A one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind: The Bert and Ernie marriage petition thing is making me grind the heels of my hands into my eye sockets

robot-heart-politics:

bluebears:

 

(1) they’re puppets on a show for pre-schoolers

(2) they exist to teach kids to share and spell

(3) they don’t have a sexual orientation. None of the puppets do, oh remember when Big Bird got married to that nice puppet from around the way? They actually had a terrible divorce because he ended up screwing Grover on the side. No! That does not actually happen on Sesame Street. To puppets.

(4) The puppets are tools used to talk to the kids (both on the show and watching) they don’t have their own soap opera-esque story arcs. 

(5) The whole “Ohhhh I bet Bert and Ernie are totally gay!” line started out as a joke that came from a totally homophobic place. Oh two men (see? see how dumb it is to call puppets men? Now I hate myself) live together and are best friends, welcome to butt fuck city! Amirite?

(6) But really it’s possible to love your friend without being IN LOVE with your friend.

(7) Stop bullying Sesame Street it’s one of the few 100% Good and Awesome things our society has produced.

I always thought Bert and Ernie were brothers.

ok. I’m not stressed about the fact that Bert and Ernie aren’t getting married. As a matter of fact, I think that teaching kids that boys can be straight and still very affectionate towards one another is a good way of disrupting traditional notions of masculinity (as the author points out in items 5 and 6). However, I disagree with this post for a variety of reasons.

  1. A show for pre-schoolers is a fabulous venue for teaching kids about affirmation for queer folks (and puppets, see below).
  2. According to Sesame Street’s statement on the matter, they “were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves.” I don’t know about anyone else, but it sounds to me like they’re very well placed to teach about affirming and loving our queer neighbors.
  3. The argument that Muppets don’t have sexual orientation baffles me. There are plenty of expressions of (hetero)sexuality in the Muppet world, including at least one on Sesame Street. There’s Mama Bear and Papa Bear, Mommy Dodo and Daddy Dodo on Follow That Bird (which also teaches about accepting and celebrating difference), not to mention Miss Piggy’s sexual/romantic obsession with Kermit, which involves their marriage in The Muppets Take Manhattan.
  4. Asking a show you’ve loved since your were three years old to represent you is hardly bullying.

Source: bluebears

117 Notes/ Hide

  1. teachmeyourtongues reblogged this from robot-heart-politics and added:
    Tell someone by the name of Catherine Wayne that she’s not “sticking to the boxxy persona” and she will get pissed; she...
  2. spiralofbees reblogged this from bluebears
  3. whitneyriot reblogged this from mikesnosense
  4. quarians reblogged this from robot-heart-politics and added:
    I think a better way to show children that gay people are okay and real people and the same as anyone else would be to...
  5. robot-heart-politics reblogged this from thefortnightly and added:
    But if you change it to: “They’re...Ernie.” Doesn’t that make just as much sense? o_O
  6. mariahnotcarey reblogged this from jasencomstock
  7. buffmeister reblogged this from williamsdb
  8. williamsdb reblogged this from robot-heart-politics and added:
    ok. I’m not stressed about the fact that Bert and Ernie aren’t getting married. As a matter of fact, I think that...
  9. metrogeek reblogged this from mattgorman
  10. meagan-taylor reblogged this from mattgorman and added:
    Seconded. There’s a petition? Why? This is all so well stated- especially the part about how the Bert and Ernie thing...
  11. thefortnightly reblogged this from robot-heart-politics and added:
    They’re roomates. That’s why Bert has to put up with Ernie. It’s hard to find a rent-controlled apartment on Sesame...