Flannel Jesus wrote: ↑Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:10 pm
To make drag illegal is to decide what clothes women can wear and what clothes men can wear. Why in the world would we want the government to dictate what style of clothes we can wear?
I wouldn't make it illegal, but I think a discussion of it is a good idea. Why the sudden urge to have drag queens read to children? How about homeless people? People with a mental illness? Excentrics? Disabled people? Suddenly there is this urge to move something that was aimed at adults in bars and night clubs into libraries and schools. Why is this the kind of diversity we are focusing on?
I have questions about the messages it send to childen, especially girls about what a woman is. I could see not ruling out a crossdressing man.
LIke hey we found a bunch of people with different backgrounds and uniquenesses and, there on the list, is a crossdresser.
I wouldn't react. But there's something odd to me about deciding that this is the diversity training we are going to give children. Hey, let's pay for events where men who dress up as women to read to children is an odd idea.
But for some reason it's important that state funds get spent on drag queens reading to children. Why?
So, let's be clear the state is already involved and it is prioritizing this. I mean, I'm outside the US and it's a thing. I see no other outside the norm group being singled out to give readings to children. Not immigrants. No deaf storytellers. Not developmentally disabled storytellers.
Further it's not about dressing. It's about imitating women. Yes, make-up, but that's also unimportant, really. What's important is that it is men taking on the role of a woman - whatever that is. It reinforces stereotypes, unless the context is very clear, which it can be to adults. I'm not sure it is with children.
I think VT bringing up blackface is not a smoking gun, but an issue worth discussing.
I do improvisational theater. In that world there can be tremendous criticism of men who portray women in chiche ways. Given the nature of improv you may find yourself a man or a woman or gay or bi or pretty much anything in a scene. If you are a man and you end up being handed in a scene a female identity and you portray that woman in some sexist way, you're going to get called out on it. Because it is painting woman in ways that are denigrating. Of course, you don't have to do this in drag, but there is a tendency to portray stereotypical women's personality types.
I also think it's such a shallow sense of diversity. I mean if the idea is to avoid slamming people with norms, man both the Left and Right these days are doing a bad job.