Should Bert and Ernie Marry on Sesame Street?

Should Bert and Ernire get married?

  • Yes

    Votes: 27 21.4%

  • No

    Votes: 66 52.4%

  • Not sure

    Votes: 9 7.1%

  • They should both marry Shemp

    Votes: 24 19.0%
  • Total voters
    126
  • Poll closed .
Loss Leader said:
I see nothing to be gained in sexualizing puppets.
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Then obviously you haven't seen Meet the Feebles.

Of course, that's very much NOT for children. Unless you're still trying to do experiments on them. Though it's likely to lead to crying and an angry wife. Hell, it might make the wife angry even if you only show it to her. It's pretty messed up.
 
Agree with Nursedan and Safe-Keeper. Bert and Ernie never seemed to be in that kind of a relationship. Once grown, I questioned Bert's eccentricities, but on closer inspection, I couldn't find evidence of romance. They're just quirky friends who love each other. Not quirky friends who love each other and want to get married. Besides, Ernie pretty much acts like a minor, so...weird.
 
Cavemonster said:
One of the things that has been a constant part of Sesame Street over the years is content delivering variations on this message: "There are many types of families. If yours doesn't happen to include a mother and a Father, that doesn't make you weird, it doesn't make their love any less."

Going back to the early seasons, there were montages of children being raised by their grandparents, a single parent, an aunt or uncle etc. The message that there's nothing wrong with a family of two daddies or two mommies and that such a family is absolutely normal and just as loving as any other is absolutely and unquestionably in line with their mission and their previous messages.

Further, the fact that a family has two mommies has no more to do with teaching children what people do with their genitalia than showing heterosexual parents does.

Yes, it might piss off some ******* bigots. So would showing interracial friends when it first aired, but they did that too.
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All true from what I remember. Still, there's something about the characters making an explicit statement about their sexuality I'm not comfortable with (although I'm not really opposed to it either, I just wouldn't choose to do it if it was my choice).
Masturbation is another normal healthy human practice I probably wouldn't want to see Bert and Ernie talking about (or doing). I just think it's too early for kids to tackle subjects like this.
I wouldn't be opposed to having Ellen and Portia on as guests and talking about gay marriage. But Bert and Ernie getting married seems like it's over the top. Especially since it's not legal (eta everywhere). I'm all for marijuana reform, but I don't think I want to see Rasta Elmo anytime soon either.
 
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I dislike that people say that it would be for a "political agenda" or crammed down the children's throats or inappropriate, etc. There are married characters in children's fiction all the time. Was I being exposed to sexualitty at too early an age when I read about Momma Bear and Poppa Bear? Today's letter is "H", like in "Heteronormativity" :D .

Perhaps it wouldn't work well with these specific characters. I wouldn't know because I never watched the show :p .
 
I love the assumption that all gay couples must automatically want to get married. I don't see all straight couples getting married, and straight marriage has been legal for months.
 
Tsukasa Buddha said:
I dislike that people say that it would be for a "political agenda" or crammed down the children's throats or inappropriate, etc. There are married characters in children's fiction all the time. Was I being exposed to sexualitty at too early an age when I read about Momma Bear and Poppa Bear? Today's letter is "H", like in "Heteronormativity" :D .

Perhaps it wouldn't work well with these specific characters. I wouldn't know because I never watched the show :p .
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But a marriage between a man and a woman (or male bear and female bear ;)) is different from the very much new construct of marriage between 2 people of the same gender. It's just not something the show needs to get into.

Actually, they could address it if they want to, just not with Bert and Ernie. If they use those two characters to illustrate the issue, then everything we thought about them would be changed. Like there was some sexual tension betwen them that always existed but was never addressed. It would be changing a minor albeit still important part of many people's childhoods, including mine.

Using two new characters would be fine with me!
 
I'm not sure about the idea of the transgendered character though, since most characters have no gender at all. For instance I always thought Big Bird was a female and it turns out the puppeteers have always been male.
 
Is Bert is even gay? I've never met a guy guy with a unibrow. Ernie could do so much better than a boring rageaholic that collects paperclips.
 
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