The Discourses of Drag Queen Story Time Challengers and Supporters

Date

March 23, 2022 12:00 - 13:00

Location

Online

Details

Website: http://www.events.westernu.ca/events/fims/2022-03/the-discourses-of-drag-queen.html

Presented by Roger Chabot, LIS PhD’19, and Davin Helkenberg, LIS PhD’19, as part of the FIMS Seminar Series.

For the Zoom link, contact Karen Kueneman at kueneman@uwo.ca

Abstract: Drag Queen Story Time (DQST) is a relatively novel public library program where drag queens lead a story time for children and families. Libraries advertise this program as one that brings families together to celebrate diversity, difference, and being true to oneself. For hosting libraries, however, the program can also invite an onslaught of political warfare against gender and sexuality non-conformity, often prompting controversy that threatens to influence library policies (or law) to restrict intellectual freedom.

Similar to Emily Knox’s (2014) work on the discourse of book challengers, this study analyzes the arguments of DQST challengers and supporters to better understand the motivations behind both negative and positive responses to this polarizing program. The study examines 406 publicly available letters written by community members, professionals, and vested organizations expressing opposition (261 letters) or support (145 letters) for a DQST that was hosted in a large library system in Canada in 2019.