Butlers essential contribution was twofold: first, she saturated queer theory with postmodernism; second, she provided a theory of social change, based on the concept of performativity, which offered a more sophisticated conceptual ground than simple carnal transgression. but they immediately understand the playful possibilities without being weighed down by social norms and cultural baggage. The Taunton Public Library last held Drag Queen Story Hour back in May 2022. It's just super cute. Much of the power of drag pedagogy (a term I coined with education scholar Harper Keenan) lies less in learning about the specifics of LGBTQ identities or cultures, and more in understanding drag as a tool that helps us see the world as it is, but more important, as it could be. Drag itself ultimately does not take these utilitarian aims too seriously (but it is quite good at looking the part when necessary). In other words, as a movement, Drag Queen Story Hour has learned the dance of operating a cash-flow-positive activist organization, winning government contracts, and securing access to audiences, while providing a plausible rhetorical defense against parents who might question the wisdom of adult men creating site[s] of queer pleasure with their children. From in-depth storytelling on the fight for LGBTQ+ rights to intimate profiles of queer cultural vanguards, its a platform for all of the bold, stylish, and rebellious ways that LGBTQ+ people are reshaping our world every day. . In January 2020, an event was held in Brisbane at the Brisbane Square Library, but was met with a protest from the University of Queensland Liberal National Club (which was disendorsed by the Liberal National Party (LNP) a month earlier). The books selected in many Drag Queen Story Hour performancesCinderelliot, If Youre a Drag Queen and You Know It, The Gender Wheel, Bye Bye, Binary, and They, She, He, Easy as ABCpromote this basic narrative. Drag performers have raised money (and organized demonstrations) to support HIV/AIDS activism, to support chosen families in Black and Latinx ballroom communities, to pay for gender affirmation surgeries, and to fund the work of numerous LGBTQ campaigns. WebWhen young children are at drag queen story hours, they arent seeing Miss Savannah (or countless other drag queens) as men dressed resembling a girl; they are seeing a person reading to them. [22] West authored the childrens album Drag Is Magic, featuring RED: A Crayon Story by Michael Hall as the first book of the online series. ", "Houston Public Library admits registered child sex offender read to kids in Drag Queen Storytime", "White Nationalist Threats Against Transgender People Are Escalating", "The importance of teaching kids about LGBTQ history and culture", "Coronavirus can't stop drag queen story time. "[32], The New York Times noted "Laura Edwards-Leeper, a clinical psychologist in Oregon who works with queer and trans kids, said that experimenting with gender expression isn't necessarily linked to being queer or trans. As Hankins describes, this style of performance foregrounds tropes of primitivism and degeneracy as tools of protest and liberation and seeks to subvert taboos against pedophilia, necrophilia, erotic object fetishism, and humananimal sex. These performances constitute the end of the line: the culmination of more than a centurys work, from the silk-and-satin drag balls to the hyper-cerebral politics of deconstruction to the annihilation of traditional notions of sex. You cant liberate children and adolescents without disrupting the entire hierarchy of adult power and coercion and challenging the hegemony of antisex fundamentalist religious values, she lamented. The Taunton Public Library last held Drag Queen Story Hour back in May 2022. It requires a convincing critical language that can convey the barbarity of sexual persecution. Once the ground is softened and the conventions are demystified, the sexual revolutionaries could do the work of rehabilitating the figures at the bottom of the hierarchytranssexuals, transvestites, fetishists, sadomasochists, sex workers.. [9][10], Drag Story Hour was started in 2015 in San Francisco by author Michelle Tea, who was also the executive director of nonprofit Radar Productions at the time; the first events were organized by Julin Delgado Lopera and Virgie Tovar. His abuela doesn't think anything of it; she supports him and takes him to what appears to be the annual Coney Island Mermaid Parade. She stumbles at the end of the book and her family is still there to cheer her on, and she realizes that her family is not the help they're her loving family. June 23, 2022 at 9:44 a.m. EDT A drag queen reads stories to children and their caretakers this month at a public library in New York. DSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and Drag Queen Story Hour began with voluntary programs at public libraries, which are required by law to provide equal access to organizations regardless of political affiliation or ideology. Claim: Albert Alfonso Garza was convicted of sexually assaulting a boy in 2006, before taking part in "Drag Queen Storytime" in a Houston public library in 2017 and 2018. She's a little big-headed, but I think that's my favorite part, that she's so delusional for a little kid. This provided an opportunity. The first protest was attended by parents and other adults, as well as by United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet[41] and Rebel News Australia reporter Avi Yemini. Storytellers using the art of drag to read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstores. If there is anything that drag performers and kids can learn from each other, it is to get in touch with ones inner curiosity, conscience and creativity. D rag Queen Story Hourin which performers in drag read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstoreshas become a cultural flashpoint. Next, the New York City Public Schools, with more than $200,000 in funding from the municipal government, began hosting dozens of drag performances in elementary, middle, and high schools in all five boroughs. ), but rather drag offers a sense of freedom and possibility in a world that restricts who we can be. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. Butlers theory of social change is that once the premise is established that gender is malleable and used as an instrument of power, currently in favor of heterosexual normativity, then the work of social reconstruction can begin. The new scholarship on sexual behaviour has given sex a history and created a constructivist alternative to the view that sex is a natural and pre-political phenomenon, Rubin wrote. Drag is fundamentally rooted in creating spaces to perform our truest selves by amplifying and exaggerating them, often using humor and glamour to process moments of pain and oppression. Drag does suggest that queer sexuality is This book isnt really LGBTQ, but it is drag queen-esque. I spent a lot of my earlier years trying to abolish the feminine aspects of myself, knowing what I was drawn to and knowing it meant ostracization. Drag queens read children's stories in a California bookstore as part of the "Drag Queen Story Hour" program to promote diversity among young children. [7] The program strives to "capture the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models". (Photo by Martin Pope/Getty Images) Certainly, sexuality is a component of drag. [20] One popular book at DSH is This Day in June, written by Gayle Pitman and illustrated by Kristyna Litten, which introduces the reader to the idea of an LGBTQ pride parade. They're reading to kids probably because their whole thing is that they're entertainers who probably enjoy what they do and because reading to kids is an objectively good thing. It must build rich descriptions of sexuality as it exists in society and history. In this way, drag can teach kids (and adults) to utilize humor and playfulness to overcome stigma and fear. While we have faced backlash from the beginning, in recent months, weve seen an uptick in organized opposition. In fact, that legacy is part of what makes us such powerful role models for children: Ultimately, drag can teach us all to be caring citizens by embracing complexity, doubling down on our imaginations, and standing up for what we believe in. For example, I often start readings with an explanation foregrounding drag performers talents and contributions to society: Drag queens love to sing, dance, tell jokes and put on shows. . [20][31], Nina West, RuPauls Drag Race season eleven contestant and winner of Miss Congeniality, and producer of Drag Is Magic, an EP of kids music about the art form, says she hopes to inspire them to "dream big, be kind, and be their perfect selves. [49], In May 2023, a ticketed event held at Weston Museum was reported to be sold out. Like Rubin, Foucault haunted the underground sex scene in the Western capitals and reveled in transgressive sexuality. Ad Choices. Drawing on the work of Rubin and Butler, Hankins describes three genres of dragstraight-ahead, burlesque, and genderfuckthat range from stripteases and lap dances to simulations of necrophilia, bestiality, and race fetishism. The philosophical and political project of queer theory has always been to dethrone traditional heterosexual culture and elevate what Rubin called the sexual caste at the bottom of the hierarchy: the transsexual, the transvestite, the fetishist, the sadomasochist, the prostitute, the porn star, and the pedophile. While it can be hard to stand strong against such blatant hatred and political distractions, drag performers are a particularly resilient force: Weve been training our entire careers to ensure the show must go on and to spread joy during challenging times. After all, drag is forged in reinventing, in turning what is cast off as trash into gorgeous treasure. By 1984, as Rubin acknowledged, stable homosexual couples had achieved a certain amount of respectability in society. [18] The library had failed to do the background check that is part of its usual process for storytellers. Its just what it sounds like! My mom was worried about what people would think (I grew up in Toledo, Ohio, so not the most liberal city) and I finally told her, If you are proud of me, they will be proud of me, and it was true. Consequently, the police have feasted on them. It's a pretty simple narrative about not fitting into really strict categories, so for me it's really queer in that way. This caused the council to cancel the event, which it said was a "disappointing" decision, but they "had no choice" but to do so. [21] She feels it important to teach LGBTQ kids, including children in LGBTQ families, about subjects outside two tropes she's seen: gay and lesbian parents; and gender non-conforming children, like in 10,000 Dresses. For Rubin and later queer theorists, sex and gender were infinitely malleable. Its about a little girl named Kiely who thinks shes famous. "[17], In 2017 the New York chapter incorporated as a non-profit and has received funds from the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, and two city council members. I love that this program taps into the creativity and imagination that is already present in the lives of children and drag performers. [38], In February 2023, such an event took place at Manly Library in Sydney, but was guarded by police due to protests and even a reported bomb threat. Haters Call It 'Indoctrination' Here's What They're Really Learning. And this is not just an American phenomenon: Events in, have also been targeted. . Television producers packaged this new form of drag as reality programming, softening the image of the drag queen and assimilating the genre into mass media and consumer culture. Current laws make DSH events illegal in several countries, including Hungary and Russia. (Shutterstock) The importance of positive role models. The drag queens all men dressed up as clownish versions of women read stories to children under the guise of normalizing gender fluidity and giving kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. DQSH has chapters in 29 states, as well as in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality, Drag Pedagogy: The Playful Practice of Queer Imagination in Early Childhood, Tucson High School Counselor Behind Teen Drag Show Arrested for Relationship with Minor, Houston Public Library Admits Registered Child Sex Offender Read to Kids in Drag Queen Storytime, Drag Queen Charged with 25 Counts of Felony Child Sexual Abuse Material Possession, Second Drag Queen Story Hour Reader in Houston Exposed as Convicted Child Sex Offender, Drag Queen Story Hour Activist Arrested for Child Porn, Still Living with His Adopted Kids. The event in question was Drag Queen Story Hour, where drag artists read heavily illustrated books to children. After the 1960s, Harris wrote, ideology [tightened] its grip on the aesthetic of drag when gay men began to use their costumes to reevaluate the whole concept of normality and thus carry out a crucial part of the cross-dressers agenda: revenge. Drag performers increasingly saw their vocation as political and started street organizations such as Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries in order to join the wave of activism rising through their communities in New York, San Francisco, and other hubs. For more than five years, Ive been reading to children in libraries, bookstores, and beyond as part of. It was met with protesters, who were confronted by counter-protesters. The next critical turn occurred in 1990, with the publication of Gender Trouble, by the queer theorist Judith Butler. 2.2K Share 138K views 2 years ago "Tall Tales with True Queens" is a short film that offers a glimpse into a budding trend that is reshaping culture. Longtime Rubin collaborator Pat Califia, who would later become a transgender man, claimed that American society had turned pedophiles into the new communists, the new niggers, the new witches. For Califia, age-of-consent laws, religious sexual mores, and families who police the sexuality of their children represented a thousand-pound bulwark against sexual freedom. It begins with a freed slave named William Dorsey Swann, who dressed in elaborate silk and satin womens costumes, called himself the queen of drag, and organized sexually charged soires in his home in Washington, D.C. Over the course of his life, Swann was convicted of petty larcenyhe had stolen books from a library and dinnerware from a private residenceand then, in 1896, was charged with keeping a disorderly house, a euphemism for running a brothel, and sentenced to 300 days in jail. Hankins describes the world of drag as a sociosexual economy, in which the members of queerdom can titillate, gratify, and reward one another with cash tips and money exchanges. [7][23][24] An event organizer and performer noted: "Just like an actor can do an R-rated movie and a G-rated kids movie, we have different levels of how we entertain and how we can put on our character as well. In a society that too often wants things to be this or that, drag reminds us to appreciate the complexities and nuances of being both and. These concerns are justified. In a society that too often wants things to be, , drag reminds us to appreciate the complexities and nuances of being, And that is why Drag Queen Story Hour is so powerful: not because it indoctrinates children. Though the spread of sexually charged drag performances has an aura of inevitability, one should keep in mind that transgressive ideologies always contain the seeds of their own destruction. Drag Queen Story Hour can attempt to sanitize the routines and run criminal background checks on its performers, but the subculture of queer theory will always attract men who want to follow the ideology to its conclusions. A viral video shows a woman inside the Little Roos childrens clothing store in Chaska, outraged that a local drag queen is scheduled to host the stores first drag story time. When I was little, my favorite thing to do when I was swimming was the Ariel hair flip, or I would put my legs together and pretend I had a tail; I grew up in a super religious household and my parents, my mother especially, didn't know what to do with that. Such a theory needs refined conceptual tools which can grasp the subject and hold it in view. Personally, as the author of two childrens books, my work has faced book bans and challenges, including from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who parroted false far-right rhetoric accusing me of creating sexually charged content. I also regularly receive hate mail calling me horrific names and threatening my safety. spoke with five Drag Queen Story Hour volunteers across the country about their favorite childrens books to read in the program, how kids react to queer protagonists, and the impact queer-affirming stories would have had on younger versions of themselves. June 23, 2022 at 9:44 a.m. EDT A drag queen reads stories to children and their caretakers this month at a public library in New York. (a term I coined with education scholar Harper Keenan) lies less in learning about the specifics of LGBTQ identities or cultures, and more in understanding drag as a tool that helps us see the world as it is, but more important, as it could be. Drag queens read children's stories in a California bookstore as part of the "Drag Queen Story Hour" program to promote diversity among young children. 2023 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved. Many drag performers are gay men. "[32] West feels drag is "an opportunity for children to get creative and think outside the boxes us silly adults have crafted for them. Families with children find themselves caught in the middle. Lets be clear, the injection of drag queens into childrens consciousnesses goes beyond innocently sitting in a classroom reading storybooks. Though DQSH publicly positions its impact in help[ing] children develop empathy, learn about gender diversity and difference, and tap into their own creativity, we argue that its contributions can run deeper than morals and role models, they write. By Lil Miss Hot Mess Jul 7, 2022, 09:00 AM EDT | Updated Jul 8, 2022 A protester against drag queens reading to children holds a sign as protesting groups come together outside Jubilee Library on August 4, 2022, in Brighton, United Kingdom. Amanda Villa at a Sarnia, Ont., bookstore where she delivers drag queen storytimes to children. Drag Queen Story Hour for Kids @ Eureka Valley Library", "FACT CHECK: Did a Drag Queen in a 'Demonic' Outfit Read a Sexually Explicit Book to Children at a Public Library? Them may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. "When I enter the room with my big hair, big shoes, and lots and lots of sequins, children quickly prove to be a generous and curious audience." Start with queer theory, the academic discipline born in 1984 with the publication of Gayle S. Rubins essay Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality. Beginning in the late 1970s, Rubin, a lesbian writer and activist, had immersed herself in the subcultures of leather, bondage, orgies, fisting, and sado-masochism in San Francisco, migrating through an ephemeral network of BDSM (bondage, domination, sadomasochism) clubs, literary societies, and New Age spiritualist gatherings. As a reader, I do love when books get you to ask kids questions and interact in that way. Lil Miss Hot Mess is the author of the childrens books If Youre a Drag Queen and You Know It and The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish, and serves on the board of Drag Queen Story Hour. Their genuine capacity for kindness, their incessant questioning of why, and their propensity to find play in the most mundane settings also remind me that as much as I think I know, honey, I still have plenty to learn, too. In such periods, the domain of erotic life is, in effect, renegotiated. And, following the practice of any good negotiator, they laid out their theory of the case and their maximum demands. D rag Queen Story Hourin which performers in drag read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstoreshas become a cultural flashpoint. And I believe that almost all kids are really less concerned about playing with a toy that's supposedly aligned to their gender, and more concerned with playing with toys that speak to them. Thats the message parents should be communicating to their kids, at any age. As Rubin explained: A radical theory of sex must identify, describe, explain, and denounce erotic injustice and sexual oppression. Girl and Marti Gould Cummings. DSH is banned in Tennessee, but was blocked by a Federal Judge. By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. WebDrag Queen Story Hour is a program or event featuring drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, or bookstores. They live in this land where all the other creatures are either bunnies or birds, so they dont fit in. Finally, in addition to the recent wave of fame that contestants on RuPauls Drag Race have garnered in this golden age of drag, many performers hail from underground traditions exemplified by icons like Divine or Vaginal Davis that intentionally push social boundaries. And to assume that a child is incapable of explaining what happened and was incapable of giving his consent are two abuses that are intolerable, quite unacceptable.. When I enter the room with my big hair, big shoes, and lots and lots of sequins, children quickly prove to be a generous and curious audience. We like to wear our most sparkly clothes that make us feel fancy and fabulous. Storytellers using the art of drag to read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstores. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. But Rubin, the queer theorists, and the fetishists of the BDSM subculture wanted more. Still, as one of DQSHs organizers, its hard to ignore the drama that some members of society stir up. After, someone who was assigned female at birth came up to me and talked about how they didn't like wearing dresses but loved this book. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. In November 2022, a drag queen appeared on the children's television program Play School reading a book about crossdressing, which drew criticism from many. A transgender woman and an educator are among those challenging Montanas law banning people in drag from reading to children in public schools or libraries. , a formerly enslaved and incarcerated person who hosted drag balls in Washington, D.C., in the 1880s, asserting the right to queer and Black joy in public. As the movement behind drag shows for children has gained notoriety and expanded its reach, some drag performers have let the mask slip: in Minneapolis, a drag queen in heels and a pink miniskirt spread his legs open in front of children; in Portland, a large male transvestite allowed toddlers to climb on top of him, grab at his fake breasts, and press themselves against his body; and in England, a drag queen taught a group of preschoolers how to perform a sexually suggestive dance. [40], In May 2023, the Monash City Council in Melbourne planned to hold such an event to celebrate the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Drag Queen Story Hourin which performers in drag read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstoreshas become a cultural flashpoint. "[32] West added, "Children are inundated with implicit imagery from media about what is 'boy' and what is 'girl.' The library apologized and recognized its shortcoming in not properly vetting the performer in question. Since launching in San Francisco in 2015, Drag Queen Story Hour has expanded to over 25 cities across with the U.S., all in pursuit of a simple goal: use drag to foster a love of reading among children and young adults Drag does suggest that queer sexuality is That said, as much as drag offers a platform for children to learn to be their boldest, brightest and most beautiful selves, Drag Queen Story Hour also offers me an opportunity to learn from the children. They're reading to kids probably because their whole thing is that they're entertainers who probably enjoy what they do and because reading to kids is an objectively good thing. They felt seen and validated, which is interesting because they read as more masculine to me, but were attracted to the fact that someone was leaning to a different side of the spectrum. A drag queen reading childrens stories during an event in Saint John, N.B. There was some reason to believe that Rubin might be right. "When I enter the room with my big hair, big shoes, and lots and lots of sequins, children quickly prove to be a generous and curious audience.". In March, Tennessee passed a bill banning drag show performances in public places making it the first state to do so, PBS reported. Its just what it sounds like! As they make clear, drag is not about upholding beauty standards, but defying them. With citations to Foucault and Butler, the essay begins by applying queer theorys basic premise of social constructivism and heteronormativity to the education system. As a kid, I really think a book like Red would've helped my mom more than it would've helped me; the message and the metaphors wouldve really resonated with her. For example, in my picture books , The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish, , I invite kids and their caregivers to try on some of the things queens are known for: swishing their hips, snapping their fingers and shouting, Yesss, queen!. have you ever met a dragon? Queens become larger than life by transforming our outward appearance to better reflect our inner vision not just for ourselves, but for the world we want to inhabit. [11] Tea, who identifies as queer, came up with the idea after attending children's library events with her newborn son and finding them welcoming but heteronormative. Throughout the 20th century and beyond, drag queen activists have channeled a similar spirit of playful resistance to lead calls for justice. The reason drag queens "as a group" are reading to kids isn't because they're more effective or because they need their own story time hour. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The political Right has denounced these performances as sexual transgressions against children, while the political Left has defended them as an expression of LGBTQ pride. [19], The books read include children's classics and works featuring LGBT characters and issues. have channeled a similar spirit of playful resistance to lead, Finally, in addition to the recent wave of fame that contestants on, many performers hail from underground traditions exemplified by icons like. They believed that they were on the cusp of fundamentally transforming sexual norms. "[26], In a May 2019 First Things article and a subsequent debate with David A. French, Sohrab Ahmari argued that drag queen story hours presented a challenge to proponents of "conservative liberalism" who emphasized personal autonomy and opposed "the use of the public power to advance the common good, including in the realm of public morality". And to look fabulous doing it. In fact, as the queer pedagogist Hannah Dyer has written, queer pedagogy and, by extension, drag pedagogy seek to expose the very concept of childhood innocence as an oppressive heteropatriarchal illusion. Those who violate the law could face up to a year of jail time and a fine of $2,500. '"[20] Nehlen urged followers to gather photos and vehicle license plates of DSH participants for doxing, the Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting private or identifying information (especially personally identifying information) about an individual. As the queer theorists vanguard intellectual project was running aground on incest and bestiality fantasies, the most enterprising among them took a different tack: using the commercialization of drag and the goodwill associated with the gay and lesbian rights movement as a means of transforming drag performances into family-friendly events that could transmit a simplified version of queer theory to children.

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