Ended up having a chat with the Library Supervisor whose line was very much that [ourcounty] libraries are inclusive for everyone. And this kept being repeated, along with the fact that it was optional.

Except Drag Queen Story nonsense is the only one which they have - and I pointed out that this privileges it and I would have less of an issue if it was just one among many (would still have an issue but was trying to be reasonable).

So she kept saying that of course they were inclusive of everyone and if other groups approached them they would host them in just the same way.

But you pay DQST.

Well yes.

Therefore the implication is that they would pay other groups.

SO, here's the plan. Who wants to set up Gender Critical Feminist Story Time? She assures me that our library has loads of feminist books, so it's an easy ask. And if you get turned down, you can sue them!

All we need is an administrator and someone to read the stories, both with high level DSB checks. And perhaps a logo. Who's in?

(I currently run a feminist charity but am happy to be a trustee...)

Excellent plan! We can read that sorry about the wolf in sheeps clothing that seemed to be about accepting someone for who they say they are, but in reality showed the whole thing for what it really is.

*story

Great idea! I'm sure lots of libraries would pay for women to explain why women are a coherent group who deserve rights.

And if they refused to pay it would be even more interesting.... Win win either way

And of course, the Emperor's New Clothes would be an obvious choice for a story, with conversation about hard it is to uphold the truth.

Little Red Riding Hood too. Discussion afterwards about what LRH could have done differently - listening to her instinct about Grandma's big hands etc etc...

So many fairy tales are about the dangers and fears of being a child - storytelling was a way for parents to teach children how to be aware of threat and protect them against it. They still have such a valuable role in early years education.

I’d love to know how DQST came about in the first place.

Did a DQ approach your local library service and say “I could come and read stories to kids for you… oh and here’s the fee I’ll charge?”

…or did the library take it upon themselves to go out and source a DQ, for a fee, in order to “promote inclusiveness” / follow the trail bravely blazoned by the ‘rainbow dildo butt monkeys?’

If the former, did they put the role out to a competitive tender? What due diligence did they undertake before employing the DQ in question? Did they look into whether other, perhaps more conventionally qualified, readers would be prepared to offer their services for free? How did they decide that what the DQST offered was better value for money than, for instance, investing more towards new books, or updating their computers?

If they went out to source one, what other under-represented groups did they approach? Did they get quotes to achieve best value for their (no doubt limited) discretionary budget? Have they sought feedback from users of the new ‘service’ to confirm they’re getting the ROI they expected?

And if they feel the 'costume' element of the storytime is lacking, perhaps the gender critical storytellers could come dressed as female scientists, businesswomen, footballers, doctors, politicians etc..? You know, something young girls should aspire to be, instead of being encouraged to aim for a glorious career on Onlyfans?

There are lots of feminist fairy tales like The Paperbag Princess.

What’s the betting GC storytime could even provide women who do all sorts of exciting jobs? And represent a diverse cross-section of the community. And I’m not saying they’d massively undercut the competition, but I suspect they’d be, er, competitively priced.

And while obviously nobody should be pigeonholed, a Caribbean reader for Trish Cooke’s Anansi books would be wonderful. Children need to learn about tricksters & Anansi - whether he’s in West Africa, the Caribbean, or a whisper on the wind to the diaspora [& those they share their tales with] - is the trickiest of them all. (TBH best of all is someone who tells you their own version of the story in a spellbinding spinetingling “more PLEASE Auntie” way. No pressure or anything.)

Is be proposing that female strippers come in with the “content altered to be children appropriate”. And I would wear exactly the same clothes as the drag queens.

and then I would sit back and seek them explain their refusal

I would be…

We could wear our dinosaur and witches costumes 😀

Your post really nails something here.

Would it not be a better idea to have "scientist story time" where stories about science were told by a scientist? You could riff on this theme for ages, combining children meeting a real "scientist/businesswoman/doctor/nurse/botanist/engineer etc" with the theme of the story being told.

This would open up the world of professions, interests and hobbies to children, which is something that needs to happen in a lot of areas where there is little exposure to huge swathes of human endeavour.

Because DQST is just, fundamentally, about young children meeting a drag queen who reads a story. And that's it. What other further educational outcomes are there for children in this?

Scientist story time could include cheap to run simple experiments - like lemon juice invisible ink…

I am not losing the run of myself 😳

Dinosaur story time? Can use Dinosaur costumes and kids love Dinosaur stories!

Thank you so much for putting your (our) points across at your local library, OP
The ideas in the posts here are brilliant, exactly what children need and deserve

Could you imagine the protests? At least the tras would get a bit of fresh air, bless. I wonder how the guardian would write it up.

We could get one of the lionesses to tour libraries, reading the stories of other sporting greats like Raducanu, Williams and Adlington.

Women bigging up women. I like it.

I really like this idea- dressing up as various important and inspirational women from history and reading relevant stories.

that could be really diverse, sexuality, age, ethnicity, religion, race, disabilities etc.

What a good idea.

Well done, and thank you, for going in to speak to the library management.

And if they feel the 'costume' element of the storytime is lacking, perhaps the gender critical storytellers could come dressed as female scientists, businesswomen, footballers, doctors, politicians etc..? You know, something young girls should aspire to be, instead of being encouraged to aim for a glorious career on Onlyfans?
See, I don't see anything wrong with a storytime that celebrates women in prominent roles.
I do take issue with people judging other women judging them for choices you might not yourself take.

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It started in San Francisco. There's a section about the origins in this video

www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/aug/11/im-just-trying-to-make-the-world-a-little-brighter-how-the-culture-wars-hijacked-drag-queen-story-hour?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Guardian, your misogyny is showing. And nice dig at MN, you really don't like us do you?

Oh god I didn't realise the libraries were paying for DQST. I just can't even.

I think a GC feminist story hour would be fantastic.

But with a name like that, too many libraries would refuse to book us because of fear of a backlash from the alphabet soup brigade.

I'd call it Diversity Story Hour. They love that word and with stories about strong girls and women, families with 2 mums or 2 dads, boys who liked "girly" things but still knew that they were boys, children with disabilities, and children from a variety of ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds it could actually be properly diverse and inclusive.