Drag Queen Story Time

It’s Pantomime! Oh no it isn’t!

The art of impersonating a woman has a history of many centuries; partly it was necessary because women were not allowed to be actors, and partly for comedic effect. Traditionally, the older female role of the pantomime dame is not meant to be mistaken for a woman but instead, to parody key female characteristics; although the dame wears a vividly bright costume, her masculinity remains obvious; awkward in a dress, displaying big knickers, huge fake breasts, often balloons that burst, and she frequently slips into her natural deeper voice for comedic effect. The pantomime dame is the character that interacts with the audience the most and is clearly recognisable as a man in a dress with no confusion about his sex involved. Pantomime is a musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment.

In contrast, drag queens are associated with gay culture; they are traditionally gay or queer males, although some are transgender or born women. They are meant to unquestionably look like women, in an amplified, glamorous, and sexy way, wearing lavish costumes, glitter and gemstones. Their faces are contoured, highlighted, bronzed, and brushed, with thickly applied smoky or glittery eye shadow and mascara or exaggerated false eye lashes.

A good example of contemporary drag is RuPaul’s Drag Race UK tv programme, a highly popular, reality competition. Series one, two and three have been streamed more than 51 million times on BBC iPlayer. Although it can be streamed online at any time, when it was first aired on the BBC it was broadcast at 9.00 p.m. because it includes material that is unsuitable for children.

Drag is adult entertainment, and brief Google and Instagram searches for ‘drag queen images’ produced a great number of highly sexualised images including queens with sexually flirtatious facial expressions and in sexually provocative poses.

Further, drag has a history of political activism; it is strongly associated with gay pride, playing an important role in promoting the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people as a social group.

Aida H Dee, one of the drag queens who has been touring the country recently has described herself as an LGBTQ activist and there are many pictures featuring pride and trans, flags and colours, on her Facebook page. While Aida has every right to be a political activist in her personal and adult entertainment professional life, most agree that children should not be exposed to political activism.

A story that Aida H Dee has written entitled ‘Three Goats United’ is infused with critical race theory which is a Marxist political ideology. There are three diverse goats, a brown one, a black one and a pink one who are named James, Harry, and Eddy respectively; they are frightened by an ‘evil’, 'ghost white' wolf, with ‘deep plum red eyes and a heart made of ice’ who isn’t dignified with a name, doesn’t like colours, and wants to eat the goats. The problem is solved by the three goats uniting to fight him off, a good example of sticking together in adversity, but not such a fine moral of the story is that Eddy does a poo on the wolf’s head.

Aida H Dee reads ‘Felix’s New Skirt’ for the York Pride event, a story infused with critical gender theory, which is also a Marxist political ideology, that blurs the boundary between the sexes, encouraging gender fluidity. It is about a boy, who wants to wear a skirt, whose mother takes him skirt shopping, but whose father has doubts and says, ‘some people might not understand’.

In the narrative, Dad allows Felix to go to school in a skirt, but sadly, he experiences disapproving words and gestures from other parents, and unkind comments from other children. Felix tells his father, “I should be allowed to wear whatever I like”; dad agrees, and goes skirt shopping for himself. They both wear skirts, and walk around their town, as onlookers glare and shake their heads.

Felix, who looks about seven years old in the picture book, unbelievably was not distressed, shamed, or traumatised in any way by this experience but instead, waves to the hostile audience and laughs. Despite this mass condemnation, dad takes Felix to school the next day, both wearing skirts. One boy expresses surprise that dad is wearing a skirt; dad firmly asserts, ‘today, anyone can wear a skirt’. The happy ending of the story is that the surprised boy, together with all the other children, instantly, and forever after, unquestioningly accept that Felix wears a skirt. While any compassionate person would wish this positive outcome for the seven-year-old Felix, it is naïve and misleading to think that he will never again experience others’ confusion and disapproval and one wonders how he will cope with that. 

These stories have intersectionality theory woven into them which is an analytical framework used in both critical gender and race theory; it has no evidence base and has been robustly challenged by many critical thinkers. Intersectionality theorists believe in the existence of a cultural power struggle that sets up as rivals, groups of individuals who share different elements of identity. These diverse groups are evaluated for perceived levels of privilege and discrimination; those estimated to be the least privileged and most discriminated against are placed at the top of the intersectional hierarchy and are targeted for social interventions to address their disadvantages and to address their collective low self-esteem.

For example, in this conflict-ridden structure, a white, working class, heterosexual man is placed at the bottom of the identities pile because of a belief that he is a member of the most privileged, and least discriminated against groups, and therefore not in need of further support or enhancement of the low esteem in which he is held.

Conversely, people who identify for example as non-white, female and/or non-hetero-normative are positioned in categories above, deemed less privileged, more discriminated against, are held in higher esteem and deemed to have a greater need for advocacy to improve their social situation.

It can be argued that drag queen stories are a form of social engineering, steeped in a political ideology; and while they promote inclusivity and diversity, unquestionably values to be aspired to, at the same time, can create division in the listener.

For example, in the stories, people in brown, black and gay intersectional categories are held in higher esteem than people in the white category, and children and adults are wrong to be surprised when a man and a boy wear a skirt. Skirt wearing men and boys are very welcome, and should be welcomed, but they are not the social norm for the majority (Scottish kilts are the exception) and children and adults who recognise this reality should not be shamed for it.

Nigel and Sally Rowe are parents from the Isle of Wight; in 2017, their son, aged six, was confused when a boy wore a dress at his school; the school guidelines pointed out that he would be deemed to be transphobic if he didn’t believe literally that his male classmate was a girl. The couple appealed to the U.K.'s secretary of state for education to intervene in their case but, after the Department of Education declined, they petitioned for a judicial review from the U.K.'s High Court which was granted in February 2022. In September 2022 the government agreed to settle the case prior to the review; the Rowe’s were awarded £22,000 in legal costs (which they donated to charity) and the government agreed to revise its gender-related guidance for children.

Clearly, a child or young person experiencing gender dysphoria and questioning their gender identity, should be treated with empathy and compassion, and supported, informed, protected, and enabled to achieve their full potential whilst in education. Equally, the child or young person’s classmates should also be treated with empathy and compassion and be supported if they are confused and not labelled as transphobic. Finally, any pupil that is transitioning should also be helped to recognise that, despite everyone’s best efforts, not everyone will easily understand their choice immediately.

The most ethical way to help a child or young person to engage appropriately with race, gender and sexuality issues is not to present LGBT role models and politically indoctrinated stories to children, as young as two or three years old; rather it is through responding to their natural curiosity, their ‘why, why, why?’ repetitive questioning, that seeks an age-appropriate answer in a world not yet fully understood. Such an approach involves meeting the child or young person in their cognitive and emotional domain rather than imposing a rigid frame of reference with unfamiliar, abstract concepts, however well intended, that don’t resonate with the child’s lived experience, and which confuse, because they are conceptually, and emotionally, undigestible.

The larger than life drag queen character, in terms of her extravagant dress, exaggerated animatedness, and loud, theatrical voice, combined with her proximity, and the ideological content of her story, may easily overwhelm and bewilder a child who may feel unsafe or even panicky, especially if they are vulnerable, and their healthy developmental process may be undermined in that situation.

The tagline of Drag Queen Story Time (DQST) UK is, ‘let’s get fabulous!’. The need to be fabulous, and to be around fabulous people, can be viewed as a narcissistic trait which originates from the early life trauma of not experiencing enough mirroring and recognition of goodness; it manifests as an underlying sense of not being good enough and remains out of awareness. While such a person may feel invincible, beautiful, and fabulous, someone else in the room will inevitably feel bad and hold the human ugliness, awfulness, and vulnerability. This invitation, to ‘let’s get fabulous’ sounds inspiring indeed, but a child who is struggling to think well of themselves, could find that exhortation too much of an emotional stretch, and may experience shame.

Councils and librarians hosting DQST events have fielded many parent and carer concerns about the potential for the sexualisation of children; for example, Mama G, drag act, AKA Robert Taylor Pearce, ‘telling stories about being who you are and loving who you want’ had his act banned after teaching three-year-olds how to twerk, a dance that mimics the sex act, in a Devon library. Further, Drag Queen Story Time UK was caught uploading a tweet saying ‘love has no age’ along with three ‘partying face’ emojis and a photo of an individual dressed in a rainbow suit and matching umbrella. Another storyteller in libraries, The Night Bus, has pictures of himself on his website naked in his bath with a burger icon covering his penis, and in high heels wearing Bondage and Discipline, Dominance and Submission, Sadomasochism and Masochism (BDSM) outfits as well as videos of his sexual performances on stage. These men are often adult sexual entertainers at night and children’s storytellers by day. It begs the questions, “how come, an adult sex entertainer is deemed suitable to entertain children”? And “why would they want to?”

Desmond is Amazing, a young boy, who possibly has a diagnosis of autism, is an example of the undue influence of drag; he has been exploited to blaze a trail for ‘drag kids.’ In a Youtube video, he is presented as offering a ‘hopeful future for queer kids’ and is shown dancing at NYC pride in 2015. He has received awards for his activism including the Marsha P Johnson ‘Don’t be Outraged, Be Outrageous’ award for using creativity to shine a light on issues facing the queer community; and has been introduced at an early age to the concept of hate. In the video he exhorts other children to ‘be yourself…..and pay the haters no mind’ and that ‘anyone can do drag, even a dog’.

Members of the LGBT community have also expressed concerns.  In a Sonia Poulson investigative Youtube video drag queen, Kitty Demure asks

“what in the hell has a drag queen ever done to make you have so much respect for them. And admire them so much? Other than put on makeup and jump on the floor and writhe around do sexual things on stage. I have no idea why you would want that to influence your child. And honestly, you’re not doing the gay community any favours, in fact you’re hurting us OK? We have already had a reputation of being paedophiles, and being perverts and deviants, we don’t need you to bring your children around”.

Jaimee Michell, the founder of Gays Against Grooming, a coalition of gays against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children are speaking out about these inappropriate acts which are being performed in front of children. They have 100,000 followers on Instagram and Jaimee asserts that a lot of gay and trans people do not support DQST and, “we don’t care what you do as adults, just leave kids out of it”.

DQST event hosts could only reply to the public’s concerns by saying that they are being inclusive and diverse, that strict safeguarding protocols are in place and the drag queen story tellers have undergone the UK government’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checking process.

Complaints were also made that drag is adult entertainment and not suitable for children. Librarians sought to counter objections, and offer reassurance, by saying ‘it’s like pantomime!’ The Telegraph reported that library staff, attending training on how to handle conflict with parents, were told to call drag queens ‘pantomime dames’ to ‘fool protesters.’ It could be that some organisers of these events genuinely do not know the difference between pantomime and drag; but it could also be that some are purposefully seeking to mislead the public by discounting the differences. 

DQST’s stories and presenters have a left-leaning ideology which renders the pantomime explanation ironic; pantomime dames, whom feminists have objected to for many years, are now being conflated with drag queens, and arguably, being used as a fig leaf to obscure a political agenda. Historically, and to the present day, pantomime dames have been regarded as unflattering to women, sexist, offensive, delegitimising of trans identities and depriving middle-aged actresses of a job.

The gender confusion that drag queens, and their stories, may evoke is concerning because there has been a significant increase in patient referrals to the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), for children and adolescents in the decade from 2009 to 2019. GID’s own data show 210 referrals in year 2011-12 and 3585 referrals in 2021-22. There are conflicting explanations for this. One explanation is that social contagion is occurring between young people, with pre-existing mental health or neurobiological conditions, in schools, the media, social media, and entertainment which conjures an idealised view of transgenderism, ‘brave transgender youth’, and a greater interest in transitioning.  An alternative, less controversial explanation is that the previously little-known service, within the NHS, has been expanded to meet a pre-existing need. Referral to GIDS may result in the prescription of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for young people, treatments for which there hasn’t been any long-term research carried out and which may, or may not, be successfully reversed. As it is unclear why there has been a sharp increase in referrals to this service, and because the consequences of referral are lifechanging and not entirely predictable, it is essential that there is further research to understand this phenomenon more fully. Following an interim review of the NHS Trust service by Hilary Cass, former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, made public in February 2022, the Tavistock clinic will close in its present location. It is reportedly facing a mass action lawsuit, with a particular focus on the use of puberty blocker drugs. Currently, there are plans for satellite Tavistock clinics, so it is important that any lessons are learned from a final report.

In conclusion, DQST is not a benign children’s entertainment, and is not pantomime, it has a political role. Men who enjoy looking and behaving like sexy women are promoting contentious gender and race ideologies at the taxpayers’ expense in libraries and schools. Critical race and gender theories are pervasive, embedded in thinking and policy making at a national level in the domains of education, medicine, social media, and local and national governments, and at the supranational level in global corporations and organisations such as the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation.

While supporting children and young people who express a wish to go beyond traditional sex stereotypes is unquestionably a good thing, undermining their confidence to differentiate between a man and a woman, and a boy and a girl, can be confusing and destabilising. With no research into the short- or long-term impact of DQST or the possible benefits and harms, and in the absence of an evidence base, it would be wiser and more ethical to err on the side of caution, avoiding such unethical experimentation on children.

In a civilised society, adults are called upon to protect children. People from all walks of life, all ages, ethnic origins, religions, sexual identities, and orientations, who wish to safeguard children, are expressing their concerns but are being discounted; they are likely to become subjects of an ad hominem attack, labelled as far right, homophobic, or transphobic. While councillors and librarians continue to promote DQST as harmless pantomime, a diverse cross section of the public, in the best tradition of a pantomime audience, are heartily and heartfully responding, “oh no it isn’t”!