FIREMAN Sam got fired for not being inclusive, and being Welsh besides. And he’s far from the only problematic children’s character:
Mr Benn
Seemingly respectable Tory Mr Benn visits a bizarre costume shop and steps out into a fabulous new world as a medieval knight or astronaut. Yet another metaphor for homosexuality focused on wealthy cis male gays in London.
Peppa Pig
Daddy Pig may be a vainglorious incompetent treated as a figure of fun like Boris Johnson, but like Boris Johnson he stayed in f**king charge. Reactionary nuclear family propaganda which has yet to show Madame Gazelle admonishing Danny Dog for his toxic masculinity.
Captain Pugwash
Once thought to be a valuable educational tool about maritime sexuality, legal action has proved it to be one more story of criminal colonisers with a sexist recruitment policy for badly animated female cartoon pirates.
Teletubbies
Tokenism at its worst. While Tinky Winky is out, he fails to embrace a radical queer agenda and merely confirms the prejudices of his straight housemates by carrying a handbag. Teaches children nothing about asking strangers their pronouns, even though the target audience is two.
Rupert the Bear
It’s hard to escape the sense of male entitlement as Rupert plays in the woods as if he owns them while father smugly smokes his pipe like climate change isn’t real. And the less said about Pong Ping the Pekingese the better.
