Entertaining Human Degradation at an Otherwise Wholesome Kids Festival
Disclaimer: Everything below is a mix of what I observed and heard during the event. The goal isn’t to pinpoint "who exactly said what," but to share (usually) an outsider's view and overall perspective on these industries. I’m not here to act as a definitive firsthand source—readers should do their own research. I hope this inspires you to attend events, explore new industries, and hear what leaders are presenting. These notes combine my observations with thoughts on how things could run smoother and how ideas connect (IMO). I’m not an expert, you know? Just hanging out in the room with them. Enjoy!Topics: Unnecessary Perversion, Monkeys, Spirals, Kids Events, Festivals, Music, Arts, Fun, Activities, Innuendos, Symbolism, Unnecessary Sexual Themes, Children, Innocence, Dancing
Turns out there’s a yearly epic kids event, which I happened to learn about the night before it happened! What, where, when, how? Yes! We took a taxi over to a nearby city and joined a huge crowd for this event they’ve been hosting for decades (just took a break during covid). One band was extremely celebrated… but I was rolling my eyes and annoyed with them completely. Besides that, this was a spectacular event for kids and I was amazed by how fun it was. And free!
Why Attend: I’m totally on the lookout for fun things to do, even if they’re a bit out of the way. And this sounded right up my alley. Arts, crafts, music, games, snacks, hello! I’m in!! So, we got in a taxi and headed that way.
Photo Collage and Commentary:
Notes from the Event:
Most all of this event was so wonderful (though we couldn’t attend the whole thing, I had work at 1pm), but I could attend the whole first half. We had the best time with balloon animals, face painting, everything.
I don’t even want to write too much about it because I don’t have a lot to say (though apparently over 3,000 people signed up - families - which is really cool and impressive), but i do want to address one of the bands everyone was so excited to see perform.
And let me note that I come to this with a perspective and framework of documenting symbols and clusters for a few years. Even made a proposal for the White House about it (about manipulation sneaked into children’s media) that I’m sending in this week, so…
I don’t want to write their name directly, because they could be completely innocent. And I am not accusing these performers of crimes. I am accusing our culture of smuggling dehumanizing, sexualized symbolism into children’s spaces and calling it entertainment.
And what I saw of them was a cluster of symbolism that had me really shocked and disturbed. It was clusters of deeply inappropriate and sexualized choices that felt completely wrong for a children’s event. Why would a children's performer choose these specific elements together? Not saying that they’re up to no good… who knows. But it was insane how much weird stuff was shown and said… Their performance and entire aesthetic felt like grooming-adjacent, dehumanizing, sexualized, coercive aesthetics that have no place in children’s entertainment!!!
First of all, they had a monkey with spirals as their mascot. Both of these symbols are disturbingly aligned with dehumanization and trafficking tropes, whether intentional or not. Spirals are widely discussed in abuse-awareness literature as symbols that can appear in disturbing sexualized contexts, which is why seeing them used casually in a children’s mascot deeply unsettled me. And then in some abuse-awareness frameworks, specific animals are used to represent powerlessness and loss of agency, which is why a performing monkey mascot felt deeply wrong to me in a children’s context. :( I’ve written about this a few times before.
Then they had weird intros to the songs, talking about “breaking the seal” while performing for toddlers. An easy-to-interpret-as sexual/awkward joke about breaking the seal? For kids?
And then they had kids following their every move with their songs. Even one song had you go up, up up, down down down, and then spin around a lot - like A LOT. Like not even safe for kids… getting them to follow their every command - and then “throw up” at the end. That was the big finale of the song. They told the kids - spin around so that you get so dizzy you throw up. Throwing up? Idk who thinks that is cute or funny. It’s so weird and gross. And that was the first song?
And then on top of that, their guitarist had on a shirt that said pizza and pipes. What? Why would you hire someone wearing a 'Pipes and Pizzas' shirt to teach your children? Given how often pizza imagery has appeared in disturbing abuse cases and scandals, seeing a ‘pizza and pipes’ shirt at a children’s event felt wildly inappropriate and gross to me, regardless of the performer’s intentions… And then pipes? Pizza and pipes?? Which can mean smoking pipes (inappropriate drug reference)… or pipes is another word for penis. So gross. For a children’s show. Why wear THAT shirt for your kids’ performance? Just to, like, do an inside joke for yourself? Seeing how much yo ucan get away with?
And even they just had lots of weird ways of saying things that just like… what are you guys talking about? Breaking the seal… eew. So it was like so many things in a row that were so weird/off about this band, and yet everyone was celebrating them. It was an innocent childrens’ concert.
And don’t get me wrong… one or two things, okay. whatever. But the nonstop clusters of their weird symbolism and choices on words and stuff. It was like over 10 red flags, and we only stayed for the first song (we watched the performance before them, and it was fun), but I’m like, what the heck, you guys? And so many families were smiling and clapping along.
My daughter wanted to leave after their first song (cause her balloon animal popped when the kid next to her hit it by mistake), and I was extremely more than happy to go get her another balloon animal. I didn’t like that band’s vibe/words/everything at all. And I’m just like, how are people liking this band? How is this our “normal” in this day and age. Do they (the band) even know the things they’re saying and implying?
How are so many parents just this tuned out? And how are so many people loving them? I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. And I realize maybe some would say I’m overthiking or hyper aware, but alright!! This is an issue and hidden in plain sight. And it just annoys/concerns me about our world today. This creepy perversion is hidden in plain sight and brushed off.
I realize some people will say I’m overthinking or hyper-aware. Fine. I’d rather be wrong for caring too much about children’s safety than right for staying silent while boundaries erode in plain sight.
Its so much of what I’m fighting and aware of every day. I can’t ignore it, and children need to be better protected and empowered. Grooming and normalization of this creepy behavior shouldn’t be minimized - yet, its being celebrated and put on stages.
Anyway. We didn’t stay long after leaving that performance. Overall, it was amazing. So many fun activities and great vibes… but that nasty performance really didn’t surprise me, but it did disappoint me. And I’m ready for the world to change. I’m ready for more of these symbols to be known, mainstream, and for more people to speak up and demand justice. Until then, at least I have this blog.
—- and also, lately i’m the busking queen, LOVE busking, and I made over $100 today… like $50 yesterday… so far I’ve made $500 in less than two weeks, actually. So that’s been really amazing and empowering - and I’m writing songs about not capitulating, MOASS, and life.
Until next time, I wish you the motivation and success to search for opportunities around your area. Search and explore: Who is out there giving talks? There are new things happening all of the time.
Find relatable or interesting topics you like and check them out! Maybe even something hosted at a cool venue, if there’s no other reason to go. Let’s see what you can learn and discover not too far from home. 😊
