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...)

Yet more mainstream press attempting to associate FWR with the far right.

We sse you.

I didn't make it through the whole article, but this stood out for me:
Of course, drag has long played a role in British society, from Shakespeare’s time, when women were banned from the stage and men wore female costumes to play their parts
So basically, drag comes from a long history of women being excluded.

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.

100%. Just call it feminist story time.

Great idea btw.

Of course, drag has long played a role in British society, from Shakespeare’s time, when women were banned from the stage and men wore female costumes to play their parts
So basically, drag comes from a long history of women being excluded.

Yes, but this is also an anachronism and is ahistorical. Just because men dressed in women's clothes at this time and for this reason does not make it 'drag' as we know it today. This has an entirely different context and meaning.

Fair enough, YetAnotherSpartacus, it's just so relentless. The other day, I saw a post elsewhere about an event that was supposedly encouraging girls into a particular area where women are under-represented. And who did they have presenting? Men.
If I'd been braver, I would have asked why this was, did they not think of asking women to speak, or could they not find any willing to speak? If not, why not? It's any area with a very bad reputation for bullying and harassment, and speaking out about it ends up with you out of a job.
But back to the original suggestion: great idea, OP.

That article is an absolute embarrassment. Making shite up that sounds vaguely plausible; & importing views from the US which is utterly saturated in “black people cannot be racist” & “white people cannot experience racism” that they correctly identify blackface as punching down & then refuse to acknowledge drag as [containing elements of] the same. No, drag is about “exploring gender”. They’d - rightly - flip their lid if someone tried “blackface is an experiment in race-bending/queering race/exploring race”; but expect women to simply accept the parallel explanation of drag + gender rather than acknowledge that we live in a patriarchy & men hold power over women.

Absolute embarrassment to both the UK & their profession for this journalist to make such a patently absurd claim about Early Modern Theatre. Shakespeare must be spinning in his grave at such a heinous abuse of language & misrepresentation of his Players & their contemporaries. Are they trying to gentrify drag now?! If it belongs to any historical tradition it’s towards some of the Molly Houses. If you’re not really familiar with them/that period I’m not saying drag queens are massively promiscuous; I’m referring simply to the act of cross-dressing combined with creating a “female” persona (inc name); & webs of homosociality intertwined with homosexuality that create hugely complex relationship & social structures. That’s a relevant historical comparison to make - but nobody’s going to do it, because it doesn’t fit the new narrative of “drag is lovely family fun & all men in dresses are exactly the same & Shakespeare did it you uncultured swine…”.

Making shite up that sounds vaguely plausible; & importing views from the US which is utterly saturated in “black people cannot be racist” & “white people cannot experience racism
White people can't experience racism like black people do though!
To say this as well as comparing drag to blackface is frankly ugh (for want of a better word!)

There's a really interesting analysis to be done - although it ain't going to happen in a university here any time soon - on the power relations of cross dressing and transgenderism in history. Because, as that quote kind of hints, it is deeply connected with power. Men dressed as women because they could, and because women were not permitted to appear as themselves.

I was going to start a thread about this (and will when I have a moment) because there's that Viking trans warrior that everyone talks about - but actually when you start to delve into their history, they are among the most misogynist of societies. 20% female infanticide anyone.

But that's a digression. Back to the issue at hand.

WHO IS GOING TO SET UP FEMINIST STORY HOUR?

Can we approach the publishers of Rebel Girls?

Oh and I've just read the Guardian article. This stood out.

The blackface comparison seems particularly wrongheaded. “It is completely unacceptable to compare drag with blackface,” says Nishant Upadhyay, an assistant professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Drag is an exploration of gender, while blackface is rooted in violent histories of anti-blackness.

SAYS A MAN.

Brilliant ideas here, yes, dinosaurs , witches, famous serious women, and fairytales as suggested. Wish I was in the country to join in. it would be very interesting if they paid too…could be the start of a central fund for those who need it….

Can the readers for Feminist Story Time please include some butch lesbians? Lots of young people grow up without ever meeting a butch lesbian these days, especially one who uses female pronouns.

Brilliant!

Diversity Story Time is a great name. And there can be a very wide range of storytellers and stories, covering all backgrounds.

One key feature is they have to be good entertainers. Being too earnest and feminist won't work. And drag queens, for all their faults, are primarily entertainers. So having some costumes, theatricality and comedy will all be important.

Amy Sousa talks about this!
Known Heretic on youtube- compares Brenda is a Wolf book with Little Red Riding Hood- on exactly this point.
Hope the link works:

It's in two parts. Highly recommend

Well done to everyone who has dared to speak out and said NO to DQSH. This bloke bullies women online, he's also raising money for Mermaids. Look up what they do. Not OK. Also, if any other bloke hung around the kids' section with the outline of his penis showing clearly through his trousers, he'd be asked to leave. But instead, libraries have invited him in for a paid gig! Mixing sex / sexuality and children? Haven't we learned our lessons from blurring boundaries? Laughable that he pretends it's everyone else making this sexual. He's taking the pss.

It can include all kinds of women- true diversity, just not focusing on men.

There’s no reason it should be just about young, white, hetero able bodied women which means many many stories. See if any women who work in male dominated careers want in, see if any sportswomen- including disabled atheletes- want in. Tales about ordinary women who raised kids alone (appreciate many kids see single mums all the time but a nice bit of celebration wouldn’t hurt) female explorers, ordinary inspiring women, superheroes etc

inspiring for girls and normalises girls/women being capable and inspirational for the boys.

why not?

Story time should focus on the story. The story should captivate and engage the children so that they will become interested in reading. Surely in a library there is a staff member who can tell stories well? The money saved could go to buying more books. When the focus is on the person reading the story, especially one in a grotesque costume, then the library is in danger of frightening and/or boring the children. Both will be a turn-off. It goes without saying that sexualized performances have no business in a library. When the story becomes a vehicle for indoctrination, no matter how right or righteous the cause, children will tune out. Stories chosen should be the ones children like the best.

BBC News - Cardiff's Drag Queen's story hour greeted by rival protests
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62521726 Far right groups and anti-vaxxers/anti-lockdowners protesting... Rather overlooks feminists who have issues with misogynistic portrayals of women.

I cannot believe so many libraries were paying for DQST when in my DC's day a librarian read the stories and I'd she was off another mum would step in.

Great that so many libraries have the spare cash and have bought all the books they need.

Fabulous ideas here.

@ToGanymedeAndTitan

Did I say black people & white people experienced racism in the same way? No. Because I’m not stupid. Might help I’ve literally spent my life experiencing & observing the differences [depending on which family members I was with], but then people do generally seem to be copping on a wee bit these last couple of years that pervasive systemic racism is indeed an issue that desperately needs addressing. (In case it’s not clear, white people are not impacted by that racism [though it should perhaps be noted racism is frequently used as the descriptor for the systemic oppression of the Irish Traveller Community].)

Oh & I say a wee bit, because, for example, the BLACHIR Report should have been all over the news - it got (having just searched) - a tiny bit in BBC Midlands 🤨 According to Hansard, it was not mentioned in Parliament at any time between the formation of the working group in 2020 & the start of the summer recess in July. There is local news about Owami Davies but no huge outcry.

There are people who disagree with the Final Bow For Yellowface campaign because they don’t think it’s the same [type of thing] as blackface. Or they think it’s not as bad. Or it’s “art” or “culture”. Blackface is the group with power punching down; so is yellowface; so is drag. All of them involve grossly offensive caricatures & profiting from the people being mocked. It doesn’t matter if there are women who say they’re fine with drag or they don’t see a problem with it: go back to the heyday of the minstrel show & ask some black people if it bothers them? Plenty will tell you they don’t care - at least, not enough for it to stop them being on the stage/in the audience.

Frederick Douglass’ 1848 condemnation of “the filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature, in which to make money, and pander to the corrupt taste of their white fellow-citizens” could reasonably be updated to be applied to drag artists. Women share the objections of that great reformer, albeit based on the sex of our oppressors rather than their race.

(Oh & just in case anyone is so utterly crass as to suggest it - “filthy scum” is simply what Douglass said about white people; there’s not some sort of sneaky homophobia at play. That accusation keeps getting bounced about, so for clarity, whatever adjective[s] Douglass had used, I’d have quoted him; & ofc not all drag queens are gay)

"It makes me feel depressed that these hateful people exist in dark corners of every country. These people do exist and they inspire me to keep going and to write more stories. This is the exact reason I do what I do." said Sab.

What a disgusting way to talk about women with concerns about children's safety.

This sounds great!!!!!!!

Toomanytrees - Today 20:01
When the story becomes a vehicle for indoctrination, no matter how right or righteous the cause, children will tune out. Stories chosen should be the ones children like the best.Q

I think you are right. Libraries are about great stories.Having someone read them very well should be the main thing.

But the thing is that a Drag Queen is putting themselves and their own identity on the forefront, plus a junky indoctrinating story. So it seems the library managers are not after wonderful stories and brilliant readers, but social messaging.