Cartoon Network, which hosts shows mostly catered toward children, is now telling kids about all the different “gender identities” they can use for themselves.
On Monday, the Twitter account associated with Cartoon Network tweeted a new series with the caption: “Here’s to not only normalizing gender pronouns, but respecting them, too. Whether you use he/she/them or something else, we acknowledge and LOVE you!”
The comic strips in the new series, created in partnership with the National Black Justice Coalition, a leftist, pro-LGBT organization, used the characters to explain the radical embrace of differing gender identities.
“Gender pronouns describe a person’s gender identity,” reads the text in one frame. “Examples of pronouns are she/her, they/them, and ze/zir. A lot of people are learning about gender identity. If you’re comfortable, you can share your own pronouns.”
In another frame, two characters explain “pronouns” to another character.
“Hi! My name is Kam. My pronouns are they/them,” says one character. The other adds, “I’m Alex! Mine are they/them, too! I feel seen.”
“Thanks, y’all!” Kam added. “When people use my pronouns, I feel respected, safe, and included.”
“Yes!” answered the previously unaware character. “Your pronouns reflect … you! I’ve learned something new today!”
What else?
The new comic strip is being used to promote a “toolkit” from the NBJC:
Language is often a reflection of culture, and when unchecked, can be used to perpetuate violence and oppression. Words have the power to reinforce stereotypes, marginalize the most vulnerable among us, and support harmful ideas about race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, socioeconomic status, and other factors. Language also has the power to be a revolutionary tool in dismantling existing power structures. Language has the capacity to liberate and empower.
NBJC said its toolkit is “designed to facilitate uncomfortable and, at times, difficult conversations that can save lives.”
“This specific toolkit has been designed with the goal of ensuring gender justice in mind, which means ending the violence that black women and girls — both cisgender and transgender, as well as gender non-conforming people — experience simply as a result of who they are and how they exist in the world,” the description continued.
The “gender identities” campaign comes not long after Cartoon Network published a cartoon about the “systemic racism” embraced by the education system.
In the short clip, the main character, Pearl from the show “Steven Universe,” explains who “black heroes” are erased from history because of the color of their skin. She argued Lewis Latimer, who patented a carbon filament that made incandescent lightbulbs affordable for most people, is really the person who invented the lightbulb (he, of course, wasn’t).
“The lightbulb could more rightfully be attributed to Lewis Latimer, the black inventor behind the filament inside the bulb,” lectured Pearl.
She later explained that, “thanks to systemic racism, most of your storytellers prioritize white accomplishments, which leaves you with an incomplete picture.” Pearl added: “Ask yourselves as you’re learning history, ‘Who is telling the story? Was this modified to make white readers comfortable? Are major details being left out that would credit people of color and center their point of view?’”