LGBTQ Representation in Children's Media

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[scifirocks]

The stupid thing about that Florida law is the way it's written excludes talking about any gender identity including being cisgender and and sexual orientation including hetrosexuality. I've heard stories of teachers maliciously complying by referring to all students as they, all mums/dads as parents and wife/husband etc as partner.

[GosterMonster]

So, The creator of Adventure Time didn't get "cold feet, " the network threatened to cut content and evidently did. One of Pendleton Ward's comments to the voice actors when trying to understand the character's motivations was, "You know they dated, right?" Like, this was actively acknowledged in the writing room. But ultimately, it's up to the network how direct they can make it and what gets released.

[gwendolynrobinson]

In the claymation movie "ParaNorman", the main character's older sister has a crush on his friend's older brother. She is the typical bratty girly sister, he is the typicla dopey buff jock. The entire movie she tries to make moves on him and cling to him during scary moments, and he is blissfully unaware of her advances, much to her annoyance.

At the end of the movie after peace is restored, the sister asks the jock out to a movie, trying to form a date. The jock agrees and invites his *boyfriend, * whom he said is a chick flick enthusiast

The movie came out in the late 2000s or early 2010s I think, it was pretty unexpected and while I'm sure it was supposed to be a punchline that the very masc man has a bf so the sister's advances meant nothing, but it was still shown in a quite neutral light (from my perspective when I watched it as a kid

[GosterMonster]

Also, regarding Spongebob, the creator Stephen Hillenburg specified that he intended SpongeBob to be Asexual, but Nickelodeon wanted to do something for Pride Month, and I guess cut off the "A" from LGBTQIA+

[silversleeper]

The one thing I get disappointed about is that every time a character claims to be disinterested in the “opposite” gender, they are automatically assumed to then be gay. Leaving all us aces who want to see ourselves in that same character feeling like we’re “stealing” representation if we say maybe they’re asexual instead. I’ve seen it with Elsa as well as Isabella from Encanto. If we could get ACTUAL representation instead of coding, then maybe both sides wouldn’t feel so cheated by the other (when we really need to gang up, not feel divided)

[sarazahoran]

SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER! Never seen a more diverse kid's show in terms of queer representation. ❤❤❤

[angelagallant]

In Canada we had a children’s show called Mr Dress-Up. From 1967 to the late 80’s there was a character/puppet named Casey. The creator specifically gave a puppet a gender neutral name and never gave the puppet a gender because they wanted children to have the friend they wanted. If you wanted Casey to be a boy he was a boy … if you thought of Casey as a girl … she was a girl.

[Ruby_Key]

When I was a little girl, I wore a Blue, Ben Ten backpack to primary school. And all the other kids called me gay and bullied me because I didn't have a pink, princess backpack like the other girls.

When I got to secondary school, girls from my friend group would read BL and fetishize gay men.

And when I got to college, I thought I was promiscuous bc I thought had a crush on every guy I met, not knowing that the feelings were completely platonic because it's all the same to me. Y'know cuz I'm gay.

Kids can be SO CRUEL, and CONFUSED when they aren't educated about LGBTQIA+ people. And they can end up hurting the people around them or themselves because they don't know any better or someone had implanted bigoted beliefs onto them first.

I WISH someone had educated me on these matters. I would have saved me so much confusion, and made me a kinder, more understanding person when I was younger.

[sianthesheep]

I love adults think kids can take on board "My dad created me a boyfriend that was a cream puff" but they are completely unable to understand and accept "I'm a girl that has a cute vampire girlfriend". I also loved Mr Ratman's wedding in Arthur, it was so wholesome and lovely.

[ACX]

It took Disney _forever_ to get on the right side of this fight, but they’re hosting the largest annual LGBTQ+ conference as a massive F-U to the Don’t Say Gay Bill. Love to see it.

[michelleswanson]

"You absolutely do matter. You are wonderful. You DO belong". Boy, was that like a kick in the feels. I was totally fine and then almost started crying. I wish all kids were told this. Thank you for making these videos.

[caraboska]

The problem is that there are way too many parents out there who think that cultivating an egalitarian, accepting, inclusive attitude in children _is_ corrupting their mind. They want their child to be like them: authoritarian, non-accepting and exclusive. These, of course, are the people who don't want children to be exposed to people who are different from them.

[Sophie_Cleverly]

In The Mitchells vs The Machines the main character is openly queer, she wears a rainbow badge and at the end her mum asks if she's "official with Jade" and if she'll be bringing her home for Thanksgiving. It's a really great movie.

Also I hope you cover books next! It's amazing to me that when I wrote my thesis on LGBT YA there was not much to cover, but now you could easily do a whole video even just on picture books.

[alexh]

I just need to add my voice to the chorus singing the praises of She-Ra! The creator ND Stevenson is bigender transmasculine, and queer. The series is utterly delightful, and more or less all the characters are queer in some way. The ending is the most unapologetic celebration of lesbian love I have ever seen, I think.
Rebecca Sugar is non-binary too, in addition to being bisexual, and I find Steven Universe works very well as an exploration of non-binary identity and relationship to one's own body.
P.S. while Elsa's story does work for any type of queerness, my headcanon is that she is aro/ace, and I am heavily invested in that story. I just want her to ride off into the sunset on her own white horse, and live happily ever after with her elemental friends (and her familial loves). Maybe a conversation with someone about how she doesn't really have those kinds of feelings. Please. Thank you.

[danihawkinspreissler]

"oh did you not get the agenda? I thought we sent those out. Drag queens are usually so organized." I am dead. bahahahaha

[mikaylacraghead]

The little moment in Turning Red where Priya dances with the emo girl made me so wish that their kiss scene wasnt cut

[mikaylacraghead]

HELL YEA BUBBLINE!!! Marceline also giving bi representation and the Distant Lands goes EVEN DEEPER into their relationship dynamics

[katwitanruna]

The other thing I did with my kids was to explain all the different reasons X is in a wheelchair etcetera. I would give lectures about responsible behavior with service dogs very loudly so as to educate everyone in range. I adore doing that. I learned it from my grandmother who would sit right next to the barrier between white and black sections at the cafeteria and loudly explain why we were NOT different from those patrons and how much she wished folx would learn that or at least be Christian and treat everyone the way they wish to be treated.

[emmalemire]

I'm a bi woman in my early 30s and I met my girlfriend through The Owl House fandom, so I was really excited to hear you talk about that show :)

Two shows that weren't mentioned, but were central to my coming out journey, are The Legend of Korra and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The representation in The Legend of Korra is less overt than shows which have come after it (Korra and her love interest Asami held hands but didn't kiss) but was groundbreaking at the time and the creators made statements confirming that the two of them were in a romantic relationship. Then, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power ended with a lesbian kiss that literally saved the world and that moment is what led to me realizing I was bi and coming out two months later <3

[randomness]

I feel The Dragon Prince (the most recent series at least) definitely deserves a mention with Amaya and Jenai (human and an elf) trying to rebuild a society. Their relationship is part of their storyline but not the fact that they are lesbians, the other characters are more concerned that the humans and elves don't understand each others cultures and Amaya and Jenai are proving that humans and elves can live and rebuild together.
Their relationship is just sooo wholesome and I adore them! ❤