"Drag kids" are, quite simply, children who dress in drag and perform (sometimes even for adults). They are in vogue right now and seem to be the latest bullet-point on the "woke" checklist and are unsurprisingly drawing a vocal cry of opposition and outrage from conservatives. I'm not the most "active" member of the LGBT community and I'm admitting ignorance on this topic, so I'm asking all of you for your thoughts. Why drag kids? Why are they being talked about now? Is it appropriate for children to do drag?
Honestly? It makes me uncomfortable. Drag itself doesn't bother me, but drag has always, always been adult in nature. You don't take children to bars, you don't take them to strip clubs, because you know it's unethical to push sexual themes on children. Kids are kids for only a short period of time; innocence can't last forever--so why shorten it further? Frankly, I think it's wrong. It's pretty much pedophilic that these adults are throwing money at scantily clad children. I hold the same opinion on beauty pageants for little girls as well. Exploiting children in general--and sexually in particular--is fucking disgusting. It's not even up for debate at this point, and nor is it just conservatives who feel strongly about this: Children should not be sexualized, period. Also, to clarify: I'm not against children cross-dressing. If a little boy wants to go all out in a dress, heels, and make-up, cool. What I am against is that same little boy (and I'm sure we can all think of one in particular) being used by their parents for publicity and monetary gain. That I most certainly am not okay with.
If children want to dress or pretend to be the opposite gender to explore their gender identity or for fun, I see nothing wrong with it. Having them perform Drag acts just seems wrong. I don’t know why people think kid drag acts should be a thing. I don’t know a lot about drag but it does seem highly sexualised and children should have no place in it. If you think it’s cute someone’s girl dressed up as a boy or vice versa it can be cute. Putting it on a stage isn’t really that cute it’s more exploitive.
I think cross dressing for fun or to explore is fine and quite normal. But, I think it should be age appropriate and not to entertain adults. Same as I would categorize little girls who like to try on their mothers’ makeup. It should be for them to play and learn and explore. Not to entertain adults.
So I am gonna go with, it’s the context of which it’s done. To dress up for fun sure. If they made a patent for youth drag, I could see that too. But to take a kid into an adult setting like a bar. Yeah that’s kind of where I draw the line. This day and age things are very different than they were when I was growing up. RuPauls Drag Race has made drag a mainstream thing and so it doesn’t surprise me that some kids want to get into it. I say good for them. But keep them out the bars.
I do not like beauty pageants in which young girls participate either. I realize that it is cultural (a "thing" perhaps in the American South more so than out here in the West) but it is a practice that makes me deeply uncomfortable. I have no issues at all with a young child who enjoys dressing up in the other gender's clothing and even models their behavior after drag performers, but actually performing for adults (dancing and lip-syncing in a bar or club) seems inappropriate to me and it disturbs me that this is being pushed as the next thing to accept or risk perception as backward and closed-minded.
How is it any worse than beauty pageantry? Child beauty pageantry is incredibly sexualised, make up, clothing and performance. Ok, I know it's a very Southern thing for the US, but still. One is ok but the other not? A comment about kid's performance sexualised routines. Kid's copy what they see. Pop videos, dance routines, hell even major sports in the US comes with a side order of soft porn these days - sorry i meant 'cheerleading'. Now tell me how kids are expected not to copy hyper-sexualised performance? The one follows the other. Maybe a useful question to ask would be 'how did we get here?'
I guess what I'm also asking, for those who are more familiar with drag: are drag performances inherently sexual? Another point: one supporter of kids in drag was pointing out that these boys are not wearing anything more skimpy and revealing than what similarly-aged girls wear; it just seems worse because it's cross-dressing (which brings up an interesting point about the ability of girls' clothing on boys to show how we really think about such clothing). I have no idea how true that is, not knowing many examples of "drag kids" and their garb.
I don't think anyone here would argue otherwise. In fact, those who have brought it up (myself included) have stated as much. Both are a disgusting exploitation of children. Children mimicking what they see is one thing, and not something that can be 100% dissuaded. The best a parent/guardian can do is educate their children on what is/isn't appropriate at their age. Children copying what they see on TV, even if it's uncomfortable, at least doesn't involve the children being exploited monetarily or for fame.
Contextually? Perhaps not always, though I would say the vast majority of the time, yes. I think the person making that claim is using a bit of a strawman. The issue isn't what the child is wearing--it's the context of what that child is doing while in those clothes. Were a little girl put on the stage, dancing provocatively for adults' amusement, I'd be saying the same thing. It sounds to me like the supporter is either missing the point of these arguments, or deliberately sidestepping them to make protesters seem intolerant, when it's oftentimes the opposite. You said it yourself in one of your previous posts; it feels an awful lot like we're being told to accept things, or forever be labelled "bigots". I don't know about you, but I've gotten pretty tired of the thought police on both sides.