Conservative commentator Daisy Cousens has delivered a tirade arguing that children should never be exposed to the world of drag whether it be through the popular drag storytime events, or young kids launching their own drag careers.
Describing the combination of gender fluidity being taught in schools, drag time story events, and young children being inspired by drag queens as a “slippery slope”, Cousens says society needs to call out examples of where young people are exposed to drag performers and stop it becoming “normalised”.
Cousens, who is a regular panelist on the Sky News program The Bolt Report, posted a YouTube video arguing that while she’s a fan of drag herself, she doesn’t believe it’s a suitable artform for children to be exposed to. She argues that all drag is sexual in nature and she takes the LGBTI community to task for supporting younger people who express interest.
Her video comes following controversy surrounding a Canadian child drag star Queen Lactacia being photographed next to a near-nude Violet Chachki. Cousens says she has nothing against the young performer Nemis Quinn Mélançon-Golden, and describes herself as a fan of the artform, but she believes young boys dressing up in women’s clothing in something that needs to be kept in the home.
“I…have nothing against little boys dressing up in girls clothing if they want to. If ‘little Billy’ wants to wear Mummy’s Sunday frock and lipstick and play dress-ups in front of his family and friends that is perfectly fine and adorable, and he shouldn’t be shamed if he wants to do that.” Cousens said, but she argues that a child performing drag is something completely different.
“Drag is a totally different beast. Drag as an artform is designed to caricature the most quintessential elements of femininity and female sexuality. In other words, it is designed to be sexual, it is an adult artform and an adult world.”
Cousens says that society has made the right call by rallying against child beauty pageants that see young girls dress up like their are adults, and argues young boys need to be offered the same protection from drag performances.
“There is so much emphasis placed on the wellbeing of little girls, and nobody seems to talk about the wellbeing of little boys.” Cousens says in the video, arguing that there is an “insidious” movement to expose boys to drag culture in the name of diversity.
What do you think? Is all drag sexual? How old should you be before learning to lip-sync? Sound off in the comments section below, or join the conversation on Facebook. Â
Graeme Watson
