A search is under way for two lesbian grandmothers who inspired a new children’s book after a chance encounter with a pantomime dame at Blackpool Pride.
It appears to be a real article, despite sounding like a parody…
The women, whose names are not known, attended a reading by the popular performer Mama G in 2021, complaining to her about the lack of diversity in young literature. Mama G said she had been reading books to children at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens when the women asked if there were any featuring lesbian grandmothers.
Note the pronouns used…
The question left her stumped. “I was like, erm, no. I don’t actually think I’ve ever seen lesbian grandmothers in a story, not even as a subsidiary character,” she said. One of the women, clearly disappointed, told her it was “so hard to find yourself represented in books”.
And yet, this is no female!
The conversation prompted Mama G, whose real name is Robert Pearce, to write a children’s picture book where two older queer women are “front and centre for a change”.
I can remember when drag queens were acknowledged as men in make up and dresses, and confined to working men’s clubs and panto! Far less to be found in libraries reading to children.
Mama G, who is performing at Edinburgh fringe this summer, said the lack of diversity in children’s books was still a problem, despite the efforts of a number of authors and smaller publishers.
I think it’s a ‘problem’ we can well live with. What say you, Reader?
Good spot! I thought the whole point about pantomime dames was that they were men and never claimed otherwise - certainly that was the case for the chap who did the paintwork when I last moved house (naturally they have to earn a living outside the panto season - he did an excellent job).
ReplyDeleteI’ve been trawling the shelves for picture books recently and I’m sure I’ve seen lesbian or gay grandparents - in the background, at least - more than once. Mind you, it’s hard to remember clearly, since things have moved on rather since ‘Mr Gumpy’s Outing’; where the supporting roles in the plot were once occupied by animals, friendly monsters or anthropomorphised vehicles, the infant reader is now bombarded by a multi-coloured horde of same-sex couples, wheelchair users, hijab-wearers* and men in Rasta hats.
(*One example features a very young girl upset because she and her older sister are not dressed alike for their joint school photo; the sister solves the problem by using the sash from the child’s dress to make her a matching hijab; result = ‘happiness’.)
Clearly a Paint-o-mime dame.
DeleteOn reflection:
ReplyDelete‘The conversation prompted Mama G […] to write a children’s picture book where two older queer women are “front and centre for a change”.’
Translation: ‘Robert Pearce spotted an opportunity for a nice little earner and hooked the Guardian into advertising it for him.’
“so hard to find yourself represented in books”
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever found myself represented in books. I can't remember ever wanting to find myself represented in books. Or looking to see if I could find myself represented on books.
Do some people feel they are not validated if they are not represented in books? Very odd!
John Tee
I believe that Peppa Pig had a quite effeminate grandad
DeleteI can tell you that Grandpa Pig was my wife's relative David Graham, definitely straight and also the voices of Parker, Brains and many other Gerry Anderson characters. He died aged 99 and was doing voice-overs up to the end.
DeleteWhat's this obsessive demand to see yourself in fiction? It's FICTION ferglodsake. I'm not an alien time traveller, or a police agent with a psycic extra arm, or lunar freedom fighter, or paired with a vegatable symbiote, or a Venetian legal defender. That didn't damage my ability to enjoy FICTION.
ReplyDeleteI have fond memories of Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough as "Cissy and Ada", Paul O'Grady as" Lily Savage" and even Arthur Lucan as "Old Mother Riley". All were funny and made no effort to impart any other than humour into their acts.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a story about a lesbian grandmother, it was in the papers. A young girl commented that a certain female police officer who had entered her home looked like her "lesbian nanna", and all hell then broke loose, with accusations of bigotry aimed at said young (and autistic) child, and by extension, her family.
ReplyDeleteSteven
It seems that instead of the hard work of fame by dint of achievements, that it's been replaced by the "fame" of look-at-me-ME-MEEEEEE victimhood and how much they're "suffering" and how it's everyone else's fault.
ReplyDeleteFreakery is fame in these encouraged narcissistic times fueled by scumbag politicians jumping on the bandwagon to show how "caring and inclusive" they are.
This starts in the home with childlike parents bringing up brats, aided by an "education" system that concentrates on everything but knowledge, instead these Marxist infested edifices turn out whining, knowledge-lite propagandised, evreee-chuyyyyuld-is-speshhhuuull, I-know-my-rights, insecure , undisciplined and damaged virtually unemployable nothings eager for 15 minutes of fake reality "fame" and how many non-"friends" and clicks they get on soshul-meejah.
The saddest part, is that the majority are lonely and insecure and incapable of a personally face to face relationship. You can see it when you see whole groups of them on their bloody "smart"phones, the only personal interaction when they show someone their screen.
Despite what the appalling excuse for a government says, this is precisely what they eat, do osl disconnection, as it poses less of a threat and keeps the plebs isolated.