There have been some recent protests against some of our competitors, who offer a drag-performer-led story time for children. The protestors were in desperate need of personal shoppers, suncream and possibly a membership of Calm, so naturally, it has become news. Since it’s now considered newsworth by the powers that be, one of our founders, DJ (who performs as Maneeta), was invited to join Antisocial on BBC Radio 4 at 12pm on 5th August 2022 to talk about the ideology of drag performer story time for children, such as the service we offer, Drag Tales.
Antisocial presents itself as peace talks for culture wars. The aim of the show is to guide readers away from polarization toward facts, mutual understanding and mutual respect. We felt that DJ demonstrated that we respect people like Jo Bartosch, who spoke against drag queen story time, even when we disagree with their opinions. We can mutually understand that people should be able to dress however they feel and that the protests, which occurred in Reading Central Library are unsuitable and potentially damaging to the children. Luckily we have not had any in Shoreditch yet and I hope our small numbers make it not worth protesting. However, we disagree with Ms Bartosch that Drag Tales would ever be fetishizing gay men as sparkly entertainers or sexualised. It’s not. It is entertainment for children led by our drag performers including kings, queens and NB performers and the material is all suitable for children.
We are so proud of DJ (Maneeta) for participating in the debate in a cool, collected and non-combative way and demonstrating that if we listen to each other then we heal the cracks in society’s makeup and blend away from the polarized contour that effect us. We could grow to a more harmonious future. It is debatable whether anyone who is already very polarized would listen at all, but all we can do is hope and try. It’s a bit like eating kale, it’s not necessarily satisfying, but it’s the right thing to do! I would like to take this time, to applaud DJ for doing the right thing and representing us. We, the esteemed performers at Dragged Around London, are extremely proud to work with DJ and Maneeta for the breath of fresh air and idealism that they bring us.
This is the opinion of Ms Dolores Day and does not necessarily represent the views of all the performers and staff at Dragged Around London.
