The Sexism of Sesame Street

My daughter is finally getting to the age where she is starting to watch television. I am convinced that until recently, when I thought it was time to introduce her to some children's programming to her, she thought the only thing the television showed was sports, my husband's passion. The first thing I pulled up to show my daughter was Sesame Street on Netflix.


Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I love Sesame Street. As a mom, it's one of the few toddler friendly shows that doesn't either grate on my nerves or bore me. And yet, I have a bone to pick with the show. Less than a quarter of its muppets are female, and certainly none of the most beloved ones are. 
Last week my toddler daughter recently decided she wanted to pick out the diaper she wanted to wear. We looked at all the characters they featured: Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Ernie. It then dawned on me that every single muppet featured on them was male. I couldn't help but recall the furor over the lack of Black Widow marketing from Marvel and wondered why is no one upset about Sesame Street? This is a show geared toward children as they first become consumers of media, heralded as the gold standard of children's programming, and it's basically sidelining 50% of of its viewers. Is it a case of the age-old thinking that girls are willing to consume male-centric media, but not the reverse? The same thinking that leads movie studios to pour money into male-centric big-box office movies and "chick flicks" have to fight to be produced?

I stewed on it and then thought, I can't be the only one who has noticed this. Sure enough, Bitch Magazine featured an article about it . . . way back in 2009 and PopMatters brought it up even farther back in 2006. For the most part though, I found very little evidence of fury I myself have begun to feel. 

Sesame Street seems to be trying to rectify their failings, introducing three female muppets since 2006, starting with Abby Cadabby. But I couldn't name any of these characters before my search and they certainly haven't established themselves in America's hearts like their classic male counterparts. They aren't exactly Miss Piggy, who was recently honored with a Sackler Center First Award from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. Miss Piggy, it seems, is an anomaly in the muppet world, where even on her own franchise, The Muppets, she is all alone in a sea of male muppets.

Seseme Street, if by some miracle you are reading this, help a mommy out and give my daughter some better female muppets to watch!