SASS, sequins, and side-splitting laughs: Drag Bingo is back at the Old Courthouse next month, raising money to teach WA’s youth about consent.
Hosted by WA consent advocacy group We Are WM, the event will be raising money for its education program which delivers age-appropriate consent and healthy relationship education and comes as Australia’s gender-based violence crisis deepens.
Since last year’s Drag Bingo, statistics around gender-based and domestic violence “continue to be really heartbreaking”, according to We Are WM co-founder and former Fremantle Young Citizen of the Year Kate Raston, but there’s a “national appetite” for education reform.
• Drag queens Fay Rocious and Donna Kebab.
“In 2024, over 100 women’s lives were lost at the hands of domestic and gender-based violence, and countless more women experience abuse, harassment, and coercion, so the statistics are getting worse,” Ms Raston said.
“What has changed in the last 12 months is the public conversation around domestic, gender-based, and sexual violence against women… I feel like the conversation is louder, it’s more urgent.
“I think the landscape is still confronting, but we are starting to see moments of change while understanding that we still have a really horrible, stark problem in our community, and many people find change uncomfortable and concerning.”
Work to change Australia’s damning statistics on gender-based and domestic violence “doesn’t always have to look like a protest”, according to Ms Raston, which is why bingo, which will be hosted by drag queens Fay Rocious and Donna Kebab, was chosen for the event.
Inequality
“The issues that we work on around consent, gender inequality, and sexual violence are incredibly heavy, but I think our approach in trying to work towards a better future is always strength based, and I believe shifting that culture can happen through these positive moments of celebration and joy,” Ms Raston said.
“Drag Bingo reminds us that we are allowed to have joy even in the fight for change, and I think that’s a beautiful way to bring everyone together, to reflect and to have moments of joy, but also to bring back some energy to the cause.”
There is a “clear” link between consent education and healthy relationships, according to Ms Raston, which she says will be the key to changing Australia’s attitudes about misogyny and gender-based violence.
“What we know is that comprehensive, age-appropriate consent education reduces gender-based and sexual violence when young people learn about boundaries, respect, communication, empathy, and even power dynamics from an early age,” she said.
“It builds a foundation for healthy relationships, and it can work to change harmful attitudes before they become behaviours, but also empowers people to speak up, to ask questions, and hold themselves and others accountable.
“Consent education isn’t just about preventing harm, it’s also about creating a culture shift where people care and respect each other when they are having intimate exchanges… respect, empathy, and being able to have those conversations is all key to reducing gender-based violence.”
Drag Bingo will be hosted at the Old Courthouse in Fremantle on Thursday June 5, at 6.30pm.
More information is available on Eventbrite.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER