Brother_Mark #fundie

Brother_Mark #fundie christianforums.com

["My son is involved in a Christian School Play and he tells me that the major roles which are normally played by males are being played by females. I don't think there is a shortage of males available - even if there is a shortage, does this make it right?"]

Your justifications are warranted.

Females should *never* play male roles.

Today's "Christian schools" are not what they used to be (although I have always been a proponent of having young Christian men and women grow up among unbelievers in public school to build toughness and grit); I would be wary of anyone trying to sell me on a religious education today unless I knew, by courseload what both classroom and extra curricular activities would be.

Although I would not pull your child out, you should make your criticisms known to the school administrator and explain to your son what the proper roles for male/female are.

Our society is submerged in a sex-drenched culture so hedonistic that we are, in many respects coming close to "Rome."

Drama is an *excellent* tool for teaching poise to young men and women ... but proper roles should not only be defined but vigorously defended.

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old comment by Horsefeathers

"Females should *never* play male roles."

What about males playing female roles because that's how it was done until fairly recently.

"Although I would not pull your child out, you should make your criticisms known to the school administrator and explain to your son what the proper roles for male/female are."

The men folk are supposed to strut around and act macho and the wimmin folk are supposed to be barefoot in the kitchen makin' a sammich, right Mark? Or were you talking about theater roles? You know, that place where people pretend to be people who they really aren't.

"Our society is submerged in a sex-drenched culture so hedonistic that we are, in many respects coming close to "Rome.""

I doubt seriously that you know anything of Rome outside of your Wholly Babble's depiction of the Romans.

"Drama is an *excellent* tool for teaching poise to young men and women ... but proper roles should not only be defined but vigorously defended."

An argument similar to this is why men were dressing up as women to play the female roles in theater not long ago. It wasn't "proper" for a woman to be on stage according to polite society and fundy nuts such as yourself.

old comment by

From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabuki

16291673: Transition to yaro kabuki

The modern all-male kabuki, known as yaro kabuki (young man kabuki), was established during this period. After women were banned from performing, cross-dressed male actors, known as onnagata ("female-role") or oyama, took over. Young (adolescent) men were preferred for women's roles due to their less masculine appearance and higher pitched voices compared to adult men. In addition, wakashu (adolescent male) roles, played by young men often selected for attractiveness, became common, and were often presented in an erotic context.[6] Along with the change in the performer's gender came a change in the emphasis of the performance: increased stress was placed on drama rather than dance. Their performances were equally ribald, however, and the male actors too were available for prostitution (to both female and male customers). Audiences frequently became rowdy, and brawls occasionally broke out, sometimes over the favors of a particularly handsome young actor, leading the shogunate to ban first onnagata and then wakashu roles. Both bans were rescinded by 1652.[7]

old comment by The L

1. Males used to play female roles during the Middle Ages, because it was considered shameful for women to be on stage.

2. Glad you don't support isolating Christian kids from other kids. That makes you slightly less crazy than some other people I've heard of.

3. "Proper roles" for men and women vary widely with the culture. 100 years ago, it was unheard of for women to ever wear pants or for men to teach. Both things are common now.

4. Rome is a very bad example to use. Rome survived as a pagan society for about 1000 years. It didn't fall until shortly after Christianity became the official religion of the Empire (i.e., a "convert or die" situation).

@ #1158837: Rome did not "come up with Christianity." It simply changed Christianity from a small, informal Greek-speaking religion to a structured, widespread Latin-speaking religion.

old comment by Anon-e-moose

"Females should *never* play male roles."

The 'Principal Boy' has a long tradition in the uniquely British phenomenon of Pantomime, in which the lead male part is always played by a woman (clearly obvious, but her clothing suggests masculinity, somewhat). Similarly, the 'Pantomime Dame' is always played by a man.

The latter has had an even longer tradition, originating from the fact that in Peking opera and Japanese Kabuki and Noh theatre, males always played the female roles.

In ancient Japan, flower arranging and dance were part & parcel of the training to become a Samurai. Even disguising oneself as a female - very convincingly too - was not uncommon for ninja (especially those clans that didn't have 'Kunoichi', or female ninja) You wouldn't call them women to their faces, would you?

“Your justifications are warranted.”
Were you homeschooled by a Trump voter?
The post you’re responding to is QUESTIONING the justification that’s been made. What you probably mean is your ‘fears’ or your ‘suspicions’ are justified.

“Females should *never* play male roles.”
I can remember how much my class giggled when we learned just how many girls were on the stage in Shakespeare’s day.
And typically, there just aren’t enough boys that go out for theatre. One of my sons did, but he hated being on stage, he dedicated himself to being a tech behind the stage. And there are very few plays that are almost exclusively women.

“Today's "Christian schools" are not what they used to be"
Sure, sure, crossdressing goes back thru the entire history of theatre, but Christain Drama Class shouldn’t participate. Just have one guy play seven roles in one play.

“I would be wary of anyone trying to sell me on a religious education today unless I knew, by courseload what both classroom and extra curricular activities would be.”
Oh, blow it out your pray-hole. The biggest reason that congregations are shrinking these days is that they aren’t relatable to the modern worshiper.

“Although I would not pull your child out, you should make your criticisms known to the school administrator and explain to your son what the proper roles for male/female are.”
And when he interrupts the class for one of those, “MY DADDY says-” that we all remember lovingly, don’t be surprised when he comes home ostracized.

“Our society is submerged in a sex-drenched culture so hedonistic that we are, in many respects coming close to "Rome."”
Again, there just aren’t enough boys going out for Theatre. But if they don’t sell a lot of tickets to the play, there may not be one next year.

Brother_Mark #fundie christianforums.com

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