Happy Sunday Funday! Today is the most amazing Sunday because I’m home and I’m locking myself up so I can write a zillion things! Wheeeee! Here’s some good news to get all of us through the daily grind.
Fuck Yeah Miss Piggy Dot Tumblr Dot Com
Brooklyn’s Sackler Center for Feminist Art just gave Miss Piggy a deeply revered feminist award because she’s the baddest muppet alive and don’t you dare question it.
In an interview with Time, Missy Piggy, described herself as a longtime “ardent feminist and champion of women’s rights. “I believe that any woman who refuses to accept society’s preconceived notions of who or what they can be is a feminist,” she said. “I believe any woman who is willing to struggle, strive—and if necessary learn karate—to make their mark in the world is a feminist. And, yes, I believe that any woman, who cares about her appearance, her star billing and most especially her percentage of the gross, is a feminist. Moi is all of these things.”
Welcome to Barnard College
Barnard College will now admit trans women! LIVE YOUR DREAMS.
May the Force Be With You
Coming out as trans will no longer be reason for “separation” in the US Air Force, meaning trans folks may finally serve. A patchwork of shitty policies might make this announcement actually kind of untrue, but this is still a step forward for any trans folks wishing to serve.
FIFA Videogames Will Finally Have, IDK, Women in Them At All
FIFA 16, which comes to this great, big, beautiful world after two decades of dude-filled FIFA games, will include players from women’s teams from around the world. Because women play soccer, get it? Like, literally someone just got it.
This Is A Happy Bear Waving
I miss camp. (via Jezebel.)
That bear! He looks so cuddly! Mr. Bear want to watch Netflix with me?
just make sure you don’t get any of the honey you use to lure said bear toward your netflix cave on your laptop, okay.
I’m glad to see the US Air Force is finally pulling its head out over trans* troops. Now hopefully they’ll be open to changing my bloody DD Form 214 to reflect my real name. D:
Well, starting to pull its head out, anyway.
wishing you the best in that! and also wishing for a world in which the air force doesn’t suck not even a little not even at all as an experience in your life!
I have a LOT of feelings about the Miss Piggy award. My phone ate my previous rant (probably for the best) so I’ll keep it short.
WTF?!
She’s a female character created by and (mostly) played by men and her character perpetuates as many (or more) negative stereotypes as she challenges.
I grew up watching the Muppet Show in the 70s and 80s. I remember my mom pointing out how sexist the portrayal of Miss Piggy was, so I’m having trouble wrapping my head around this award.
I guess its subversive that this token, supposed to be minor, female character ended up being the most popular muppet.
The award is for her inspiring children to be themselves, so I’m curious if anyone here was inspired by Miss Piggy.
I’m only old enough to really remember the Muppet films/Muppet Babies and not really the Muppet show live (just reruns.) I don’t remember a time when Miss Piggy wasn’t a leading muppet. That said, I used to obsessively watch the movies and the rebooted “The Muppets” movie made me cry so I feel like they’re a big part of my life.
I always liked Miss Piggy, especially as a kid. I liked that she was super high femme almost in an old Hollywood way (I loved the dresses and shoes) but she never waited for anyone to do anything for her. Sure she was obsessive and short-tempered, but she always seemed to know exactly what she wanted and went after it. She had solos, demanded equal attention, fought (sometimes literally) for herself, and often did it in high heels. She never apologized for these things about herself or was made to feel bad about being strong. I didn’t see those things as anti–feminist. Some women like big dresses, spotlights, heels, and attention. And the moments of violence I just figured were the callbacks to the original muppets (the monster puppets that would eat each other.)
I didn’t want to grow up to be Miss Piggy because I wasn’t that bold and I wasn’t aggressive, but I did really like her. I admired her spunk and wanted to be as confident as she was.
Again, I’m speaking from a very specific place of fandom (a child loving Muppets like later kids loved Elmo) and I never gave it much thought, but yeah. I still really like Miss Piggy and I could see why, especially with the slightly altered personalities the reboots have given the core Muppets, she would be an outspoken feminist.
Cleo, I share your WTF. I really disliked her when I was a kid, largely because she was the only female muppet and she was so whiny, petulant and selfish. She was an absolute anti-role model. I’d go a little further: the feminism she could represent is an individualist, entitled, capitalist feminism, and it’s not my feminism for sure.
Also…the bear?! How is that not the exact opposite of how you are supposed to interact with wildlife? Dangerous, stupid and irresponsible! Bears are amazing animals, but they’re not cuddly toys for our childish fantasies. They’re apex predators, and they deserve and demand our respect.
(Well, this has been a rather negative and self-righteous comment. Um…yes. Apologies for that.)
yes. this. thank you.
also i agree on these miss piggy comments…
agreeing here with eli’s comment… just to clarify
A little off topic, but Miss Piggy is also a cannibal. If anyone remember those commercials the Muppets did with Pizza Hut, they show her eating a pepperoni. I think Jessica Simpson was also in it. I know it’s a commercial, but that kind of always irked me a little. So, I am surprised they gave her that award and do agree with your point she was created by a male as a minor character. But, also like Launa, I grew up with a Miss Piggy who was a high femme who most times took no shit.
I grew up with The Muppets in the 1970s/early 1980s and I liked her even though her character was written and voiced by men, men who I admire and inspired me with their comedy.
I wouldn’t say that she was a role model for me, nor necessarily inspired me (besides her martial art moves and her determination and pride)as she was played as a bit of a showpony/showboat, ie arrogant, entitled, “special”, but despite all this, she also had great comic timing with the other muppet personalities esp Kermit, a lot of courage, self belief, and love. I love Piggy and the men who created her. Most of the characters in the Muppets were played for laughs as a satirical mirror to society, and to me it was clever satire for its time. I wouldn’t claim her as my Feminist Role Model either, but she is great all the same. Role Models are over rated.
Cheers to your last sentence. I find there is WAY to much pressure for fictional characters to role models sometimes, especially female characters. It’s probably has at least sometime to do with the limited number of female characters in leading roles. The amount of paper that’s been spend over there years arguing whether Barbie alone is feminist, antifeminist, or something in between is staggering.
While I certainly encourage more strong girls/women roles in children’s entertainment, it not like everything has to be a feminist hero to be engaging. I grow up Muppet Babies as my first intro to the Muppets and it was always a little confusing seeing them in live action with Scooter’s sister Skeeter no where in sight. But even if Skeeter was basically just there to be the tomboy counterpart to girly Baby Piggy, I still found as funny and creative as the rest of gang.
Incidentally Miss Piggy has spoken on relationship to feminism before:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/George_Stroumboulopoulos_Tonight
she’s a pretty badass puppet imho
that bear vid irritated me – they may be cute, but bears are also amazing, strong creatures who should be out living their wild lives, not begging humans for food.
sorry to rain on the parade, but feeding bears is hurting bears – don’t feed the bears!
Yeah this video kinda made me sad for that bear.
This looks to possibly be an animal preserve or center of some kind…I’ve been to one in my state that has animals like bears, and you drive by their enclosures and can feed them (you have to purchase from the animal center, and they cap how much bread/food goes through every day). Quite a few of their bears are rescues (you can see physical damage/scarring on some from previous living situations) or retired film animals. Yes, its sad they aren’t running free in the wild, but at least the rescues aren’t in worse situations and the bears that have always been in captivity aren’t being released if they don’t know how to survive without human help.
To be honest, I mostly clicked for the bear.
Love me some bears.
RT