Can We Put the Kink Back the Drawer?
More Freakazoid Fetish Internet Backroom in Glasgow labelled as 'art' is not good for children or society, and it's becoming a theme
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“What is good for children?” is a question I often ask myself, and one I think we societally are forgetting. I have written a lot on the ‘specialness’ of childhood. Childhood done well is a wonderful thing, it gives foundations which serve us for life. Not every child has a great childhood, but we want every child to have a great childhood. That should be our goal. In order to do that, however, we need to recognise childhood in the first place- or society is in big trouble. So often it feels like a Sisyphean task advocating for this (against the tide) as I move the boulder up the mountain only to see it topple again.
Children are not adults in small bodies. And just insomuch as we wouldn’t expect a newborn to get out an ‘earn a wage’ so too we shouldn’t be shouldering children with adult concerns and ideas. There has to be a boundary and we adults should feel absolutely obligated to uphold it. ALL adults. Regardless of whether they are parents or not. And we should be working actively to ensure that there is proper investment in things kids enjoy and benefit from. Those gardens will not grow themselves.
Yet I am constantly met with images, programs and events that are not good for children. Like this one from Glasgow City Centre this past weekend.
What do we see? Women posed in front of the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art dressed in skin coloured pants and bras, with blood pouring out of their genitals and cones with tubes attached to their ‘nipples’. This image seems out of some freakazoid fetish internet backroom. I really did not need to see that. Yet here it is not behind some adult paywall. Not somewhere parents can 'choose’ to look at or not but in front of the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art on a busy Saturday.
Are the barometers of what is not acceptable been so worn down that those boundaries and guardrails for children have disappeared both individually and societally?
I hate to go all Mary Whitehouse on you, but maybe she was right? Can we bring back a little of ‘healthy’ shame and put the kink back in the drawer please? It’s literally bleeding in our streets.
Last year another ‘artist’ had work installed in Glasgow Prince’s Square in the central courtyard as part of the Take Me Somewhere Festival. Readers might remember that TMS was also embroiled in the Rein Porn Film Scandal as one of its production and funding partners. The courtyard held special memories for me, as in the isolation of single motherhood I would often find myself there as I could sit and watch my toddler run about meeting other toddlers. This was a known space for under 5s to congregate with their parents and carers on rainy days or as a welcome recess in the midst of shopping.
Here is a description of the work:
“As a “Fat Queer White Trans body” in the context of South Africa, artist Dean Hutton questions who or what is entitled to take up space. In doing so, they address the personal and political of hypervisibility: being visible (as a fat, queer, white, trans body) and invisible, unimportant at the same time (as a fat, queer, white, trans body).
Soft Vxnxs is a large-scale, inflatable sculpture installation, presented in Princes Square shopping centre. Visitors are invited to touch or embrace the work. They are round, soft, flexible, and inviting. Society expects fat and messy bodies to turn up traumatized and out of breath and never cheerful, horny, or beaming with political speech. In response, Soft Vxnxs creates comfort and space for vulnerability.”
“Horny”?!?!. This is installed in a space frequented by TODDLERS. And even as an adult woman, I do NOT want to be subjected to this artists porn influenced sculpture in the public square. People should be given the *choice* whether to engage with it or not. If an individual had to shop alongside this monstrosity they could not avoid it. It’s psychological assault. Maybe even abuse. A woman told me she came across it and as a victim of sexual abuse it brought back a host of horrific memories. Did the organisers even think about any of that? No clearly not.
It’s not only ‘experimental art’ though. It’s also in our more traditional Burrell Collection. Last year I was shocked to find an interactive permanent display of Rodin’s work at toddler level. In it children are encouraged to run their hands over the naked torsos. Riddle me this, why *this* particular sculpture on display out of Rodin’s entire wheelhouse?
Or in Perth Museum’s “Unicorn Exhibit” as reviewed here by Shona Craven.
Quite ironically the key piece in the exhibition is a ‘trojan unicorn’ which is apt. The messaging around this program was misleading, I saw many posters around Glasgow that had no indication that this (ultimately) was going to be about ‘queer identities’. The images chosen on the advertising were of Renaissance paintings.
I got messages from families (having seen the poster) who skipped along to the production and were shocked to find the exhibition leading to ‘taxidermy trophies’ created by artists ‘representing the LGBTQIA+ community’ and specifically their ‘gender identity’. The theme of gender fluidity was intentionally carried through in the section marketed and aimed directly at children including a unicorn plushie with a LGBT Youth Scotland t-shirt and books with ‘trail blazers’ such as Eliot/Ellen Page and Alok Aid-Menon who has called little girls ‘kinky’.
Art? No. Propaganda? Definitely.
But it’s not just the fetish and sexual boundaries being pushed. Our schools are packed to the rim with adult sized issues that even we grown ups struggle with. In my post I wrote for
‘Burying Puppies Alive’ I recount a host of ‘Disaster Education’ topics which are foisted onto children in primary schools as they are forced to dwell on death counts in Pakistan, cruelty to animals, and brain aneurysms. And through programs like the UNCRC Rights Respecting School Charter scheme, we tell children ‘it’s up to you’, ‘you’re in charge’ priming them for tasks for which they have no skills or experience. My son and his friends came home in an emotional panic about the poor people in Pakistan as if they (8 year olds) were personally responsible for flood victim’s tragic misfortune.When I put forth a complaint to Glasgow Education Services I was told this was part of the official curriculum which aims to make our children into ‘global citizens’. Part of of the Global Citizen Model that is being embedded in schools. Curiously devoid of any child development markers, it presents a model of psychological infiltration and abuse. And ultimately it breaks children. We parents did not ask for this, we did not want this and yet (thanks to the UN and its Global Sustainability Goals) it is here. (You can read and listen to my piece on the UNCRC here). At the same time children’s education (as you or I think about it) has been degraded to a point wherein we see the worst literacy rates in decades.
In this video by
Elisabeth Cave shares her understanding of the Philosophy of Education and specifically on the theory of “identity disruption”. This is a vitally important video for parents and educators to see. She outlines how (currently, in schools) a ‘whole healthy secure child’ is put through a process of ‘identity disruption’ and made into an ‘induced, disrupted and gender hyper focused child’. Through interrogation of ‘the true self’ and a culture of overshare the child also finds his/herself separated and isolated from the family unit causing even more instability.In the theory of identity she posits (which I would call common sense) a healthy ‘identity’ is formed through the understanding of common humanity and character, not external characteristics or some abstract feeling of ‘gender’. What’s more she outlines how this model of indoctrination encourages selfishness in the world. It is devastating for children, and yet this is the basis of our educational structure currently.
And I repeat: Children are NOT adults in small bodies. This has got to stop.
Where does that abuse, concurrent narcissism and broken psychology leave us? With productions like this:
Let’s take a look at this ‘production’ in more detail because I think it elucidates many layers of our time. I am changing the name of the individual in question as I do not want any attention brought to her ‘work’. (although I get the sense she has enough personal funds not unlike the Just Stop Oil brigade that she will carry on regardless….)
Mabel* who is from London decided to shoot up to Glasgow in order to stage a ‘performance protest’ outside of the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow recently.
What do we see? Women dressed in skin coloured pants and bras, with blood pouring out of their genitals and cones with tubes attached to their ‘nipples’.
Apparently she is ‘protesting’ humans drinking cow’s milk. I doubt most of those passing would have engaged with her ‘theme’ as even looking at the picture (except for the creeps who might get off on it). I want to avert my eyes.
Let’s consider the setting. A busy Saturday- hundreds of families who would have been passing by. Young children with their parents heading into the gallery for their Saturday art club.
Even if you are interested and want to engage with this issue, the presentation is grossly inappropriate (and perhaps damaging) for children’s viewing. If a parent wanted to speak to his/her child about ‘the milk industry’ I doubt very much they would *choose* to do it in this way. Why? Because it’s a graphic and disturbing image. Not good for children.
Thinking on what I spoke about earlier about boundaries and an adult’s obligation to children I asked a police officer friend if this was legal and her response was if it “causes fear or alarm” it could be dealt with as a Section 38 CJL(S) Act.
So, illegal, in theory.
But it’s not only that - it’s also about how Mabel* is so desensitised to placing herself on display like this, her body (ironically, given her subject interest) merely a commodity to be traded in the street. This dissociation reflects a self objectification of females in the public square being (more) normalised.
The language of disembodiment is endemic both in culture AND our very own Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Curriculum (RSHP) which is embedded in schools from nursery. The basis of queer theory is the removal of all boundaries - as we see kids *encouraged* to follow a culture of hedonism with no consequences. Jennifer Bilek points out in her interview with J.D. Holler (The Philosopher’s Holler) that what has become acceptable today on stages and screens would have been considered pornographic in the 1950s. The social boundaries which once held society together are being eradicated and with that what is acceptable becoming more and more crazy.
It is this ‘sexual rights agenda’ and these disappearing boundaries which allows LGBT Youth Scotland to continue unabated and unashamedly promote ‘The Gay Baker’ to school children whose cookies have messages about ‘gooning’. Using ‘homophobia’ as a shield good child development and modelling of good and healthy behaviour is lost.
And for those at the back of the room here is Derrick Jensen on Queer Theory. Because sex between adults and children is already on the table as the UN is expanding the Overton window with recent calls to ‘decriminalise child porn…. as long as it’s ‘consensual’."
The dissociation of the artist to her physical and emotional self (in the objectification of herself on a public street) and to the wider world (in her lack of accountability or sensitivity to wider issues) is telling.
In another interesting twist I discovered some of Mabel’s* writing on her project relating to something called ‘speciesism’. As we can see in another page of the ‘Queer Theory: A Graphic History Book’, it’s not just age, type of sex, props that one can ‘opt into’ like a shopping trip but also what species.
In some sort of crazy coincidence last week it emerged that a boy was identifying in a Scottish school as a wolf. Did this book inform this decision, or was it one of the many pieces of the puzzle that he was assaulted with in his vulnerable state which led him to believe he is something he is not?
Perhaps none of this should come as a surprise as the very existence of humanity has been promoted as being an illusion in the soft fuzzies #bekind delivered to the electorate on a ‘gender identity’ platform (ie. queer theory on speed). There is a billion dollar lobby behind all this, which is seeking to undermine the very facet of what our humanity is about, in order to gain control and groom our children for a transhumanist industry.
If the most basic tenet of our existence, the very evolutionary basis of life is seen as ‘optional’ as children are told *maybe* they aren’t real (in terms of their sex), then it’s ALL up for grabs. Why not be a wolf, a deer, a chair?
And I am thinking on this, because a thinking person will see how we are only leading a person to lifelong trauma, real physical (not to mention psychological) trauma, as we interfere with their healthy, whole bodies. Is the culture of victimhood and oppression also priming our children for this eventuality?
In further note of interest this week the UK Column broadcaster Diane McAdie reported on the UN “Summit of the Future” in New York. Members voted (undemocratically) on something called ‘The Pact for the Future’ in which there is a focus on ‘the planet’ and humans are sidelined in the agenda.
In her broadcast she draws attention to another individual working in the arts, opera singer Renee Fleming. Ms. Fleming bemoans the lack of ‘connection’ modern humans have to nature in our current ‘Anthropocene’. Another propaganda agent for the UN machine Renee, like Mabel*, will not face any of the consequences of her statements or actions.
Like all things UN one has to pay attention to the language used. They bandy words about like the ‘crises’ facing our planet, ‘democratic eco-socialism’ and ‘sustainable development’ which (maybe) all sound jolly? But then like a screw ‘systemic solutions’ come up and here is where it gets tricky. Because these unelected bureaucrats are making decisions for our lives over which we have no say or control. And in this *new* paradigm are ‘sentient’ beings are going to be pushed further forward over their human counter parts?
As we see in Mabel’s* production piece.
It’s an interesting juxtaposition, this. ‘Sentient beings’ (ie. non-humans) are being prioritised at the same time children are being groomed to believe they ‘can be anything’ - that ‘reality is what you feel it is’. Is this part of the techno-medical-industrial complex Jennifer Bilek has written so succinctly about? (buy her book here)
In her words, “No one truly transitions their humanity. The label "trans," when applied to a type of person, is a corporate myth—a product that is bought and sold. It is as synthetic as the Kardashian clan, existing purely as image. As a type of person, it is a spectacle, akin to a Hollywood production.”
So perhaps it is predictable that our cultural sector, largely made up of privileged trust fund babies like Mabel* can so easily traverse this divide. She has the resources and the means to create the illusion while propagandising the message. (and with requisite academic word salad to match)
Here is what Mabel* has to say about her ‘work’:
“…whilst it is important to consider the ways in which different forms of oppression intersect and compound, OUR FOCUS HERE IS ON NONHUMAN ANIMALS, and that we do not stray from keeping them at the forefront of every campaign we do. In order to end speciesism and end the exploitation of nonhuman animals, we cannot conflate the moral viewpoints regarding humans and nonhumans alike, and instead we should focus solely on highlighting the injustices inflicted onto nonhumans caused by a speciesist and human supremacist worldview.”
'“Human supremacist worldview”. It is apparent in her staging here in Glasgow she is not here to engage with people on her important issue but to be judge jury and executioner of the ‘useless eaters’ (literally). This is a common attitude in the arts and education. Not there to deliver knowledge so that you can make up your own mind but as a saviour to the ignorant and unwashed plebs on the street. Certainly not in service.
I would assume to, that the artist (who was protesting the milk industry (I think) had not considered (nor cared if she had) that many of the people who might have been passing by were facing the sharp end of food poverty. And that her particular presentation was not just tasteless in the truest sense, but cruel. Homelessness figures in Scotland have just been reported as the worst in decades.
She would have passed some of these individuals as she swanned about the city. Poverty is a devastating thing, it robs a person of agency to make choices. Like float about in one’s bloodied pants on a busy Saturday claiming it’s ‘art’. One in four children are below the poverty line in Glasgow. Standing on the art museum steps in judgement is not going to win them over, it will however cause distress. I would also pose that her ‘aim’ to change the dairy industry (which may in and of itself be a worthy cause) might be better posed to those who do and can have impact.
And I consider what uplifts people in times of great struggle, to allow them to see things through, and its hope. Hope delivered through beauty and the reminder of what is best about humanity. As we saw in the video by
above. It’s the wrong way round.What we are seeing is a person who uses the mantle of art to practice her own narcissism. And this, in my opinion, is the sharp end of where our current education system could leads our children as they age into adulthood. It’s not a nice or a healthy picture.
Another interesting point is this ‘production’ was covered in the Glasgow Times and The Herald. (I am not going to link to the story I don’t want this individual to have more clicks/press). Both articles stated that the work was from ‘an award winning artist’. Yet when I looked further I discovered that Mabel’s* ‘award winning title’ was derived from an online art competition she had paid to enter which she had been shortlisted for (was everyone who entered shortlisted? Anyone’s guess). Suffice it to say the Venice Bienalle it is not. Obviously there was not a lot of journalism going on. And this lack of actual journalism further propagates a culture of harm to children.
Mabel’s* convenient juxtaposition next to GOMA had the appearance that it was an ‘official’ GOMA piece. But no. Mabel* has only been creating ‘art’ for a year which involves her putting (expensive) billboards up about her anti-milk, anti-meat, anti-human cause. Goes to show you how easily people can be hoodwinked and how easily Mabel* was able to ‘fake news’ herself to stardom as it were. None of it is real.
I made lots of public art in my time (lots and lots) my starting point was always ‘what is needed in this space, what is good for people, AND to be respectful of people’s boundaries’. What’s more I made work over months and years, cultivating relationships and trust, I didn’t blast in guns blazing and force people to dance.
But artists, as the public servants of the education sector, are no longer trained to think of themselves as in service to the public and they are fast losing the loyalty of those they are there to serve. As the arts face more and more challenges financially the general public will say ‘f-you with your pronouns and your protest and your gender neutral toilet, I just wanted a good show!’. Ach well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you….
Special thanks to my current subscribers, if you are a free subscriber maybe you could consider becoming a paid subscriber? A yearly subscription is just £30 per year, £4.00 per month or founding membership £250. Every penny makes a difference & allows me to continue advocating for children & childhood. Or buy me a coffee? Thank you!!!!!!
“devoid of any child development markers, it presents a model of psychological infiltration and abuse. And ultimately it breaks children.”
The art, literature, tv programs, and curricular content produced in 2024 — all of it is “curiously devoid of any child development markers.” Because western culture is no longer interested in raising healthy, stable children. It’s not about the kids anymore. It’s all about promoting agendas. No one seems to give a fig if anything benefits kids or not.
Excellent stack.
Excellent piece, thank you