[Gay] Gay News from Around the Gay World That is Gay

[Barrister]

Oh so your fear is children seeing makeup on men. Got it!

My favourite band in my teens (and one I've exposed my kids to) was The Cure, so no I don't think that's it either...

[garbon]

Oh so your fear is children seeing makeup on men. Got it!

My favourite band in my teens (and one I've exposed my kids to) was The Cure, so no I don't think that's it either...

Also presumably you were okay with sexual things as a teen.

[Barrister]

Oh so your fear is children seeing makeup on men. Got it!

My favourite band in my teens (and one I've exposed my kids to) was The Cure, so no I don't think that's it either...

Also presumably you were okay with sexual things as a teen.

One wouldn't normally take a teen to a library to be read a story.  Reading stories to kids is usually in the toddler to early-reader ages.

I miss reading to my kids.  Now at the end of the day they just read to themselves.

[Legbiter]

I mean, most people can adjust their behaviour (as well as their clothes) from sexual to non-sexual based on the social situation, I fail to see why drag queens wouldn't be able to do that, or be reasonably expected to be do that.

The demonic abomination that I posted earlier contacted my sons' school (I'm on the parental liaison school committee) and wanted to set up a "workshop" with children to "inform and educate"...

We quietly ghosted him like all these cultists, we're always inundated by various commercial vendors and ideologues of every imaginable stripe who want access to your children. Throw in trying to collectively navigate smartphone usage and social media (tiktok should be nuked from orbit), at least during school hours, and it's a fairly grim hellscape out there you have to navigate as a parent. 

[garbon]

Oh so your fear is children seeing makeup on men. Got it!

My favourite band in my teens (and one I've exposed my kids to) was The Cure, so no I don't think that's it either...

Also presumably you were okay with sexual things as a teen.

One wouldn't normally take a teen to a library to be read a story.  Reading stories to kids is usually in the toddler to early-reader ages.

I miss reading to my kids.  Now at the end of the day they just read to themselves.

My thought was that what was acceptable to you as a teen probably isn't the same as your decisions for your children. So your love of the cure probably not relevant.

[The Brain]

In Sweden there have been drag story hours at libraries for years. My impression is that there has been a sharp increase in threats recently, and some cancellations for security reasons. I haven't seen any videos or descriptions of such events that suggest actual sexualization.

[garbon]

I mean, most people can adjust their behaviour (as well as their clothes) from sexual to non-sexual based on the social situation, I fail to see why drag queens wouldn't be able to do that, or be reasonably expected to be do that.

The demonic abomination that I posted earlier contacted my sons' school (I'm on the parental liaison school committee) and wanted to set up a "workshop" with children to "inform and educate"...

We quietly ghosted him like all these cultists, we're always inundated by various commercial vendors and ideologues of every imaginable stripe who want access to your children. Throw in trying to collectively navigate smartphone usage and social media (tiktok should be nuked from orbit), at least during school hours, and it's a fairly grim hellscape out there you have to navigate as a parent. 

Why did you quote Tamas if you weren't engaging with what he said?

[Tamas]

While I disagree with BB's concern, I don't want to entirely dismiss it as invalid, on account of him having children and me not.

[garbon]

While I disagree with BB's concern, I don't want to entirely dismiss it as invalid, on account of him having children and me not.

Sure he can be concerned as a parent. He can also spend efforts to get his self informed rather than revel in his kneed jerk reactions to drag.

[Valmy]

it's a fairly grim hellscape out there you have to navigate as a parent. 

Huh. I hadn't noticed. Maybe my kids just aren't very interesting to anybody.

Or maybe this is because you are on the liaison committee for your school?

[Valmy]

While I disagree with BB's concern, I don't want to entirely dismiss it as invalid, on account of him having children and me not.

If there was a reading drag show in my area and we decided to take my kids there well we would be there. So if it turned out to be some kind of weird inappropriate thing well we would leave.

[Syt]

I don't know that drag is inherently sexual. It's been a thing since it least ancient times (E.g. Thor famously wore drag in one story), and often played for comedic effect. Germany had a few notable drag performers since the 80s, e.g. Lilo Wanders or Mary & Gordy:





And it's been a thing in movies and TV from Some Like it Hot to Tootsie to Yentl to Monty Python to Mrs Doubtfire to Mulan and beyond. Unsure why the line is arbitrarily drawn at reading books to kids.

[Barrister]

While I disagree with BB's concern, I don't want to entirely dismiss it as invalid, on account of him having children and me not.

Sure he can be concerned as a parent. He can also spend efforts to get his self informed rather than revel in his kneed jerk reactions to drag.

Who is revelling?

Garbon, I just find it very odd that when my take was "I think this is weird and I wouldn't take my kids, but live and let live" you're taking such a negative view.

[Barrister]

I don't know that drag is inherently sexual. It's been a thing since it least ancient times (E.g. Thor famously wore drag in one story), and often played for comedic effect. Germany had a few notable drag performers since the 80s, e.g. Lilo Wanders or Mary & Gordy:

And it's been a thing in movies and TV from Some Like it Hot to Tootsie to Yentl to Monty Python to Mrs Doubtfire to Mulan and beyond. Unsure why the line is arbitrarily drawn at reading books to kids.

But drag is distinct from crossdressing.

By definition, a drag queen is distinct from a cross-dresser (sometimes called a transvestite) because the motivation of dragging is typically not sexual. Although the two are often conflated in popular cultural representation, cross-dressing commonly involves a high degree of secrecy and is associated with sexual or gender-related fetishes. Both drag queens and cross-dressers have experienced a history of persecution, as has the drag queen's antonym (the drag king), which refers to a woman in man's clothing, or a male impersonator. Unlike the secrecy of cross-dressing, in which the attempt is often to pass as a woman, dragging involves performance whereby the intent is an undoing of gender norms through doing (or dressing) the part of the opposite sex.

<snip>

There are typically three basic components of doing drag. First, a drag queen assumes a stage name. A 1996 guide, The Drag Queens of New York: An Illustrated Field Guide, likens the cult-followings of Manhattan drag queens to bird-watching and lists such mainstays as Hedda Lettuce, Miss Understood, Mighty Afrodite, Mona Foot (a.k.a. Glamazon), and Perfidia ("The Sultan of Switch"). This reinvention of one's identity through naming (or renaming) relates to the second part of doing drag: taking stage. The drag queen again owes something to As You Like It in terms of Jaques's famous declaration, "All the world's a stage." Not known for understatement, most drag queens strive for overkill through the use of heavy makeup, "falsies," and a gender-bending technique known as "tucking." The authenticity of femininity is always undermined by a drag queen's roughness, which often includes a vulgar stage presence and desire to shock. The third aspect of drag is premised on the belief in gender fluidity. Dragging is intended to make this fluidity visible through performance.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/drag-queen

So yes - the initial definition is that the motivation for drag is not sexual, and that's my understanding.  After all drag performers are almost invariably gay men, and aren't doing it to get sexual gratification.

But nevertheless that aspect of performing in drag is to dress in exaggerated somewhat sexualized female manner (although with no intent on actually passing as female).

[Admiral Yi]

Most of the drag queens I'm familiar with have mammoth tits.  That's pretty sexualized.