Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Much ado about gushing

So, one of those little boxes on the Yahoo! main page declares
"Sesame Street" controversy!



And what does it turn out to be? A rehashing of the "boobies make some people uncomfortable when they're used to feed children instead of getting people to watch television shows" thing. After running down a list of the pathetic and immature reactions some have had in recent years--

Stores have thrown women out for discreetly nursing their infants, angry moms protested at places like Target, and any magazine that shows a nursing mother on their cover still sparks outrage, even if the woman is showing less of her breast than a bikini-clad model on the front of a typical fitness magazine.



--we get to what purports to be the main point of the entry, which is that
...some parents are pushing to bring breastfeeding back to public television. Specifically, on "Sesame Street."



Now, if you, like me, are a '70s child, you may well be asking yourself: Didn't they already show that? And the answer is yes, yes they did. Well into the '80s, Sesame Street felt free to show women discreetly breastfeeding and talking about it

They stopped in the '90s. The entry doesn't give a reason, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the abuse of "political correctness" was involved. (I should emphasize, however, that is sheer speculation.)

Anyway, almost 3,000 people have signed an online petition to convince them to start again. I agree with this. In fact...there, I just signed it. But here's the thing. From the way the entry leads off, you'd think there were at least as many thousands of people organized to oppose it.

And there's not. At least, not according to the entry itself, which quotes three internet commenters as its sole examples of this "controversy." Three commenters.

Not figures who have some influence or power in this country, not even (cough cough) very small-fish bloggers like yours truly. Just three commenters; all anonymous, so you know their words should carry weight.

So I'm left with the question: What was all the to-do about?

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