Want to give your kids a jump-start on smashing the gender binary? Take them to Andersonville’s Women and Children First Saturday at 3pm for the third installment of the bookstore's new monthly series Story Time with Drag Queens.
Local queens Coco Sho-Nell, Muffy Fishbasket, Ashley Morgan and Alexis Bevels will read to kids ages 3 and up. The February theme is love (Valentine’s Day is next week, remember?), so the queens will read children’s books about love and friendship.
Sarah Hollenbeck, a co-owner of Women and Children First, had heard about similar children’s events with drag queens happening in San Francisco and New York. Given Chicago’s vibrant LGBTQ and drag communities, it only made sense to bring the series to Andersonville.
“I wanted to introduce kids at a younger age to the reality of gender in a more nuanced way,” Hollenbeck says. If we’re teaching boys and girls to value gender equality, she says, then it’s imperative they’re exposed to the diversity of gender expression from the get-go.
Hollenbeck noted tomorrow’s event is going to be very popular—over 1,000 people are “interested” on Facebook—but they’ll be hosting another reading in June for Pride month. She also mentioned the Center on Halsted will host a drag queen story hour in April, and COH's capacity is much larger.
Feminist bookstore Women and Children First (not to be confused with Portlandia’s Women and Women First) is an Andersonville mainstay. The independent shop has retained its commitment to amplifying marginalized voices since its 1979 opening, and is known for its diversity and queer-friendliness. It hosts a series of readings and Q&As, including an event with prominent feminist writer Roxane Gay on March 15.
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