A show aimed at children aged 5 and over and featuring full-frontal nudity and ‘stories about sexual pleasure’ based on real experiences of performers has been cancelled in several venues after an outcry from parents and commentators.
“The Family Sex Show” was described by Cambridge-based theatre company ThisEgg – who claim sexual development and behaviour in children starts from birth – as “an alternative to porn”, according to a GB News report last week.
Almost 40,000 people signed a Citizen Go petition opposed to the show, which was addressed to the British Arts Council who was funding the production, which boasted it would ‘explore functions, boundaries, consent and queerness using songs and movement’.
The petition argued that: “Children should not be de-desensitised to the sight of naked adult bodies or introduced to topics surrounding adult sexual pleasure.”
“This is nothing more than a blatant and extremely concerning attempt to sexualise children prematurely and is abusive. The show aims to break down children’s natural boundaries and expose them to content they are not sufficiently mature enough to handle,” it said.
The sex-show’s promotional material explained it would be talking about masturbation and asked children to use the internet to find examples of animals who masturbated.
https://twitter.com/JacobGroet/status/1516394470232702980
https://twitter.com/SteveLaws_/status/1516401800273879047/photo/1
It also encouraged children to share which parts of their bodies felt “especially nice to the touch for you?”
GB News reported that “political activist and actor Laurence Fox encouraged followers on Twitter to sign the petition, saying: “It’s wrong for five-year-old children to watch naked strangers on stage. Take them to the Lion King instead”.”
Susan Glaholm, a social worker in mental health and child protection, also expressed her concerns, noting: “I am compelled to say there is something seriously wrong in our society and culture if we accept that this is appropriate for young children to experience.”
The backlash from horrified parents continued to grow.
A sex play advertised for families and children is taking place in Bristol. 'The Family Sex Show' is described by "an alternative to porn."
Social Commentator Caroline Farrow: "This is a paedophiles dream. This is an abusers charter." @TVKev | @CF_Farrow pic.twitter.com/IJi0T7Yaio
— Talk (@TalkTV) April 11, 2022
Many commentators said that they refused to allow their concerns to be dismissed.
In light of "The Family Sex Show", here's @glosswitch from 2020.
"Even after Savile and Rotherham, concerns over child safeguarding and sexual abuse are relegated to the status of right-wing myth, something to be dismissed with a cheeky Simpsons meme" https://t.co/vTpFDBcV4b
— Siôn (@sion___jones) April 9, 2022
Writing for The Critic, one woman said: “Can you imagine a five-year-old girl singing tunes such as “And now for a song about the clitoris!” with a 40-year-old male?”
“It’s not just the harmonies which would be off. Children are curious and trusting; in fact, the show advertises that it promises to spark children’s curiosity about sex in an audience mixed from reception class to adults of any age. It normalises the nudity of unknown adults in front of children and sets out to break boundaries and taboos. It could create the possibility of a child saying, “I don’t know what a clitoris is” and an adult responding, “Let me show you.” It is creating a gap, nay, a canyon, for predators to enter. There is no sexualised content that is appropriate for both five-year-olds and adults — it is one or the other.”
I talk about grooming and the grooming of families here: https://t.co/yRG7yBjL2T
— Dr EM (@PankhurstEM) April 17, 2022
Now, Caroline Farrow who led the petition to cancel has welcomed news that the show will no longer go ahead in Bristol or at the Norwich festival and will only be performed to a ‘selected invited audience’ at Bath.
“I just phoned the box office Egg theatre in Bath to see whether or not tickets were available to purchase by members of the general public and staff confirmed that they had been taken off sale,” she wrote.
“This is a phenomenal victory and thanks to the almost 39,000 of you who signed our petition.”
In a statement, the Tobacco Factory said: “Performances of The Family Sex Show by ThisEgg at Tobacco Factory Theatres have been cancelled. “This is due to the unprecedented threats and abuse directed at our building and team.”
However, Ms Farrow took issue with that description of events.
“The producers of the show are unrepentant, claiming that the cancellation is due to illegal threats of violence and abuse from a ‘few extremists’. Sadly, it seems as though the producers have learned nothing. There was nothing in our campaign that constituted either abuse or violent threats and we hope that any illegality has been duly reported to the police,” Ms Farrow said.
“The campaign was never about banning freedom of expression, but protecting children.,” she asserted.