The pride flag is making waves after the iconic cartoon show Peppa Pig just introduced its same-sex family dynamic. A first in the show’s 18-year run.
Catered to and adored by preschoolers all across the board, the episode entitled “Families” that aired on Channel 5 in the UK on Tuesday, gave a glimpse to Peppa’s classmate, Penny Polar Bear, who proudly talked about her “mommies” while drawing a picture of her special family.
“I’m Penny Polar Bear, I live with my mommy and my other mommy,” Penny said in the episode. “One mommy is a doctor and one mommy cooks spaghetti. I love spaghetti.”
The road ahead of this franchise truly burns bright colors. However, making a discourse about sexuality, especially on a children’s show, divided audiences on where they stand.
Some celebrated for “giving countless kids representation on TV” and an “age-appropriate representation of same-sex couples”.
Unfortunately, however, others easily called this evolution in popular TV “disgusting” and that children should just be taught “the norm, the generalisations.”
In an interview done by CNN with Entertainment One, the Canadian company behind the show, one employee established their point by saying “Children watching Peppa Pig are at an impressionable age, and excluding same-sex families will teach them that only families with either a single parent or two parents of different sexes are normal.”
This expanding perspective of the show is definitely an answered prayer from what happened in 2019 after a petition of 23,000 signatures called out the writers of the popular show that broadcasts in 180 countries and translates into 40 languages, to feature same-sex parents.
Among other children’s programs that feature same-sex couples are Arthur, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe.
In this day and age, ignorance is a choice.
When all it takes is a few clicks and an effort to come out of your own bubble to listen to and understand people’s different experiences, backgrounds, beliefs, values, cultures, races, and sexual orientations, you simply can’t reason out that you just see the world differently.
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