Just when you thought kids' programming couldn't get any stranger....

[snichols1973]

Gender-Bending Cartoon 'SheZow' to Debut on Kids' Network - YouTube

This just seems so ridiculous, I can't even begin to make heads or tails out of this weirdness.....

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Oh who cares? My god people...it's just a cartoon. I don't see anything wrong with it :/

 

[Slackbot]

Cross-dressing is not the right term here. He changes into a girl, so it's transgender. If he were a boy in girl clothes, then it would be crossdressing. This may seem like semantic quibbling, but it's pretty significant.

As far as this being inappropriate, why? Because a cartoon it might imply that gender roles just might not be as rigidly-defined as some think they are? Bah.

I think when I get home I'll pull out some of my golden age Red Tornado comics. Or Futaba-Kun Change. Or Ranma 1/2.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Would the term really be transgender in this case? Cause its a super power and he can go back and forth... I think it would still just be Gender Bending? Either way, I don't understand why people are just soooo horrified with the concept :/

...also...http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuperGenderBender

 

[Slackbot]

"Transgender" is a term in flux; I used it in the sense of (CTRL+C CTRL+V) "of, relating to, or designating a person whose identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender roles, but combines or moves between these."

"Gender bending" (CTRL+C CTRL+V) "is an informal term used to refer to a person who actively transgresses, or 'bends,' expected gender roles." So, yes, that would be approriate too.

 

[Drtooth]

Ben Shapiro's a far right anus. Nuff said.

Sounds freaking awesome, if you ask me.

 

[Oscarfan]

I actually think this is a pretty creative idea. And if anything, it's not going to be supporting transgender issues, but more so male/female ones and trying to diffuse some of the stereotypes.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

But you know SOMEONE is gonna twist it so that it is about transgender issues, whether it be in protest or support, and still completely miss the point.

 

[Drtooth]

But you know SOMEONE is gonna twist it so that it is about transgender issues, whether it be in protest or support, and still completely miss the point.

Like Ben Not so Sharp-iro?

Hey. Wasn't he the D-bag that wrote that book about how Sesame Street was an evil leftist brainwashing conspiracy because Elmo didn't profile Muslims when Hooper's Store burned down? Pickin' on kid's shows to further a hateful agenda...mmmm mmm mmm...

I really don't like playing this card, but I have a grotesque hate of anyone that makes kids programming into demonic tools to further some jerk's pet projects. Left and right (you couldn't find a bigger opponent of Commercial Free Childhood than I). Kids don't get deep subversive messages in kid's shows. That's why writers hide as much stuff as they can in innuendo. So that people who are way too old to watch cartoons can keep watching cartoons. There are a LOT of things that I'm delightfully shocked to see get past the censors... Squidward's suicidal tendencies, the "Do not open until X-Mas" sign hanging off of Max's butt in a prison shower...

But then there's the subtext that isn't there that hateful groups shoehorn in to keep their own brainwashing, fear and control. I can't wait for them to tear into this, and to their chagrin, having it be the most popular cartoon on television. Clearly this kid does not like turning into a girl. He's going to be very disgusted at the very prospect at first. But the Media Watchdogs don't actually watch anything half the time. And the times they do, it becomes more popular because of their 1600's era mindset.

And when this show does get popular because of that, I hope it sticks up like a big red middle finger to them to show how woefully irrelevant they are.

 

[snichols1973]

Other noteworthy "cross-dressing" roles: Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, and Kevin McDonald as Wendy Pleakley (who is male, but frequently disguises himself as a woman) in the Lilo & Stitch franchise.

Even during the Shakespearean era, the women's roles were portrayed by adolescent men, because it was considered a breach of custom for women to perform on stage.