Gay characters in children's cartoons

[Farseer Lolotea]

We seem to be on the same page here. So are you a big practitioner of shipping or just gay IRL?

Not really either, to tell the truth. I simply don't view implied homosexuality as any more inherently "dirty" or inappropriate than the implied heterosexuality that's always been found in cartoons.

 

[AWAR]

No. Simply no.
I think children's cartoons have already become too "unsafe" to watch, having vulgar jokes only a grown up can fully understand. I also believe important issues like sexuality and politics should be left for the parents to explain to their child however they seem fit not for an unknown guy working at Nickelodeon. Moreover parents can't always control what their kids are watching so not all would have a say to this issue.

These kinds of things cannot be left for the parents to explain, kids will find out or come into contact with them anyway. That is, unless parents keep their child captive in a plastic bubble or confront them with these issues at the earliest possible convenience. The earliest possible being around 1.5 years old, which of course, is futile.

So you point is that we should leave kids to find out what homosexuality is from cartoons, because I think it's pretty rare for kids to come in contact with homosexuals in their daily lives. What if as a parent I think that the ideals passed through cartoons are wrong, should I not intervene in any way and leave my child to believe whatever he watches on TV for the sake of kids discovering things on their own? Do you think the media should totally replace parenthood?

 

[AWAR]

snip

I never said for parents to introduce them to these stuff, but to be in the position to explain it to them if a situation arises or if the children ask about it. Children can hear about homosexuals from the peers but are they in the position to understand what homosexuality really is? Same goes with politics and religion by the way.
No, nothing coming from the popular media at this day and age has ever been beneficial to children in my opinion.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Why wouldn't this be a good idea? What would it hurt? Take Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Every guy pines after Nazz. What would change if Sarah did too? Nothing. It would send the message that "Sometimes girls like other girls, and that's okay."

 

[Akalistos]

To learn something, you need to understand it first. When you show two guy on screen to a child, he will think friend. Even if you talk about couple, it would fly over the child. No, to make them understand what a gay is, you need to actually teach them sexuality. This loop with everything i said before and repeating something akin to LULWAT doesn't make it more or less true. If you can't wrap around that, I'm glad because that mean the children are safe. And that's all i want.

I was given "the talk" when I was five years old by my mother and father. They said the reason for telling me early is so they could make sure I learned it right. My understanding of sex has existed since I was five, yet I remain untraumatized. You're entire argument is based off of half truths and suppositions, while the Truth continues to be true. You say children are geniuses, but also that they are easily traumatized. That they can't handle Gay relationships, but are totally fine understanding straight ones.

The timing was too early but at least was taught correctly. Not all have that chance and, like i said, this is bad. And surely making tolken gay character in shows for kid isn't the way to deal with this.

THIS IS BASED on an actual friend of my family who happen to be a child psychiatrist whit a real doctorate. I only retain the big line but it's enough to know that it's bad. Which is more then I can say for you, unless you have one. If you have, then, please show it and I will retract everything.

NO NO NO. You once again miss the entire point of what I'm saying.

You say, talk of sex will traumatize ALL children, I say otherwise and present evidence.

Some kid didn't have what you had. They didn't have parent sitting down and explaining. Which is stupid to brought up when you asking that of a freaking cartoon. But yeah, I cannot prove that I didn't pull that out of my ass. But then again, I wouldn't have posted it if it wasn't true. If I find a way to prove it, I will.
[/quote]You say, talking about attractions requires talk of sex, I say otherwise and explain why. [/quote]No, you didn't... and I'm tired of repeating myself. All you naysayers (@Treblaine: for example) been harping on one point, Couples. Yeah, couple is a word describing 2 person being in a relationship, but doesn't mean gay even when you make it about 2 guys. YOU AREN'T CONSIDERED GAY EVEN IF YOU ADMIT TO DATING A SAME SEX PARTNERS IF YOU DIDN'T HAD SEX WITH ANY OF THEM. Why? because being HOMOSEXUAL is about and ONLY about having sex with same sex partner. It's in every dictionary, just look it up.

You say, you are defending the minds of children from something that wouldn't occur, and even if it did

Because it's far from being appropriate at this age.

I made point. All you had to say is, says's you. I'm not the only one saying it's a bad thing. What I see is only some misguided attempt at asking for thing You want instead of what people need. The worst is Treblaine with his Hate filled racism Ideas. (Pro tips: If you promote hate against groups, even the Nazis, you aren't better then them.) The same thing apply for mostly 80% of this chat. Bad thing happen when you put your desire before need of others. Here's a little example:
http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/national/8-year-old-girl-gets-botox

A Eight year old was given makeshift botox injections, makeshift one at that, by her mother who wanted her daughter to be pretty. We both know what she would never even asked for them if the mother didn't enforce her way of thinking on the kid. This all started from a Desire coming from the Mom. Same case scenario here...

I would love to find the MAGICAL RACISM ERASING TOOL and completely wipe racism from the face of the earth. It's impossible. Racism against black people (or Afro-American) is still a problem but is so subdue with time that when Resident Evil 5 came up, people saw A hero fighting Zombie instead of a White man killing Africans. Well, until the Tribal zombies part. Same thing will happen with homosexuality in time. Thing will change... patience is the key. Case closed...

 

[metonymy]

I don't think it's a good idea. Too many people would get upset and the world, in general, isn't ready for anything like that. Give it 10 years, when enough Gay people have been around their nephews and nieces and their own kids to give a positive impression, then maybe the world will be ready.

I think real life people work so much better than cartoon characters.

 

[Jack Macaque]

So people are born with it? Not likely. That's rather ridiculous.

What do you say in reply to the medical community and all accredited psychologists that suggest sexual orientation is something you are born with?

Children are molded in the first few years of life no? I believe that has more of an impact than being born with it.

Seems like more and more people are "born gay" now than ever in history, whys that?

 

[Hawkmoon269]

Such a thing wouldn't bother me at all. I think the type of people who have a problem with gay characters are those that are stupid enough to think homosexuality is wrong.

My only thought would be this. Would the kids watching the tv show actually understand? Obviously we have subtly gay characters in kids shows atm (Tinky Winky of the Teletubbies for example) but an obviously gay character, who was say, married to another character of the same sex?

It might well be that I'm pondering an issue that wouldn't even exist. Hell for all i know, the kids would just go "meh" and carry on enjoying the tv show. I suppose its because it hasn't been done before (as far as i know) so i've no idea how it would go.

Do i think we should give it a go? Sure, i think we should.

Unless they've been told gay = bad and explained what gay was I don't see why it'd bother them. The biggest question would be "why does that boy have two daddies"

Yeh, you could well be right

 

[RaNDM G]

I don't understand why people treat gay characters in cartoons like a serious issue. It's fine to joke about it, but when it starts to become political it takes the fun out of watching cartoons.

When you watch kids shows you watch it because it's entertaining, not because you like the concept of a specific character. The important thing is if that character can establish a meaningful and entertaining relationship with other characters.

In other words, why would I care if a character might be gay if that isn't the focus of the show?

 

[Flailing Escapist]

There are already 900 replies to this post but uh.... I have the power? The power of Greyskull? Anybody?

 

[RaNDM G]

There are already 900 replies to this post but uh.... I have the power? The power of Greyskull? Anybody?

IT'S OVER 900!!!!

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

No. Simply no.
I think children's cartoons have already become too "unsafe" to watch, having vulgar jokes only a grown up can fully understand. I also believe important issues like sexuality and politics should be left for the parents to explain to their child however they seem fit not for an unknown guy working at Nickelodeon. Moreover parents can't always control what their kids are watching so not all would have a say to this issue.

You do realise that jokes only adults get in cartoons go as far back as the original Looney Tunes right? And political jokes have also been abound since back then. I think having multilayered humour is a sign of a good show. Kids can learn a thing or two from it, and the parents watching it with them can still get some enjoyment out of it instead of being as mind numbingly obnoxious as the Tellytubbies.

 

[Farseer Lolotea]

All I said was that children's television isn't a very good way to learn about and understand subject matters such as these.

Who said anything about trying to make it educational? An episode involving a male character doing silly things to impress another male character doesn't have to be some sort of obvious Aesop about tolerance. Nor do two female characters with the same sort of relationship as Robin and Starfire on Teen Titans.

Everything is a skewed and stereotyped version of what it actually is in real life. That's why my parents taught me things that could have been a bad influence (if I learned it from mainstream media and friends) such as how to drink and smoke at a relatively young age.

And this has what to do with what? We're talking about shows aimed at preteen kids, not every show that preteen kids might potentially watch.

 

[yundex]

No. Simply no.
I think children's cartoons have already become too "unsafe" to watch, having vulgar jokes only a grown up can fully understand. I also believe important issues like sexuality and politics should be left for the parents to explain to their child however they seem fit not for an unknown guy working at Nickelodeon. Moreover parents can't always control what their kids are watching so not all would have a say to this issue.

These kinds of things cannot be left for the parents to explain,

I don't understand what you mean here.
I've explained what "gay" meant to my sister and her reaction was pretty much "eww".
Did I do it wrong?

No, but if you did right then that should be her reaction to 'hetero' relations as well.

I meant that by the time she's old enough to fully understand the concept and its implications, she'll probably have formed her own opinion of it. Be it through her peers or the media.

At what age do you think she would "fully understand the concept"? Have you ever raised a child? If not, than i'm not going to discuss this any further. If so, how did you explain it and at what age? Or did you at all?