Current Events > Walked past a drag queen story time show on sunday.

(+) Yeah! (+)

No duh, the same skills that makes drag queens such amazing performers also makes them such good storytellers for kids.

I wish every right winger with a problem with this could have seen it and logically evaluated what the problem is supposed to be here. It was lots of parents sitting there with their kids (i.e. entirely supervised), everyone was laughing, drag queen in an outfit less risque than half the teachers in school would wear (just more colourful/sparkly), but just being very entertaining. The subject matter was about being kind to your friends when they are sad. I'd trust my kid being here over church any day.

In gender theory, drag queens are used as a tool that challenge cis heteronormative power structures and can expose young kids to the queer experience in a safe and fun way.

Some people don't like that. Personally its the people who deny there is an unspoken agenda that annoy me. Most people aren't even aware of it and would call you crazy for suggesting such, but there have been books written about it. Why else would drag queens even give a shit about reading books to kids? Seems weird

Is that the 'grooming' argument?

ai123 posted...

Is that the 'grooming' argument?

Some people think so, I don't actually think it's about fucking kids. I think it's about spreading LGBT awareness and acceptance and growing their numbers for political and social power.

My daughter's lower school had drag queen story time during an optional (but on-prem) event. It was fun! The performer had a short age-appropriate intro/explanation, and the kids (PK-4) totally "got" that it was a kind of dress-up performance.

In my limited experience, I think there is conflation between glam drag queens, who are not seriously trying to pass as women (the entire point is that everybody knows they are in drag!), and transgender people (who are trying very hard to pass). But I'm uncertain where the confusion is coming from, and who it is serving.

Razor posted...

Some people think so, I don't actually think it's about fucking kids. I think it's about spreading LGBT awareness and acceptance and growing their numbers for political and social power.

'Growing their numbers'? How?

ai123 posted...

'Growing their numbers'? How?

The more people who are exposed to queer ideology, the more mainstream it is, the more people who will discover their true selves.

Duh.

Had drag equivalent entertainment in the 50's
no one bats an eye

Razor posted...

The more people who are exposed to queer ideology, the more mainstream it is, the more people who will discover their true selves.

Duh.

So it doesn't increase the total number, just the number who aren't repressed.

Got it.

ai123 posted...

So it doesn't increase the total number, just the number who aren't repressed.

Got it.

I'm not talking about people being just repressed. I'm pointing out that lots of people don't even consider they are LGBT until they are Exposed to it, often later in life. Why do you think Gen X is like 4% LGBT and gen Z is around 20%?

Are there that many more queer folk in our current generation, or have that many eyes been opened to their true sexuality? That's the point of things like drag queen story hour. Exposure, and apparently as young as possible.

ai123 posted...

So it doesn't increase the total number, just the number who aren't repressed.

Got it.

It also helps to increase the number of cishet allies we have, if only because we are perceived as more "normal", if not just a bit queer (heh).

Maybe it's because text is a bad way to convey emotion, but I feel you're coming after this person for no reason here. This is purely a strategic move for our liberties.

Razor posted...

In gender theory, drag queens are used as a tool that challenge cis heteronormative power structures and can expose young kids to the queer experience in a safe and fun way.

o noes!!!! Think of what should happen if they should watch a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Ban it! Ban it all, lest the children catch The Gay!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/8/8/AAC89BAAE3yg.jpg

Some people don't like that. Personally its the people who deny there is an unspoken agenda that annoy me. Most people aren't even aware of it and would call you crazy for suggesting such, but there have been books written about it.

Because in the way that dominionists and other anti-gay lunatics speak of it, there isn't. It's framed in a blood libel way that brings to mind the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and has the same goal, to demonize queer people to set the stage for oppressing and then murdering them on a massive scale.

When there's a centuries old conspiracy of silence enforced through violence (I wasn't trying to rhyme, but eh..) so that homosexuality was once called "the love that dare not speak its name," it's not a nefarious agenda to undo that.

For instance, nobody bats an eye if we mention George and Martha Washington's relationship, but bring up Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's orientation and it's suddenly "indoctrination." I say it's a goddamn cover-up to say we can't talk about certain historical figures because of their sexuality, or at least mention their sexuality itself when it's perfectly acceptable to do so for heterosexuals. It's gaslighting, and wanting to undo that gaslighting isn't nefarious.

It's as if you had someone tied to the train tracks and I cut them free and you chastised me for destroying your rope.

Why else would drag queens even give a shit about reading books to kids? Seems weird

Maybe because for the past several years, presumably in response to the rising popularity of RuPaul's Drag Race, the Right has been spinning a narrative that drag queens are evil predators and perverts who need to be crushed. And of course the second they do anything to counteract that narrative and have positive and well-received interactions with the community, this is seen as proof of that claim, that they're out to brainwash the kids!

Look out, y'all, a man in a wig is getting kids interested in learning! Time to burn the Mrs. Doubtfire DVDs in a bonfire!

they could never make Some Like It Hot these days

Xenogears15 posted...

It also helps to increase the number of cishet allies we have, if only because we are perceived as more "normal", if not just a bit queer (heh).

I assumed that one of the reasons for Drag Queen story hour was simply to show that queer people were nothing to be scared of. Just a part of the community doing something to help the community by reading to kids.

So yes, that could well lead to more ally support.

Maybe it's because text is a bad way to convey emotion, but I feel you're coming after this person for no reason here. This is purely a strategic move for our liberties.

I wasn't trying to convey any kind of emotion. Just expressing doubt that people who aren't gay can be made gay by exposure to gay.

Just imagine this post contains all the points that then get modded.

Eh, I'm not even going to seriously entertain the bigot in this thread.

So I'll just say, go fuck yourself, their "agenda" is gaining stronger tolerance and acceptance by small-minded bigoted fucks such as yourself.

I bet you'd be back in 1955 decrying white kids being exposed to black kids at such a young age and wondering what the agenda is to have them exposed to each other.

EDF-5 posted...

Had drag equivalent entertainment in the 50's
no one bats an eye

The US War Department considered drag shows such an important morale booster during WW2, they issued a manual and a book of shows for units to perform.

Reagan (as an actor) helped produce a film with a drag show in it (This is the Army, 1943). Like all Reagan flicks it sucked elephant nuts, but it wasn't because of the drag. That drag show was the selling point at the time.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/6/4/AAABTgAAE4S8.jpg

Bob hope, Jackie Gleason

Razor is no longer an active member.

Good riddance.