I maintain that gay drag queens are perhaps not of the best moral fibre and are very poor role models for young children. This perception is coloured by my direct experience of the gay community over the last 50 years. I am not even suggesting they are pedofiles or anything of that type. They are simply not pillars of the community that I would even think to let around little kids. (No doubt someone will feel a need to post 5,000 links on how fantastic drag queens are.)
Even if drag queens aren't pillars of the community, reading to kids in a public setting isn't exactly influencing them to a life of crime. It likely does the opposite since it supports literacy and education. Unless children can be influenced into unsavory behavior through contact with individuals alone, I don't see the risk. In fact, providing a service to the community through reading to children could be a great way for individuals to change their own behavior as they become part of the larger community.
I'm not even saying all drag queens are bad. Straight drag is nowhere near as toxic, for example, as straight drag has always been comedy/theatrically based, whereas gay drag is more in line with smutty burlesgue. This is my experience. It is quite possible others who are familiar with this group will think differently. (I'm trying very hard to be generous here.)
I hadn't known that there was a difference between "straight" and "gay" drag. Could you elaborate? Do you mean straight or gay performers or the context behind their performances?
Is there a way to tell which (straight or gay, however you define it) is reading to kids, and would the sexuality of the performer be an actual problem?
Last, I was abused by members of the gay community when I was a young teen. 11 different men, to be exact, before I was 18. Forgive me, if I am wary of putting other vulnerable kids into harms way.
I am sorry to hear that. :-( I get that your experience is certainly informing your view on this and I am unlikely to change that, but I think it's important to note that your experience is your experience: It sucks and those people who abused you were wrong and should be kept away from children, but they are not the only representatives of the gay community. I know a few who work on various roles with kids and do an excellent job.
Um, you said sex and gender are not trivial. I replied that I'd have to keep that in mind when people were telling me about their deeply meaningful, stunning and brave, usagage of made up pronouns. Being respectful of such piffle might take me awhile.
Okie doke!
My thought is that sex--both in biological categorization, reproduction, and emotional response--and gender and its relationship to both personal and social identities, are extremely important to humans and I have always found it baffling how they are sometimes seen as trivial subjects.
It makes sense that people may see their new use of pronouns as being meaningful in that it does relate to personal and social identity and as brave in that challenging gender roles is fairly revolutionary. People's experiences are often very different, hence why I see absolutely nothing wrong with drag queens reading to kids, but you see it as a bad idea. Similarly, using gendered pronouns differently than the traditional usage can be deeply meaningful to one but insignificant to you.
Sorry, a small but significant correction is in order. I do not despise rainbows. I love rainbows. I utterly dispise the rainbow "pride" flags.
One can only imagine why pride came to be considered a deadly sin. Oddly, I'm beginning to appreciate some of the reasons.
If you don't mind me exploring this a bit more: What exactly about "pride" is it that you despise?
I personally see that pride can be toxic or positive for a person or group's wellbeing depending on how or why it is expressed. For a group that has traditionally been ostracized with continued attempts to legislate against, I imagine celebrating a positive feeling towards inclusion is cathartic.
I actually think you are on the right track as I do view this as almost like an emerging new religion (on the left)
I think maybe seeing a religious fanaticism I agree with, and maybe some religious aspects but I am not sure about a fullblown religion. And that's keeping in mind that, in part, the religious proclivities of the American right has been a factor in how LGBTQ+ folks have been treated.
Now that you know my own terrible history of extreme sexual abuse at the hands of homosexual pedophiles one might understand my reluctance to champion anything coming from this sector of the community. I do not know that I can get much clearer.
Yeah, I definitely see how that would impact your views of the community. I seriously doubt our discussion of this will change how you feel considering the past abuse. My own experiences with the community have been largely different aside from one experience, and I am formulating my response here around a couple of points:
-One person's negative experiences don't necessarily reflect the whole community.
-The community has been marginalized and stigmatized forcing it largely underground until recently.
-Every group has its negative elements.
Please don't think this is minimizing the abuse you suffered. I am sorry you had to go through it and it's a good reminder that the community isn't free of its own demons.
The idea hit me a few days ago and just seems to fit, from my perspective. For example, Rival brought up young people on Tik Tok posting these bizarre videos of themselves in all manner of peculiar situations. One common feature is that MOST of these young people do not present well from a mental health perspective. This quality should stand out to even a casual observer.
I work specifically in mental health. A lot of folks nowadays don't present as mentally healthy from my perspective. Something to consider is how social media distorts reality. I concede that there is much on social media that is negatively impacting our culture based on how it operates with targeted algorithms and how media that gets the most attention will be what is highlighted most often. I also do think that anything impacted by our rapid technological advances is causing almost too sudden a shift in cultural norms for a good part of the population to ve comfortable with.
However, being an American and one that believes in both the flexibility in and relative nature of gender as a social construct as well as the need for civility amd the American ethos of "liberty and justice for all," I am inclined to support individual gender expression as a freedom that should not be devalued through social ostracism.
Hmmm. It's all very well to have a high level discussions with people about Gender Ideology who are mentally stable and are able to think critically. This innocent gender expression when unleashed in the wild is GOING to have unpredictable results and we are beginning to see oddities emerge that we have never seen before.
Very likely! It's going to be interesting. Life is a bizarre and facinating thing to be a part of.
Gender Dysphoria used to affect males, almost exclusively, whereas in recent years we are now seeing this predominantly affecting (young white) females. What caused this shift with women suddenly transitioning in unprecedented numbers? (Sorry, it cannot be an organic or natural shift.)
I think it could be related to how women have been treated. In many ways, homosexuality, transgenderism, and gender roles have been entwined culturally, so it makes sense that where we see differences in gender roles, we may see differences in gender dysphoria.
I'm also puzzled why many folks sneer at the idea that what we are seeing is a social contagion. I just thought, when folks are playing around with the idea that gender is a social construct why wouldn't a natural result be a social contagion?
It may be the negative connotation of "contagion." I personally don't see anything wrong with the idea that there may be a social spread of the concept, but in some ways, this supports the idea that gender is a social construct, no?
It's like how conservatives are very against social exposure against the concept of individual gender expression, but this only supports the view that gender can change based on social norms.
Yes! I am glad we can discuss this matter civilly.
