Westley was the definition of gleeful as he pulled his new Yo Gabba Gabba underwear from the package. Then he stopped, puzzled.
"Where are the girls?"
I looked. One pair of underwear featured a large image of Brobee, another was Plex-themed. The third pair was printed with tiny pictures of Brobee, Plex, Muno...and that was it. Where were the girls?
"It looks like they only put the boys on this underwear," I said as calmly as I could manage. "That's pretty silly, isn't it?"
But it's more than silly. It's completely fucking insane.
I get that no one makes princess-themed boxer briefs. It's stupid that no one does, but I understand a little better why it's the case. But gender-segregating the cast of Yo Gabba Gabba? Really!?
Okay, so Foofa is pink and flowery and Muno is a giant phallus, but the show doesn't really point up the characters' genders. It certainly doesn't make a bunch of declarations about what is "for girls" and what is "for boys." The characters play, learn, and make mistakes equally. And they function best - and have the most fun - when they're all together as a group. Boy creatures, girl creatures, and magic robots, together in perfect harmony!
But when it comes to underwear (and sleepwear, and clothing, and so on) they don't put the girl characters on boys' stuff and vice versa. Because that would be...wrong? Does this mean that my son "shouldn't" like Toodee - the awesome blue-and-white dinosaur-kitty thing - because she's a female character?
I don't need to spend any more time pointing out how completely ridiculous this is, do I?
