Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Wowzlul t1_j29tdzf wrote

I think the issue here may be that people are conflating the kind of drag they see at drag shows, a lot of which is extremely sexual in nature and very inappropriate for children, with the idea of a man/woman/whatever wearing a big silly dress, big silly nails, big silly hair etc. and reading a story to kids, completely devoid of kind of any sexual content whatsoever.

The latter is what drag queen story hour is. The former is probably what the protestors think drag queen story hour is.

If a cisgender heterosexual man wants to wear a big frilly dress, put on big silly nails and a weird wig and read a story to kids with a funny voice...what exactly is objectionable about that? It's entertaining, educational, and may even teach the more perceptive kids that clothes are just clothes and it's not a big deal for a man to wear a big silly dress if he wants to.

81

Curiosities t1_j29ys33 wrote

Exactly. These are people playing characters but they know they are performing those characters for children. All performers know the audience that will be there that day. Children generally love larger than life, colorful, silly characters. They're not getting a history of drag or an adult performance. They are getting colorful, over the top characters reading to them. Making the normal story time into a show. Extra.

As someone that occasionally volunteered with organizations that involved reading to kids and helping them to find books to go home with, I'm a warm, soft, and playful woman, but I know some kids would've been much more engaged with a drag performer doing the reading.

28

Vilnius_Nastavnik t1_j2a5mve wrote

Depending on the ages of the kids it's practically compulsory to add in some sort of visual element to hold their attention. They've got bottomless reserves of stimulating content at their fingertips and many of them have been playing with smartphones and tablets since before they could talk. Child literacy rates are falling and we need to be open to anything that gets them reading.

8

sanspoint_ t1_j2b1qwo wrote

Anti-drag protests are really anti-trans protests. As far as the Proud Boys and their ilk are concerned, there’s no difference between me, a transgender woman living my life, and a drag performer. It’s not as simple as letting people wear a costume to read stories. This is the what they’re using as a thin edge of a wedge against all forms of queerness and gender non-conformity. Hence the talk about “grooming” and other accusations of sexual abuse and pedophilia that get thrown around drag story hour and at trans women.

I’m not doing drag as a trans woman. I am living my life as myself, and these fuckers want to shove me back in the closet.

13

hecramsey t1_j2c9m7o wrote

yeah they are confusing drag ( basically vaudeville / british dance hall entertainment) with transvestite which is (i THINK?) the fetish vs Cross Dresser (person who wears opposite gender clothes for non sexual reasons)
leaving out the whole transgender bigotry.

1

domo415 t1_j2blj6o wrote

And mind you, these people have no qualms taking their kids to hooters.

0

Friendly_Average_122 t1_j2a7fc0 wrote

Cishet? Are we making up new words now?

−10

Wowzlul t1_j2a7zvo wrote

There's no way this is in good faith, but in contexts where we're talking about lgbt people versus the majority of the population that identifies as cisgender (as opposed to transgender) and heterosexual (as opposed to homosexual or bisexual) it helps sometimes to use that portmanteau adjective (here used substantively) to make it clear you're referring to them.

"Cishet" isn't in Websters yet, you're right. I certainly didn't make it up, though.

I'll edit it to say "cisgender heterosexual man" instead.

10

Friendly_Average_122 t1_j2a8tkg wrote

Hint: these men aren’t cisgender and heterosexual. I don’t care what anyone’s into, but it’s weird to say they’re straight

−14

Wowzlul t1_j2a90at wrote

I'm not claiming they are. My point was that it would be no different if a cishet man decided to do this vs. a gay or bisexual one, or a trans woman, or a butch lesbian, or whoever. It's a person putting on a costume reading to children.

As long as there's no age-inappropriate sexual content (which there isn't) then there's really nothing to object to. That is, unless one finds the idea of gender-nonconforming behavior objectionable in itself.

12

RSKadish t1_j2btexg wrote

I agree with you. I wasn't responding to your comment. I was responding to the commentor who said that "these men aren't cisgender and heterosexual." You know, the comment that's been downvoted a lot.

2

Wowzlul t1_j2btsti wrote

Yeah I gotcha. Feelings are running high right now for obvious reasons. I just wanted to set the record straight (ugh).

1

RSKadish t1_j2abiph wrote

Wait a minute. Drag queens can't be cisgender? Since when are they all transitioning? I've known plenty of cisgender drag queens. Also, the story mentions a "drag king" which would be a woman dressed in male drag.

9

shamam t1_j2a839z wrote

All words are made up. That's how language works. New words are added to the lexicon all the time. Merriam Webster publishes a list of new words every year.

You're clearly trolling, though, as I don't see how you could be on reddit for a year and not have come across that term before.

8

Friendly_Average_122 t1_j2a96nh wrote

I’ve literally never seen that before

−8

panda12291 t1_j2agg7r wrote

I imagine that there are a lot of words that you are not familiar with. That doesn't mean they're not words.

7