Super Why

Have you seen this show on PBS? It is one of my favorites.

The characters live in "Storybook Village" and become super heroes with early literacy powers like letter recognition, and rhyme to solve their problems. It is by far, one of the least annoying children's shows available, and it is educational - bonus.

But I have this love-hate relationship with the main characters. The creators were obviously trying to show their tolerance for diversity. Of the two female leads, one is white and one is black, one is "sporty" (Little Red Riding Hood becomes "Wonder Red" with roller blades and a magic bag) and one is "feminine" (Princess Pea becomes "Princess Presto" with fairy wings and a wand). Which is great as far as that goes, but I kind of resent the implication that you can't be feminine and athletic.

The main male character is a boy named Wyatt, the little brother of Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk). He plays soccer and carries a small handheld computer. He calls the "Super Readers" together when there is a problem and becomes "Super Why" saving his friends with a super computer and a "Why Writer" (as far as I can tell, it is a magic wand).

So if you are giving girls positive, diverse role models, you should do the same for boys right? What else can boys be if they don't want to be athletic or technologically savvy? Who is the other male character?

A pig.

Not just any pig, a construction worker pig. From the Three Little Pigs story.

I really, really hate the underlying assumptions here. I don't really care if PBS is pushing an agenda or just reflecting society at large - it is wrong on so many levels.

The feminist movement did some fantastic things for our culture, but one of the unwholesome lingering effects (in my opinion) is that men seem to have been pigeonholed more and more. Women are given a wider variety of acceptable roles to fill and the traditional roles of men have been re-defined. But they still have a very narrow slot to fill. You can be normal or you can be a pig.

I would add a third option, which for obvious reasons, they couldn't put into a PBS kids show - Our society seems to stereotype men in three ways: boys can be normal (intelligent, quiet, confident) they can be gay, or they can be pigs.

Why do we limit boys this way? Why do we insist they fill these molds? I'm not saying they won't have roles to fill in the course of their lives, or even that there aren't inherent gender differences. I really believe we should all play to our strengths, and some of those are inborn male and female characteristics. But there is such a wider range than we like to acknowledge. I'm not trying to rework the fabric of society here, I'm just saying. . . . . a pig? Come on, people.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

(but you should hear my issues with Thomas the Tank Engine- promoting the British class system much?)