Sesame Street - Bert and Ernie are Just Friends

Ignoring the fact that there are plenty of puppet-couples on Sesame Street.

 

I'd love for them to marry. These people need to "man up" (for lack of a better phrase).

 

I can't decide how I feel about this.

On one hand, I think that yeah, kids should be exposed to more than just straight couples. Damn right. That is something I can get behind.

On the other hand, I sometimes get a weird feeling when debates or things like this happen...like maybe people are politicizing these things just for shock factor. I mean, yeah. There is a valid point to be made about exposure to more than just the average heteronormative. Don't get me wrong, I'm all kinds of for this, but I also get this creeping suspicion that somebody somewhere started this whole thing just to poke a sleeping bear.

Maybe that's WAY off base, and I'm not going to go around and say that to everyone because obvs I stand with my community in believing that having open, honest, good ol' diversity in children's shows/educations/lives is vital.

 

But they're roommates. They were always just roommates.

 

They seperated them because two guys living together is gay.

 

I completely agree with you. I was actually just having a conversation with my girlfriend about this the other night. I certainly think that there should be options for exposing your children to relationships that are not the typical heterosexual relationship. I'm really glad that there are books out there with different types of parents and relationship situations right now. And I'm glad that it is starting to become more accepted that children are exposed to different types of families in school in some places.

However, I feel like asking for two puppets on SUCH a famous, big, well-known, well-viewed television show is a bit like poking the sleeping bear. Going after something that well known is like saying "hey I know you think we are trying to push the gay agenda on your kids, so let's really shove it in your face by trying to get it on this big hugely watched television show." I feel like it really just adds fuel to the fire that is already going strong enough. I'm all for pushing those people a little bit out of their comfort zone to get them to realize that we aren't all that bad, but I feel like that is a bit too much of a push and will just put them more on the defensive rather than help us at all.

Also, the other thing I was thinking about with this whole Bert and Ernie thing is that saying that they HAVE to get married, or that they really SHOULD get married, is in a way implying that there is no way that their relationship could be one that doesn't involve sex. Is it possible for my brother to live with a male roommate and not be gay? Why yes, it is. So why couldn't it be possible for these puppets? If we push any males who live together into being gay relationships, I feel like that sends the wrong message too, that it isn't okay for male friends to live together and JUST be friends-that there MUST be something more to it.

 

^ This. I think the platonic relationship ideal is more important to introduce to preschool children than a romantic-based one, and I respect Sesame Street for upholding it.

If they made Bert and Ernie 'mos, all it would do is reinforce the idea that the "gay agenda" is pushing homosexuality on preschoolers, when really I don't think preschoolers should even be introduced to the argument yet. They haven't developed the reasoning skills to make up their own mind at that point in their development anyway.

 

I agree with most of this, but I think that kids should know that it's okay for people to be in love even if it's not a straight couple. I don't think of it as an "argument". I mean, I'm sure some people do, but I just think that ideally it would be something normal that you see all the time. When I was a little kid I watched movies where princesses fall in love and get married to a prince. I think that the same exposure should be made with other kinds of couples of other sexual orientations and gender identities. That's ideal. We're a FAR cry from that in today's society, obviously, but I wish it weren't about kids "making up their mind" so much as it should be about "kids understanding the way the world works". That love is love.

But I (obviously from my other post) think that the Bert and Ernie thing was a bad move. Not only does it reinforce a bad picture of platonic male relationships not being possible in that sort of living situation, but also it DOES make it look like the queers are out for the children.

 

^ Definitely there should be some queer-friendly alternatives to the Disney boy-meets-girl deal.

The "I don't care about gays one way or the other, I just get tired of them shoving it down our throats all the time" argument is hard to counter when the media is pushing homosexual acceptance so hard right now (and with good reason). The anti-bullying campaign introduced after the September suicides has brought a lot of added visibility to the GLBTQ community, both good and bad.

I don't disagree that the media should be introducing gay, lesbian, and gender variant characters to children, I'm just not sure how it can be done with enough tact to keep homophobes from howling indoctrination...

I completely agree with this. I kind of wish there was a Disney/Pixar type animated film that portrays a queer main character just doing protagonist type stuff, where their sexuality/gender expression is evident, but is not a major plot point.

 

you do not marry someone who leaves cookie crumbs in the bed!!!! come on!!!

 

Oh gosh, yes. This ^

It's a tough situation. Though it would be kind of cool to see somebody queer in a kids movie. Like maybe the main kid has two dads or something. Especially for those kids out there with queer parents who watch all these movies and never see a family that looks like their own. That breaks my heart.

I'd like to pull the argument "if you don't like it, your kid doesn't have to see it..." but I feel like that's the wrong way to think about it too...I just wish it didn't have to be this way--a wish that proves to be more of an exercise in futility. *sigh*

 

See, I'm all for there being ways that the media introduces the idea that it's okay to be different. I absolutely would love for my future children to be able to watch a movie or TV show about a kid with two dads or two moms. And I totally agree with you that in theory you want to use the 'well if you don't like it, just don't let your kids see it' line. But I feel like that's where using Sesame Street to show kids a homosexual couple becomes a problem. So many kids are so in love with that show already that to suddenly introduce it on that show would almost be like shoving it in their face, whereas if it was introduced in a new show or movie, it would be much easier for parents to make the call that that isn't something they want their child exposed to yet.

 

I would love for Sesame Street to portray gay people, but I would not like them to out Bert and Ernie. They aren't a couple - they're roommates, get over it. They should introduce new characters who actually are gay.

 

OH, yeah. I agree with you.
That's precisely why I described this move as "poking a sleeping bear". Just seems like unnecessary provocation when there are better ways to do this without reinforcing the idea that the queer community is "recruiting kids" (which as we all know full well is bullshit...but still we have to be careful, dumb as that idea is.)