Right-wingers are once again throwing a fit over a seconds-long snippet from a Disney cartoon. Last time it was a blink-and-you’d-miss-it kiss between middle-aged lesbian moms in the Toy Story sequel Lightyear. Now it’s a trans man in a trans flag t-shirt recommending his favorite brand of menstrual pads to a puffy inflatable robot in the new Disney+ series Baymax.
Here’s the whole scene, courtesy of the same right-wing activist dude who got everybody on the right freaking out about the alleged dangers of Critical Race Theory.
Yes, because “children as young as two years old” all know what menstruation is and won’t be just confused by the scene.
Naturally, Rufo was quickly booked on Fox News’ Laura Ingraham show, where he railed against Disney’s allegedly evil plans to turn everyone trans through minor characters in cartoons.
Well, it’s very subtle, but what you see is that it’s a trans man wearing a shirt made out of the colors and design of the transgender flag, and the subtle message that they’re promoting is that men can get periods. This is a talking point among trans activists and what Disney has done, and we know this because I’ve obtained internal videos, is that they want to promote trans ideology, first through the background characters.
Oh how devious they are! First they start with the minor characters and the next thing you know Cinderella has become a trans man called Cinderfella and all the dwarves are gay leathermen.
They’ve actually created a computer program to track these so-called gender non-conforming background characters, and then slowly but surely start to re-engineer the discourse around children and sexuality.
Uh, they have a special computer program for this? That sounds totally true and not something that right-wingers would just make up.
And this is just one specific example of exactly what they’re doing—and they’re doing it on purpose.
Yes, it’s quite a nefarious agenda, treating trans people as if they exist.
Right-wing media outlets have been having a tantrum about this scene.
On BigLeaguePolitics, Bo Banks described the scene as
overt symbolic evangelism. And it’s normalizing the idea that trans men are just like women in that they can get periods and have babies.
Uh, I’m not sure how much biology you took in high school, but trans men actually do get periods and have babies.
On Redstate.com, writer Bob Hoge snipped:
I consider it none of my business what sex you identify with, who you sleep with, what you wear, or whether or not you menstruate. What so many liberals don’t understand, though, is that I don’t want sexuality in any form pushed on little kids. … My kids are older … but when they were young I can tell you I would strongly object to them being subject to shows on menstruation, male “periods,” or any other adult topic.
Then make sure they don’t watch these shows. That’s your right as a parent, dude. That said I really can’t imagine preschoolers clamoring for the show about menstruation.
In the far-right Western Journal, meanwhile, writer Elizabeth Stauffer argued that Disney’s “woke” plans are so sinister that they’re … allegedly losing lots of money because of them?
Disney’s walk on the woke side has already cost the company a fortune. The entertainment giant appears to have forgotten that its customer base consists of people of all political stripes.
It appears dead set on pandering to its far-left clientele at the expense of what is likely a much larger and more profitable group of parents who think the company has jumped the shark.
On PJ Media, Kevin Downey Jr. had a complete meltdown.
Disney is going all hands on… deck… in regards to carpet-bombing your kids with phalluses, gayness, and radical trans nonsense. The LGBTYOUVEGOTTOMEKIDDINGME crowd claims they are pushing their agenda merely for the sake of inclusiveness, but anyone with eyes can see the reality that this is pure recruitment. And it’s working. … Perhaps your kids will now be exposed to new characters, such as Mickey Mouse’s transgender nephew Vulvaleeta, the non-binary, lactose intolerant mouse who enjoys dairy-free cheese
ballsnuggets.
Well, that certainly was a bunch of words arranged into sentences.
I’m still not sure why any of these people think 2-year-olds will be watching much less understanding a cartoon that deals with subjects like menstruation. But what do I know? It’s been a long time since I was two. Maybe toddlers today are more sophisticated than I was back in the day. Adults certainly aren’t.
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Note to self: Steal David’s idea.
That is actually true. Although they engage specialist “Character Equity” companies to do it for them. And of course it’s for all characters; not just GNC ones. That will be a parameter though.
It’s all pretty interesting. They’ve been at it about 15 years now so they have a lot of data.
This cropped up a bit in the Depp v Heard thing. Regarding the popularity of the Mera and Aquaman characters.
I don’t know if anyone went through the replies at all (not recommended tbh) but a lot of them seemed convinced that just talking about periods in a cartoon is ‘child grooming’.
Because apparently its sexual? What the hell? I honestly find it pretty disturbing that something most afab people deal with is sexualized to that degree where simply mentioning it is deemed ‘grooming’.
I’d watch the hell out of Cinderfella and the 7 Leathermen.
As an afab gender nonconforming queer parent of two queer kids, I’m delighted they get to see people like themselves and me in media now. I think it’s beautiful and empowering, especially since the family we’re living with right now are extremely trans/homophobic.
@Alan Robertshaw:
Note to self: steal David’s idea.
I once saw a cumulative Tumblr fic (a sort of collective folklore that one can witness happening in real time; Earth Is Space Australia and Todd The Demon Grandson are a couple that come to mind) postulating a trans Cinderella—whose glass slipper was too big for everyone else.
There’s already a movie named “Cinderfella”. It’s a black & white, gender-swapped comedy version of Cinderella starring Jerry Lewis as the title character.
Also I think you want the gay leathermen thing for Goldilocks rather than Snow White. 🙃
Too late. There’s already been at least one gay porno with exactly that setup.
Do not ask me how I know this. DO. NOT. ASK.
Hahahaha.
I posted that before reading the comments. Looks like all anyone wants to talk about is Cinderfella!
It just blows my mind anyone could find that snippet offensive. My take away was that this unusual looking (and possibly scary) individual, in response to a question, was quickly subjected to a large number of helpful individuals providing advice – it was, in summary, adorable.
If you find that scene offensive, then I’m not sure we’re even the same species.
But… there are adverts for menstrual products. On the TV and out in real life. All the time! I’m sure little children will be as blithely ignorant of what the are for as ever, trans inclusion or not.
(My dad used to tell me that grown up ladies wet themselves when surprised to explain menstrual products. A very 90s approach to parenting but I thought it was *hilarious* at 4 years old)
@GAZZA
It was so adorable that I watched it three times. My own takeaway is that the Michelin Tire Man finally got a gig in a movie. You go, guy.
@GAZZA:
It just blows my mind anyone could find that snippet offensive. My take away was that this unusual looking (and possibly scary) individual, in response to a question, was quickly subjected to a large number of helpful individuals providing advice – it was, in summary, adorable.
And consider further: Baymax is being an exemplary health-care professional throughout. He’s patient and nondismissive with a child insufficiently prepared for a basic developmental milestone; he realizes a gap in his own knowledge base (his cis male programmers may never personally have shopped for menstrual supplies), and has the courage to ask—and listen to, and take seriously—everyone in the affected category who offers advice based on their own experience. (Also, I bet all the menstruators at the SFIT Mad Science Lab are going to love the Period Fairy’s scrupulously assorted bundle of goodies.)
And consider: a “gender neutral restroom” is a place where a mother can diaper her infant son, or a husband can assist his quadriplegic wife, or someone with PCOS or gynecomastia can pee without having to pass a litmus test— ever think of it that way? Huh?
@Lollypop:
But… there are adverts for menstrual products. On the TV and out in real life. All the time! I’m sure little children will be as blithely ignorant of what the are for as ever, trans inclusion or not.
Readers of a certain age might recall the old “Modess…because” magazine ad campaign; I can’t have been the only one who assumed that Modess was some ritzy fashion designer:
http://www.mum.org/modbec.htm
I call this the gallery of people who think trans men are AMAB.
I recall watching some Pixar documentary on Disney+ that talked about someone developing a way to track the number of male versus female background characters to show the bias towards men, and then I believe it expanded from there to look at other forms of diversity. There’s a non-specific reference to something like that here. I’m not sure I find that as horrifying as these folks do though. Oh no! The background characters in these cartoons might resemble the people you encounter in real life! Quelle horreur!
I’m divided between two hypotheses on what Disney is doing here:
@Surplus to Requirements:
I’m divided between two hypotheses on what Disney is doing here:
Disney Studios isn’t a hive mind—especially if you distinguish between the creative people and the suits—and it’s entirely possible for both to be the case.
I was gonna weigh in on this topic, but I see y’all got this!
And yes, Baymax is the most adorable robot ever!
It’s Baymax, therefore their complaint is invalid.
(I mean, it is anyway, but Baymax!)
@Alan: I’d bet money that’s already been done as a porno. Which we know Disney won’t do, ever.
My BFF and my first reaction to Ewan McGregor being cast as Obi-Wan in the 90s was “Ooo, good choice! But wait… it’s a Star Wars movie, they won’t let him get his kit off. (sigh)”
I see @Crip Dyke has confirmed, and I won’t ask. Maybe I heard about the movie she accidentally became aware of.
When I was a little kid, I thought period pads were diapers. *shrugs*
My cousin was a young teen when she was working in some kind of gym camp, and she actually got in trouble for explaining periods to a 9-year-old girl. (The kid had asked her why she wasn’t swimming.) I get that my cousin can be blunt and she also said she thought she was giving too much information, but to give a 13-year-old crap for that? And the younger kid would probably learn it next year in school anyway!
Anyway, sorry for the random secondhand story, but I’m wondering if the squeamishness around this is because “women’s issues” are thought of as sexualized? or at least gross?
(I mean, periods can be a little gross, but so is poop. And Everyone Poops, as the kids’ book title reminds us.)
As for the cartoon, it seems like some of the “Not Easily Offended” crowd take offense at trans people’s mere existence. Well, tough.
Just when you think conservatives have rallied around the dumbest cause possible…
@epitome of incomprehensibility:
My cousin was a young teen when she was working in some kind of gym camp, and she actually got in trouble for explaining periods to a 9-year-old girl. (The kid had asked her why she wasn’t swimming.) I get that my cousin can be blunt and she also said she thought she was giving too much information, but to give a 13-year-old crap for that? And the younger kid would probably learn it next year in school anyway!
The younger kid might well be about to learn it a harder way than that: 9-16 is considered the normal age range for menarche.
So, there’s a man in a rainbow shirt getting a tampon. That means the pervert overlords of Disney are coming for your kids. Or, maybe it’s just a guy in a colour-bearing garment getting a product bought with money, possibly for a woman he knows, perhaps even a girlfriend.
Of course, it’s likely the aggrieved snowflakes in question have never had a girlfriend mature enough to be of child-bearing age, so their misunderstanding may be somewhat reasonable. Or, maybe they’re just ignorant hateful bloviating assholes. Who knows?
Baymax models great psychosocial care, in terms so plain and simple that kids can learn from it. Yes, Disney evil megacorp copyright robber barons, but they got Baymax right.
Blow the minds of transphobes with this additional information: Cisgender men sometimes use menstrual products too!
Knew a guy once who for a while had to endure something called a “testicular abscess”, which apparently was just as owie as it sounds. The doc told him to wear a menstrual pad to provide hygienic cushioning and drainage while it healed. I know this because the guy told me about it when he asked me to buy him a box of pads because he was too embarrassed to buy them himself.
And I don’t think I need or want to explain why or where some men might occasionally choose to use a tampon. (Of course you wouldn’t be explaining the precise details of such use in a Disney+ cartoon, but then you wouldn’t be explaining the precise details of any menstrual product use by anyone in a Disney+ cartoon. Many different types of people purchase a variety of these products owing to their different preferences, that’s all you need to say for the purposes of the plot.)
Vulvaleeta, the non-binary, lactose intolerant mouse
LOL
@Alyson:
Vulvaleeta, the non-binary, lactose intolerant mouse
LOL
Ooooh! As long as we’re at it, could they be a member of the Vuvalini—the biker crones from Mad Max: Fury Road?
(Probably not, since Max and friends play for an opposing team: they’re under the Wabbit’s aegis.)
@Kimstu:
Knew a guy once who for a while had to endure something called a “testicular abscess”, which apparently was just as owie as it sounds. The doc told him to wear a menstrual pad to provide hygienic cushioning and drainage while it healed. I know this because the guy told me about it when he asked me to buy him a box of pads because he was too embarrassed to buy them himself.
And I don’t think I need or want to explain why or where some men might occasionally choose to use a tampon. (Of course you wouldn’t be explaining the precise details of such use in a Disney+ cartoon, but then you wouldn’t be explaining the precise details of any menstrual product use by anyone in a Disney+ cartoon. Many different types of people purchase a variety of these products owing to their different preferences, that’s all you need to say for the purposes of the plot.)
And combat troops of whatever gender have long used menstrual supplies as emergency wound dressing—completing a circle, since modern sanitary pads and tampons were pioneered in WWI by Army nurses who swiped absorbent bandaging material for menstrual hygiene use: http://www.mum.org/kotcelar.htm; http://www.mum.org/collection.htm. (The Museum of Menstruation, which aspires to be the Junior Woodchucks’ Guide on the subject, is one of those monuments to a single person’s obsessive geeky special interest. Note that Harry O. Findlay has grown old, and doesn’t feel that he as a cis man is the ideal curator; he’s looking for someone, preferably a current or former menstruator, to take over his work and host his physical collection.)
Which leads into a question for trans female Mammotheers: a scene in Jupiter Ascending has Jupiter bandaging Caine’s wound with a maxi-pad—except that she applies the adhesive side. Was that a blooper, or is there a trans in-joke I’m not getting?