Gay and Lesbian Issues - Gender Identity in Gumby's Adventures
When Jerry Falwell's conservative paper "outted" Tinky-Winky (the purple Teletubby) as being gay, fans of the Teletubbies television series usually fell into two camps: those who supported Tinky-Winky as a positive gay character and those who maintain Tinky-Winky has no developed sexual identity. A few unfamiliar with the BBC/PBS show asked the question, "how can you even tell if Tinky-Winky's male?" Brushed off by most fans as a naive inquiry, this concern does merit discussion. How do we, as television viewers, determine gender identities for non-human characters? How is this complicated for children's characters?
Sometimes obvious cues are given to viewers. For instance, Mickey and Minnie Mouse are undeniably male and female. Due to current moral standards (at the time of Mickey's and Minnie's creation, but also now), genitalia is not graphically displayed in children's programming. Of course, genitalia is only an indicator of physical identity, which may be different from the gender identity an individual accepts. Instead of physical clues, we look for other signs of masculinity and feminity. Mickey is usually a man's name, although that is not always the case. Minnie is almost always a female's name. Minnie wears a dress, thus presenting herself as female. Minnie's high-pitched voice (higher than Mickey's) also forces viewers to accept her as female. The actions of Minnie are keeping with those of traditional females. It is not "Steamboat Minnie." Minnie does not break any stereotypes. Mickey controls most of the action, receives most of the press, and is the most famous of all Disney characters. It is Mickey's show; Minnie's just along for the occasional cameo.
But what happens when clothes are no longer an issue? None of the Teletubbies regularly wear clothes; neither do the characters of Gumby's Adventures. Yet ask any child familiar with the characters and they'll like answer that Gumby and Pokey are boys. How can they tell? How do they determine those assignments?
Defining Goo
Goo, from Gumby's Adventures, is Gumby's closest female friend (non-family member). Her blue body is shaped like a cross between a seal and a raindrop. Long blond hair (made of yarn) signals to most people that Goo is female; her high-pitched voice and long eyelashes usually cement the decision.
While a few physical indicators exist, it is the way Goo is treated by the boys around her that truly identity her as girl and thus Other.
DeIorio, Elaine. “Have a Dog-Bite-Free Summer” Marion County Animal Services 17 May 2010. Web. 12 Jun. 2010.
National Canine Research Council. Investigative Report for Dog-Bite Related Fatalities 2009. National Canine Research Council, 2010. 6-48. Print.
The secularization paradigm Bruce argues ‘is a set of associated explanations rather than a single theory’ (Pg.43). To build on this argument Bruce provides us with a diagram of the secularization paradigm with 22 key contributing factors; some showing the religiosity of societies i.e. the protestant reformation and monotheism, some exploring other factors which have contributed towards secularization such as Industrial Capitalism, Technological Consciousness and Social Differentiation and he provides an explanation of these concepts in order to provide the reader with an analysis of these themes. This can however be problematic in the sense that the terminology of the paradigm may well be understood by individuals studying or in the field of sociology but for individuals who are looking to develop their knowledge on the debate of secularization and religion can make this difficult. Bruce argues that modernization is one of the main causes of secularization. ‘‘Modernization brought with it increased cultural diversity in three different ways. First populations moved and brought their language, religion and social mores with them in a new setting. Secondly, the expansion of the increasingly expansive nation state meant that new groups were brought into the state. But thirdly…modernization created cultural pluralism through the proliferation of classes and class fragmentation with increasingly diverse
Each gender has its little tells and associations, the movie Victor Victoria depicts gender cues very accurately and well. Victor Victoria is a movie about a woman, who wants to have a successful singing career, but in order to do so she must pretend to be a man pretending to be a woman. This movie takes place in the 1930’s in Paris, France during the winter time. One gender cue I noticed was how women and men wore their coats differently. Men tended to wear their coats over their shoulders without putting their arms in the sleeves and women, wore their coats a help their coats together with their hand placed close to their chest, indicating they feel cold. Another gender cues I noticed was when Carole "Toddy" Todd, played by Robert Preston,
“Dog Bite: Fact Sheet.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC, 1 Apr. 2008. Web. 13
calculation to illustrate limitations of breed-specific legislation and decreasing the risk of dog bite-related injury.” Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 237.7 (2010): 788-792.
In order to fully comprehend the how gender stereotypes perpetuate children’s toys, one must understand gender socialization. According to Santrock, the term gender refers to the, “characteristics of people as males and females” (p.163). An individual is certainly not brought into the world with pre-existing knowledge of the world. However, what is certain is the belief that the individual has regarding him- or herself and life stems from socialization—the development of gender through social mechanisms. For instance, when a baby is brought into this world, his or her first encounter to gender socialization arises when the nurse places a blue or pink cap on the baby’s head. This act symbolizes the gender of the baby, whether it is a boy (blue cap) or a girl (pink cap). At the age of four, the child becomes acquai...
Tomboy and Laurence Anyways are two films that portray transgender characters and the issues that they face. Tomboy follows a transgender boy named Mikaël who moves to a new neighborhood with their family and Laurence Anyways follows Laurence, a transgender woman as she tells the story of her transition and her relationship with the love of her life, Fred. The two films explore various aspects of Mikaël and Laurence’s lives and how they are affected by their gender identities.
Raghavan, M. (2008). Fatal dog attacks in Canada, 1990–2007. The Canadian Verterinary Journal, 577– 581.
With sounds of youthful laughter, conversations about the students’ weekends, and the shuffling of college ruled paper; students file into their classrooms and find their seats on a typical Monday morning. As the announcements travel throughout the school’s intercoms, the usual “Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance” becomes no longer usual but rather puzzling to some students. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.” Confusion passes through some of the student’s minds. With the reoccurrence of “God” in the backdrop of American life, the relationship between church and state has become of little to no matter for American citizens just as it has with American students. While congress makes no law respecting an establishment of religion, the term “freedom of religion” presents itself to no longer be the definition of “free”, while also having its effects on debates today. According to Burt Rieff, in Conflicting Rights and Religious Liberty, “Parents, school officials, politicians, and religious leaders entered the battle over defining the relationship between church and state, transforming constitutional issues into political, religious, and cultural debates” (Rieff). Throughout the 20th century, many have forgotten the meaning of religion and what its effects are on the people of today. With the nonconformist society in today’s culture, religion has placed itself in a category of insignificance. With the many controversies of the world, religion is at a stand still, and is proven to not be as important as it was in the past. Though the United States government is based on separation of church and state, the gover...
Michigan State University College of Law. Animal Legal & Historical Center. Detailed Discussion of Dog Bite Laws.
Children develop their first sense of self at around age four, when they develop metacognition. (Berk, 2006) In pursuit of their self, they start to develop personal identities, informing their likes and dislikes as well as their disposition. Although children are born into a certain sex, they do not immediately develop a sense of gender. Their gender forms at the same time as their sense of self, by observing their outside environment. But even before the child understands their sense of self, they are already placed into gender specific play from around age 2 (Zosuls, 2007).
Worship leaders must characterized the New Testament by proper expressive of prayer. We must become the examples in the Biblical Scriptures and become very mindful of reflecting our own pastoral, spiritual, and religious implications of each chapter in the New Testament book.[2] DeSilva’s perspective requires more engaged reading and as DeSilva builds his ideology on his interpretation, there are additional biblical themes that surroundings the New Testament such as "The Wisdom Christianity[3] in (Colossians 1:15-20). The relationship between the historical Jesus and the biblical revelation that preceded and followed is the formation in the (NT) which entails the apocalyptic, the prophecy, the essences and roots of a future endeavor or event that will take place, for the good of Christians or the worst. Portending evil or harm may be inflicted upon us, and dark clouds will appear if we do not repent and redeem ourselves. Jesus is asking for redemption. The process of redemption are encouraged and enlighten by God's divine blueprint, designed for the mete purpose of te process of redemption.[5] What is depicted in the (OT) Old Testament is the lessons from the twelve apostles and in Christian theology and ecclesiology, these twelve (12) were sent as the primary disciples of Christ, the Redeemer, which is Christ is the historical, central figure, and biblical version in Christianity. During the ministry of Christ in the 1st century AD, the apostles were his dearest followers and became the main leaders, by teaching the Gospel of Jesus. In the 21st century Jesus modern is prominent and His missionaries reflect the actions of apostles, which means missionary.[6] The commissioning of the twelve (12) Apostles during the ministry and life of Christ incorporates the Great Commission, which consist of spreading Jesus teachings to all the kingdom and nations. The Old
However, not all of them have the culture figures, for example, Teletubbies. Teletubbies have many colours, which do not represent any particular gender or fortify any stereotypic gender message. Therefore, other experiments need to be carried out similar to the one done by Marsh (2010) to find out the importance of popular culture figures to children gender identity understanding. Children would change the Telebbie land environment using various textures such as making clouds from cotton wool balls or even dress according to specific Teletubbies they chose to be. In this Telletubbie experiment, children at the end were able to have learning opportunities, for example, colour recognition, role-playing, and fine motor as well as sensory skills. There is much potential in this experiment to make children meet the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) suggested outcomes, for example, outcome one, which is concerned with children knowledge and self-identity confidence development. This discussion demonstrates that if prior planning is adequately met, popular culture can turn to be a useful education tool, which can ensure the realisation of all learning
Hoover, Lisa. "How Social Networking Has Changed Society." PCWorld. 7 Apr. 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .