Drag Queen Story Hour

[Yeast]

 

It was going to happen sooner or later. I trekked off to the used book store and saw the front doors of the receiving room had been closed. I strolled in to encounter a rather curious character. Someone obviously a man wore an elaborate dress, what was probably a blond wig and far too much makeup. Hello, he said. I said Hi and signed in. (Work to do. No time to gawk.)

 

I suppose in another era this might have been someone dressed like a clown. In a sense maybe this fellow was a clown. None the less he seemed to challenge my sensibility. I tell myself I'm liberal and respect the LGBT community but exposing young children so openly to it seemed somehow wrong. Of course I'd probably rather die than ever admit this. Besides religious texts, I occasionally come across something gay or lesbian themed as I hunt for books. One was a young boy discussing his uncle's impending marriage. He would soon have a new husband. Of course the apologists would point out children with gay or lesbian or whatever parents are exposed to the LGBT community every day.  I guess I just live in the remnants of a bygone era.

 

Clown or not, the children apparently enjoyed our host. I suppose he(?) would have been good on a kid's show. Our guest had a flair for dramatic story telling. I still found it curious that sometimes he referenced himself in feminine terms but then began a story telling of what he wanted to be as a little boy. Was this to imply he changed sex as he got older? I'm left wondering what the children thought about all this. What did our host think about dressing up like a woman? I consider this sort of thing a fetish. Maybe this is what causes me to have reservations. A man acting out a sexual fetish in front of a group of small children. Will there come a day when some homophobic terrorist bursts through the front door filling the book store with live ammunition? 

 

Oh well. I don't make the rules. I just work here - dressed like a man.

 

[AceMissBehaving]

Drag isn’t a fetish, it’s a performance style, and not an inherently sexual one.

 

I think it’s good for kids to be exposed to different ways of carrying yourself in the world. Children being exposed to LGBT+ people and culture is how we get towards a world where no one grows up feeling ashamed or confused about who they are.

[Guest]

When I was little my grandmother wanted to bring her boyfriend over to my parents house.

 

It wasn’t until a few years ago I found out my mom had any reservations about it at all.  When she told me about that I told her I just assumed they were “married-ish” at the time because...kid brain.  Kid brain also didn’t really care about if grandma was married.  Mom did, but I had better things to worry about.

 

Adults try to make things a bigger deal than they are.  Kids are great about just rolling with things.

[daveb]

2 hours ago, AceMissBehaving said:

Drag isn’t a fetish, it’s a performance style, and not an inherently sexual one.

 

I think it’s good for kids to be exposed to different ways of carrying yourself in the world. Children being exposed to LGBT+ people and culture is how we get towards a world where no one grows up feeling ashamed or confused about who they are.

Exactly. I couldn't have put it better myself.

 

1 hour ago, Kisa needs a coffee said:

Adults try to make things a bigger deal than they are.  Kids are great about just rolling with things.

True. Adults teach kids to have hangups about things.  

[Skycaptain]

I'd say a closed environment like that is a good place to introduce children to going against stereotypes. They can ask questions without the answers getting crowded out in a melée. 

Better than their first encounter being on the street and kidlet yelling out to their parents "why is that man dressed like a woman?" so everyone around hears. 

[griffinej5]

I am friends with several people who perform in drag. Some of them have done some story times. For those events, they tailor their attire and makeup for the audience. At least my friends who may dress more provocatively when  performing at a show for adults do not dress that way when doing an event for children. 

We took my 6 year old niece to an event a few months ago when she was 5.5. She really had no idea that the drag queen was actually a man. She just thought the person had a really great dress. I also took my 8 year old niece to a drag show. She was a bit more aware of what was going on. But, they knew there was an 8 year old in the audience and were respectful of this. 

I think it’s good for kids to be exposed to all sorts of different people from a young age. Maybe it’ll even save one of those kids to know there’s other people like them. 

 

[Asroco]

On 9/13/2019 at 5:13 PM, AceMissBehaving said:

I think it’s good for kids to be exposed to different ways of carrying yourself in the world. Children being exposed to LGBT+ people and culture is how we get towards a world where no one grows up feeling ashamed or confused about who they are.

On 9/20/2019 at 8:09 PM, griffinej5 said:

I think it’s good for kids to be exposed to all sorts of different people from a young age. Maybe it’ll even save one of those kids to know there’s other people like them. 

 

Totally agree with both sentiments...

 

I'm friends with a woman whose 12-year-old son is entirely into drag. She is incredibly supportive of him. She buys him makeup, researches ideas with him, and during our community pride event last night, I overheard that she was buying him chest and hip padding.

 

It was a delight to see that unreserved side of him at the event. Before he became home-schooled, all the years of ridicule he received had much to do with his disposition. But being in that space gave him the room to flourish.

 

Whether LGBTQ+ or not, kids will benefit from learning about different perspectives. That's what leads to empathy and self-understanding.

[daveb]

1 hour ago, Asroco said:

Totally agree with both sentiments...

 

I'm friends with a woman whose 12-year-old son is entirely into drag. She is incredibly supportive of him. She buys him makeup, researches ideas with him, and during our community pride event last night, I overheard that she was buying him chest and hip padding.

 

It was a delight to see that unreserved side of him at the event. Before he became home-schooled, all the years of ridicule he received had much to do with his disposition. But being in that space gave him the room to flourish.

 

Whether LGBTQ+ or not, kids will benefit from learning about different perspectives. That's what leads to empathy and self-understanding.

That's awesome!  

[rainbowocollie]

I think most people's reservations or outrage over drag queen stuff around children is they believe it's a sexual thing.

 

Can I ask a question? I get the idea that part of the LGBT history is connected to fetish and other stuff--I mean, they've got flags for leather play and the like, plus (some!) Pride events have people in harnesses or other stuff that's associated with fetishes. There seems to be a debate over whether Pride should be a family friendly event or not, and I've seen some argue that Pride should not be family friendly because part of the LGBT message is that sexuality shouldn't be something we hide or feel ashamed of. Is this the case, or I am misunderstanding?

At any rate, if what I'm saying is at all accurate to any extent, then I can sort of understand parents having reservations and not wanting their kids exposed to the world of fetishes, since it seems to have connections to LGBT history. If you have that as a tag-a-long, you're going to alienate at least some people, whether it's right or not.

[pickles.]

On 9/13/2019 at 4:07 PM, Yeast said:

Of course the apologists would point out children with gay or lesbian or whatever parents are exposed to the LGBT community every day.

Kids are exposed to the heterosexual community every day too.