Katy Perry is Not the Only One Being Oppressed on Sesame Street (A Satirical Commentary)

“So Katy Perry can't wear a little Tinkerbell outfit on Sesame Street, but it's fine for Elmo to run around without any pants? I'm confused."

     I was initially surprised and appalled that Katy Perry's now notorious stint on Sesame Street sparked such a huge controversy. However, when I saw the above hilarious observation posted by megcabot on Twitter, it all made a lot of sense to me.

     Break it down bit by bit. Despite his gender ambiguity, we can deduce that Elmo is, indeed, a boy. Consider: a) his reluctance to play “dress-up” with Katy, the kind of activity that is far more popular with little girls than little boys, and b) the fact that his official bio on the Sesame Street website refers to Elmo as a "he."

     Now, take a look at Elmo and some of his male puppet cohorts on Sesame Street. Since the Katy Perry fiasco revolved around her scandalous breasttacular wardrobe choice, keep that in mind as you peruse these pictures. We’ve got…

…Elmo himself…

…Bert and Ernie….

…Cookie Monster…

…Guy Smiley…

…Telly Monster…

…Grover…

...Colambo…

…and Aloysius Snuffleupagus.

     What do have here? There is a fair mix of both clothed and nude male characters. It’s just always been accepted that way. Bert and Ernie can wear all the clothing items they want (even the exact same striped shirts on a day to day basis!); Elmo, Grover, and Snuffleupagus can be as nude and carefree as they want. All forms of male puppet attire (or lack thereof) are permitted. There must not be too many laws against public indedency in Sesame Street land.

     Now, let’s explore the converse. Scope out these female puppet characters. Here we see…

...Abby Cadabby...

...Betty Lou…

...Prairie Dawn…

…Zoe...

...Countess Darling Von Darling…

...Countess Von Backwards…

...and Baby Natasha.

     Notice anything? All of these female puppet characters are fully clothed. Yes, perhaps the argument can be posed that some need to be clothed because many of them are supposed to be child-aged characters. (Pedophilia has no place on PBS or elsewhere.) Still, no one’s ever been in an uproar about the clearly infantile and obviously unclothed Baby Bear possibly exposing too much of himself to the world. Oh wait, he doesn’t have anything to expose to the world, right? They’re all practically unics! So, why go to such measures to cover up the female puppets (especially considering that they have no genitalia to display)?

     There are exceptions to the mandated female puppet clothing rule, of course. For instance, look at nude and lovin' it Rosita:

     However, Rosita is a token case that is not indicative of gender representation of female Sesame Street puppets as a whole. You can see the double standard most blatantly when you look at Oscar the Grouch (who has consistently had his furry green body on exhibit to viewers) and his partner, Grundgetta (who is "especially partial to [covering herself with] tattered hats and veils"):

 

     What do we learn from all of this? By and large, the female body is something to be hidden and forgotten. Girls and women can exist, as long as we don’t have to look at those particular physical, bodily attributes that distinguish them as girls and women. Whether it’s instituting an unwritten, but well-abided dress code for the female puppets, or trying to restrict Katy Perry from showing too much of her cleavage on screen, it’s an oppression of sorts that has become fairly common practice on good ole Sesame Street.