____In today's more liberal world all kinds of lines are being crossed, blurred and tangled up into enormous knots of confusion. This kind of thing is expected in your everyday world when you live within driving distance of places like South Beach. In fact, it's a perk of living in South Florida (and believe me, it's probably the only one). However, gender roles and gender identity are rarely questioned in other realms, or so I thought.____Last night it was brought to my attention that the name I bestowed upon my overactive female kitten actually belonged to a male.
Nermal, the ditsy and annoyingly happy counterpart to the ever dry and wry Garfield, was drawn with gray stripes and eyelashes. These are obvious female traitss. Nermal was also voiced by a female, Desirée Goyette. I'm not talking a female voice that is ambiguous like Bart Simpson's speaker, Nancy Cartwright, but Nermal had a decidedly woman's voice. When this was brought to my attention last night, I immediately felt guilty for corrupting the gender identity of the cat. However, the name and the gender confusion sort of fit. I guess it works being that Nermal the actual cat is extra large, super aggressive and has a throaty meow. Speaking of androgynous eighties childhood characters, I purposely named my effeminate male cat Atreyu after the confusingly femme character in The Never Ending Story. I guess they match now. Don't ever be a pet of mine.So, I started to think back on other characters from childhood that were in the middle of identity crises.
Tweety -
Male or Female? Decidedly male. Don't believe me? Tweety's sex has always been shrouded in mystery, but the experts at the wiki have come to a conclusion. Here's another site with some more evidence.
Big Bird -
Oh, Big Bird. Big Bird was a tough one for me growing up. My grandmother and Big Bird shared a lot of the same traits; the hair for one. Big Bird was also tall and nervous like grandma. So, Big Bird was obviously female to me. Most people have been wise to the truth of his maleness.
Blue Meanie -
Maybe not as confusing gender-wise because Blue Meanie is obviously a male, but the voicing of Blue Meanie, the make up, the fuck me boots, the weird half pointed hand gesture, etc all point to drag queen.
Him -
This Blue Meanie rip off from PowerPuff Girls is named "Him", so no question there even if he is totally drag queen.
Atreyu -
Let's just say I had many confused feelings about Atreyu.
Care Bears -
I am fairly certain that there is more than enough confusion going on up there in Care-a-Lot. How many can you confidently identify?
Are there any others I forgot? Let me know.
2 comments:
It is an intersting point you bring up. There is speculations as to the gender roles we embrace and as to when they start. Is it from birth, when males are put ina blue room and girls in a pink? Is it when we start playig with toys and girls get a doll while boys gets trucks? And think of how freaked out parents get if their little girl plays with trucks or their little boy plays with dolls.
Though, I dont think that a cartton cat with a female voice and long eye-lashes really says anything about gender roles. Males and females have different physical traits....
But on a complete tangent: did you hear about how they got rid of Snufalapigus (SP?) Big Bird's imaginary friend? They thought it was confusing to kids that only Big Bird could see him. They also got rid of the Grouch because he was "depressed".
I guess I have nothing valid to add, really-- I am burnt out and too tired to think. You just got me thinking about the new Seseme Street that came out on DVD with these changes. It seems like everything from my youth is being bastardized, ruined, and pussified (how's that for a anti-femminist word?).
That just sprung up another thought on the gender issue... Notice how all the words we use for weak are femmine? Pussy, he throws like a girl, don't be a girl, stop whining like a bitch, bitch, etc... I don't mean to offend. I'm just bring up the fact that these words and their "definitions" were created by the male patriachy.
Apa,
I agree completely with you and I have read (and printed out) that Sesame Street article. I thought it was hilariously written.
As a girl growing up in a libral-minded family, I was given trucks to play with and overalls and sneakers to wear and, as a result, my middle and high school years were spent in jeans and sneakers because that is what i felt comfortable wearing. Some people would still swear to you that because I dressed that way and didn't bother with looking gorgeous that I was somehow a lesbian. I even think your good friend the "illusion" has commented on my clothing choices, although I am fairly certain he sees women in an unfavorable and belittling manner.*sigh*
I think the social stigma for a boy to play with dolls is way worse than that of a girl who plays with trucks. Either way, considering how touchy feely we have gotten over Sesame Street who is going around moderating modern day cartoons? There is a double standard that somehow assumes we are more educated now than in the past and all things old are offensive. I am pretty sure that girls bullying boys and girls being more aggressive are patterns found in children's shows now. I wonder if the pro-males in the future will censor today's children's programming in favor of a message that doesn't male bash like we are doing now. You know - the pendulum.
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