“Drag Queen Story Hour,” DQSH for short, is pretty much what it says it is: A drag queen goes to a library and spends an hour reading stories to children. The idea originated with queer writer and activist Michelle Tea in 2015, and right-wingers have been having fits about it ever since, seeing it as a vile propaganda tool that’s “normalizing degeneracy” and luring children into the LGBTQ lifestyle. One right-wing Christian activist likened the events to “mental rape.”
If you’re curious as to what exactly happens at one of these events, a writer for the right-wing Federalist recently attended one in D.C. and brought back a field report of sorts. Gabe Kaminsky made sure no one would have to doubt which side of the “controversy” he was on, describing DQDH’s as
essentially when creepy adults spend time with children to indoctrinate them on controversial theories about sex and diversity.
There was just one problem: this particular DQSH was, as far as I can tell from his report, a fairly straightforward affair, free of “mental rape” and sneaky indoctrination.
Given that nothing dastardly happened during the event, Kaminsky resorted to weird insinuations and inappropriate scare-quotes in an attempt to make a very un-sinister experience seem sinister.
At a place called “Unity Park” in Washington D.C. over the weekend, parents brought their kids to listen to a female drag queen rocking Yoda-like ears and high-top silver boots read politically correct books, lecture on diversity, and flail around.
Yoda ears and silver boots! What a satanic combination!
The drag queen performing at the event, Katie Macyshyn, aka “Katie Magician,”
began by fiddling with a ukulele and reciting her pronouns. She stared down at kids through colored contacts.
Ukelele and pronouns and colored contacts! Oh my!
Macyshyn opened the story hour with the game “Simon Says.” After saying the name “Simon,” she backpedaled, seemingly discontent with using a male name. She then told the kids they would play “Katie says,” before reading.
Not “Katie says!” HER NAME IS KATIE! iS SHE SECRETLY HYPNOTIZING THE KIDS AND BRINGING THEM UNDER HER CONTROL …
Well, no, she wasn’t. It’s just a kids’ game.
Halfway through, Macyshyn instructed everyone to stand up for a game. Attendees walked over to the left of the park. The performer would say “pose” and everyone would stop.
The host took off her jacket after a few “poses,” staring at kids and almost reaching out to grasp them.
Almost? You’re accusing her of not doing something? If she had actually reached out and grabbed a couple of children and run off with them, that would be a story. “Almost” grabbing a kid isn’t a thing.
Kaminsky, lacking examples of actual deviance in the show, decided to attack Macyshyn, a performance artist, for things she has done elsewhere, for adult audiences.
Her performances include dancing in stockings with pieces of green cake falling off her costume, singing shirtless with duct tape on her breasts as people touch her forehead, dancing with a black thong around her thighs, and laying down with what appears to be fake sperm across her mouth.
Well, I guess it’s too bad she didn’t do any of these things in front of children because then Kaminsky would have a story. She didn’t; he doesn’t.
But that doesn’t stop him from declaring that Macyshyn is “one of the last people parents should let influence their kids or parenting.”
I can only assume that Kaminsky has written a similar piece arguing that Melania Trump is an unfit mother and a terrible role model because she has appeared in nude photos.
I couldn’t find such an article in The Federalist’s archives, though I did notice a small flood of articles by other Federalist writers defending Melania’s “sexy stillettos.” Maybe Kaminsky hasn’t heard about Melania’s photos? Maye he’s just too busy looking up what he thinks is incriminating stuff about drag queens.
Or maybe he just “almost” wrote such a story. Yeah, that’s probably almost it.
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This was my neighborhood. I took my own kids, under 5, and we are going to both remaining dates in august and sept. It was fantastic. Katie magician is always welcome here. Kaminsky, however, is exactly what I warn my kids about. He can gtfo and stay out.
@Mykidsarealright: Good for you. It sounds like lots of fun for the kids.
Did anyone notice Kaminsky? Was he over in a corner, scribbling notes in between clutching his pearls and having the vapors?
I bet he gave off bad vibes that kept the kids away from him, which is good.
@Allandriel: YES. The drag queens with too much makeup are scary exactly like clowns. It’s the white face and excessive eye, lip, cheek makeup.
@Elaine: which IIRC is basically a gang-bang, cuz there’s only one girl?
The mammoth never forgets.
Some kids are just too shy/introverted to enjoy hanging out with strange adults and kids.
(I was that, and also afraid of clowns)
@Schadrach
Um, WTH is that RDBM thing? That’s not a costume someone’s reading to kids in, is it?
@Elaine and GSS
Yes, that’s one of the worst parts of the book (and they’re only 11 years old) and it tries to present the scene as a form of “bonding” and intimate power which is supposed to help them find their way out after the friendship bond they originally had (which apparently was only due to fate or magic or some other thing instead of actual friendship?) starts deteriorating, but I have a million issues with that and the way it was handled, and it goes on for way too long with too much detail. There are actually some other really uncomfortable scenes in the book too such as
@Lumipuna
Does the “hard chairs” reference have something to do with why there was a user calling themselves “Scented Fucking Hard Chairs”? I never got that.
Well yes, that should be taken into consideration too. But if a kid has this type of personality, I don’t think story hour with strangers would be good for them, drag queens or no drag queens.
@Queen of the Harpies:
I assume so, though I don’t really know for sure.
Another of the Missing Ones. Haven’t seen Scildfreja or PoM in a long while either…or now Naglfar.
@Queen of the Harpies
It’s a costume from a summer reading event aimed at kids, that was shut down after the first event due to backlash. Some conservatives are now using it as an example of what lies down the slippery slope between DQSH’s and child predation by “dangerous” transfolk. As though RDBM was a natural progression from DQSH, and a natural progression from RDBM leads towards child molestation by the trans.
Kind of like how they use Jessica Yaniv (trans woman best known for suing places that do bikini waxes for not waxing her balls, and also for making lots of inappropriate vaguely pedophilic statements about very young girls and also trying to be involved in events where said young girls might be readily separated from their parents) as an example of why trans bathroom bills are necessary.
Yes: Hard Chairs, Scented Candle, & “Shut up, Woody” were jokes from ages past, that were part of the commentariat common references, based off of particularly entertainingly bad rants from the manosphere.
It was back when there was an up to date Welcome Package with descriptions and illustrations of some of the best of the best ridiculousness.
The commentariat here does cycle, as great folks get busy or threads explode from a regular turning out to be not-great.
Editing to add: most of the links in the welcome package are broken…but they should work if you replace the OLD blog name with the new one! I think. On mobile and haven’t tested on account of that being work.
Hard chairs refers to the MRA Tom Martin who sued his university because the chair in the library were hard, therefore misandry because men have less fat on their butts.
Scented fucking candles was from a feMRA rant featured here complaining about how women these days spend all their husband’s money on frivolous things like “scented fucking candles”