(Audio link) Straight talker Stephen Bennett’s program today was comically titled “Cartoons, Children and ‘Gender Confusion’ – Is There a Correlation?” That’s an excellent question Stephen asks; he’s just such a straight talker! I’m being sarcastic of course, Bennett doesn’t address that supposed correlation. Instead the show is a string of anecdotal gripes about children’s programming that doesn’t conform to God’s dress code which he clearly outlines for us in the Bible. Stephen says:
(+7:50) His word is very clear on the distinctiveness of men and women, his standards alone set the boundaries for males and females.
Too bad God never got around to outlining what exactly that dress code is. Maybe Bennett knows something we don’t.
At the end of the program when you expect Bennett to at least attempt to draw a correlation between dangerous kids shows and “gender confusion.” He blathers on about poor fathers, single mothers and molestation which will sound familiar to anyone who’s heard Bennett list off the “causes” of homosexuality. Bennett never even attempts to establish a correlation of comical cartoon drag causing “gender confusion.”
(Wow four episodes in and he’s already getting sloppy)
Like I said, Bennett was griping about how kids shows these days is getting so subversive. Here his wife Irene recalls a run-in with the newest threat from Canada, The Doodlebops, a live-action clown show where two male, presumably Canadian, clowns appear in tutus in one episode:
(+6:20)My four year old son looks at me and says, “Ma, I’m not watching this show anymore, this show is sin.”
And I laughed and I just said, “Yes honey you’re right.”
And then he said, “Mom, why do they do that?”
And I explained to him I said, “Well maybe they don’t know what God’s word says on that, maybe they know and they don’t care and maybe they’re just doing it to be funny, we don’t know why but what we do know for sure is that we know God says that is a sin and we’re not going to do it.”
And he said, “Yes mommy.”
[Stephen:] Irene, I think we know why these two guy clowns and gal clown were wearing tutus, i think we know what they were trying to do thereI think we know too.
Wow Bennett knows even more secret information he’s not revealing than just God’s dress code. So clowns in tutus isn’t just slapstick humor? It’s some sinister plot to confuse your child about their gender? I encourage XGW readers to listen to the broadcast since the Bennetts sure never provide explain how these tutu-wearing Canadian clowns have a sinister motive.
I also encourage XGW readers to listen to the broadcast to hear of Bennett’s encounter with Sesame Street Live’s flagrant promotion of feather boas. I won’t say any more, I don’t want to give anything away.
Gender confusion causing Canadian clowns, The Doodlebops. From left to right: Rooney, Deedee, Moe. In the broadcast Bennett recalls how his mother dressed him in a fur vest. Somehow I can’t help but picture him wearing a vest not unlike Moe’s.
Wow. That’s incredibly sad. I feel bad for their kid, that at the age of four he thinks a TV show about clowns wearing funny clothes is “sin.”
I think it’s a sin for kids to grow up looking for satan, sin and trouble at every turn…
I wonder if Irene wears pants (trousers, for our friends across the pond)? In some congregations, that’s still considered a sin for women (relying on the same verses that the Bennetts are referencing).
Here his wife Irene recalls a run-in with the newest threat from Canada, The Doodlebops, a live-action clown show where two male, presumably Canadian, clowns appear in tutus in one episode…
Aw geeze….cross dressing is such an old gag in cartoons and kids shows. Those two morons must absolutely panic whenever an old Warner Brother’s cartoon pops up on the TV screen. Remember that cartoon where Bugs Bunny is being chased by this big hunting dog, and they both go down to the bottom of a pond, and Bugs dresses as a sexy mermaid strumming a harp and singing “Wrong…would It Be wrong to kiss…”? I crack up whenever I see that one.
Clowns. Clowns. They make us laugh. They make us laugh at ourselves. There is nothing more human then having a good laugh. I could be wrong, but I don’t think that any other creature on earth does that. I’d have a question for Bennett: Did Jesus ever laugh? Has he ever pictured Jesus laughing? Can he picture it?
God’s dress code? That is a riot. Scottish men have been wearing skirts for centuries. They call them kilts, but I suspect that more than a few of them would take umbrage at Bennett’s apparent suggestion that, by wearing them, they are violating god’s dress code.
Re men wearing kilts. Isn’t that supposed to be what gave Pat Robertson the idea that Scotland was “a dark country, tolerant of homosexuality”? It showed, of course that his ignorance of Scotland and his ignorance of homosexuality were both equally profound. Fortunately the Scots told him to take a running jump – good on them.
I blame Milton Berle. And Shakespeare.
My four year old son looks at me and says, “Ma, I’m not watching this show anymore, this show is sin.”
And I laughed and I just said, “Yes honey you’re right.”
Yeah, that kid’s got a chance in hell of growing up mentally healthy.
Not to mention, given the wardrobe options during most of the history of man covered the Bible, shouldn’t we all be wearing robes?
In some native north american cultures they had let children decide whether they were boys or girls and didn’t impose a gender identitity on children at birth. This didn’t cause so much gender confusion as to prevent the successful breeding necessary to continue the tribe.
The first gender confusion I experienced was at 3 or 4 years old. My mother was bathing me with 2 or 3 of my slightly older sisters. I was having a delightful time as they knew how to play in sophisticated ways I found extremely entertaining. An adult female witnessed this and scolded my mother for bathing a boy with girls. That was the last time it happened. That made me feel inferior to females and that there was something wrong with me. Did that cause my current desire to be an M to F transsexual? I doubt it, but its easy to see how exgays may jump to the conclusion that they chose to be gay based on one or more of the many incidents that necessarily accompany life. Same sex desires appear gradually or suddenly and any same sex attracted person’s explanation as to why it happens is suspect. What caused my confusion was adults such as stephen bennett deciding for me how I should behave.
It’s CLOWNS that are taking a hit from these people?!
And just why, or why would a four year old be that concerned with ‘sin’ or even see it in something like that?!
It’s parents like these that take the fun and innocence out of childhood and raise up some seriously messed up children.
I wonder if this poor little guy found the comfort in masturbation would his family tell him that he’s going to get cancer or AIDS and die from doing it.
Care to take any bets they won’t?
Hmm. For an interesting alternate perspective, Blogging Baby from this week has Yu-Gi-Oh GX: What’s so funny about being transgendered? The blog writer comments that Yu-Gi-Oh GX is “teaching my son the exact opposite of what I want him to learn about tolerance.”
I’m not exactly sure where to post this, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time looking for the appropriate post, but some may be interested in the BayWindows report of the loonies from the LWO recent dog&pony show here in Boston.
My day with the ex-gays
They aren’t mean or malicious, just dangerously misinformed
Duh. They’re running a gig.
https://www.baywindows.com/media/paper328/news/2005/11/03/News/My.Day.With.The.ExGays-1044337.shtml
I’ll refrain from going further. I live here in Boston, and, unlike Professor Harold Hill, I do know the territory. “Boston’s Tremont Temple Baptist Church”? Give me a frigging break.
Parents pass their neuroses on to their kids. I myself am somewhat afraid of clowns, and so is my brother. So was our mom, which has a lot to do with it. So had these things come out when we were four, we’d have reacted to the Doodlebops based on what we learned from our mother, too–“Ew, CLOWNS! Get them OFF!”
What I’m saying is, I can quite easily see how parents such as Stephen and Irene, who are clearly zealous but uneducated, could pass their neuroses on to *their* kids and get a reaction like that from their son.
It’s sad. It’s part of parenting. And unfortunately, there are way more of what the Bennetts of this world consider “sinners” than there are clowns, and their kids will have to live, work, and attend school with them. Their problems are the kind that can really become other peoples’ problems. I feel genuinely sorry for these children and hope they have some native intelligence.
Not nice, but to hell with “nice”. When it comes to people who are paid to tell lies about our community like this one, nice left the building long ago.
After listening to this podcast I tend to agree with Raj – it’s all about the gig. Bennett’s self-described history isn’t a very successful one, so it appears this is now a full time career. Someone without much previous success must enjoy the elevation given by the folks at Focus, et al. What keeps nagging at me is the two dimensional knowledge he seems to have of gay related issues. It causes me to again question if he is/was ever actually gay.
I can’t even begin to fathom the “this show is sin” comment from a 4 year old. I’ve been around what most would consider good Christian parents for many years and I can’t imagine that any of them wouldn’t be disturbed upon hearing that come out of their 4 year olds mouth. This has nothing to do with teaching children “in the ways of the Lord” and everything to do with abuse.
Note: Any time you have to dig into Deuteronomy for proof text, you’re in trouble.
David
I have a pal. We met at the Museum of Tolerance where he was a lecturer and also a rap session facilitator.
He is a former Neo Nazi. When he recalls how he got caught up in that life at age sixteen, he can’t believe what kind of human being he was and what he was capable of.
One of the turning points in his life that made him do a 360-was when his very little sons didn’t want to watch any tv shows with niggers in them.
Which is a lot of them.
TJ had married and raised sons in this life and it finally dawned on him that their segregationist education would cripple his children.
Later on TJ had a remarkable custody fight with his ex wife. She wanted to keep raising their kids in that white supremacy lifestyle and TJ wanted otherwise.
He won, but it was tough.
His life is exemplary now and so are his kids.
The lesson here is: you can seriously cripple your child’s heart and mind and body with prejudice.
And prejudice that relies much on stereotypes and avoidance of social norming where encounters with the object of that prejudice is difficult to escape from.
This form of crippling is exactly how a lot of young men especially, end up marginal themselves and in prison.
When the Bennett’s claim “THE TRUTH”. It must square with reality. Or they will spend futile time keeping that reality at bay.
Eventually these realities will carry a greater punch that can be devastating to their kids.
Their sense of betrayal will be profound and unimaginable.
This could break their relationship with their parents, not maintain it.
On the subject of clowns. I was a Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus dancer on and off for years. I know clowns, the culture and tradition of clowns all over the world.
The American version has a very distorted, alien face which is frightening to a child.
Also a good deal of their physical gags are violent looking to kids.
Ringling maintained a specific code for designing and defining clown faces that were appealing while maintaining a variation of the four traditional clown faces.
White face, auguste (natural skin tone) tramp and moustache clown.
Amateur clowns tend to have the most scary faces and the distortion of features can create a trauma in the very young.
My sister doesn’t like clowns either. And she had a unique chance because of my job, to visit clown alley and watch the make up process.
As we’re discussing, the Bennett’s are taking a basically innocuous show biz situation and taking to the level of the SpongeBob/Tinky Winky level of criticism.
Some people really deserve to have their children taken away from them so that greater minds can prevail.
“Some people really deserve to have their children taken away from them so that greater minds can prevail.”
Nope. I completely disagree. In fact, the idea is frightening. It’s been done many times before and NEVER has humanity looked back and said “that was a good idea”.
Regan, when they decide who gets to keep their children and who has them taken away, do you think they’re going to let you on that committee?
The scripture the Bennetts use to come up with the sin of tutu’s is Deuteronomy 22:5 (King James Version): “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”
When I was growing up, my mother (along with most of the women and girls in our church) didn’t wear pants because it was “men’s attire”. To their way of thinking, the garment wasn’t right or wrong because it was pants or a skirt or a tutu or whatever, but rather because it was gender specific.
Interestingly, even though the scripture this little rule was based on listed it as an abomination, this wasn’t considered so much a sin as a matter of conviction. It was “wrong” but not a harm to society and the women in our church who did wear pants weren’t sinful, just not quite as concerned about holiness.
Eventually they got over that one.
I wonder if the Bennetts think it a sin for a woman to wear pants, or is it just a sin for a wan to wear a tutu?
Y’know who else has a lot of crossdressing characters? Shakespeare.
Not to compare The Doodlebops with Shakespeare, of course. Just wondering if Bennett is going to keep his kids from ever reading Twelfth Night.
Oh here we go: The AgapePress’s take on the new radio show: Bennetts Delivering the Straight Story About Homosexuality
The Shakespeare thing would not surprise me. I teach English and film. In my lit classes, I have students who are very uncomfortable with certain writing and stories for moral reasons. There has been an increase in recent years in students finding such literature objectionable. Either the topic will go over the students’ heads or they will demand other reading. It is becoming more and more common to have students who will refuse to read anything unless it is Bible related. Even then it can be problematic. I had a student read CS Lewis and thought he was a heretic.
When I was in high school, my church read the reading lists and became very upset about certain literature.
I had a student read CS Lewis and thought he was a heretic
So? Apparently children nowadays are unwilling to have their worldview challenged. I did not read the Screwtape Letters when I was a child, but I did read the Chronicles of Narnia. All of them. And I turned out gay, anyway.
I can see this like it was yesterday. I was 14-years-old, hanging out with some friends on the front lawn in Santa Clara. Suddenly the back gate opened and there was my best friend in his mother’s bikini.
And this guy was built like what I imagine John Goodman looked like as a teenager.
He gave us a big Gidget wave and started talking in a shrill falsetto.
I have no idea what he was saying, because I spent the next ten minutes in teary-eyed fetal-position laughter. I swear it’s the only time in my life I ever laughed so hard I almost passed out.
How sick does a person have to be to think that a harmless joke like that is morally wrong?
I think it’s just so sad and so senseless that people miss out on so much of the joy of life because of a completely irrational belief system.
I try to be tolerant of other people’s religious beliefs, but I think there reaches a point where religion isn’t religion anymore. It’s delusion.
Re: “He gave us a big Gidget wave and started talking in a shrill falsetto.”
What? I suppose you’re going to say that that didn’t make you gay? 😉
Oh, Jim, good point. Looks as if I’ve inadvertently handed the ex-gay movement some ammunition with that “Gidget wave” anecdote, huh?
For the record, my zany cross-dressing friend grew up to be the most heterosexual guy you ever met. I doubt, however, that his interactions with me would have constituted the type of “authentic male interaction” recommended by the “reparative therapy” community.
From the time we were five-years old, every birthday party or family gathering, he would encourage me to do my Ethel Merman impersonation.
Can anyone tell me if Tyler Perry, he of the “Ma’Dear” drag grandma character is straight or not?
Of all the funny drag queens I know, I thought Miss Coco Peru, was the one.
Now Tyler done messed me up.
Sorry, Coco, I love ya honey and Ma’Dear too!
Looking at both of these handsome (oh, YES!!!), studly specimens doing drag, all I can see is one thing.
They havin’ AAAALLLLLLLLL the FUN!
Yeesh, looking at this thread-I wonder what planet the Bennetts came from and just how tiny and stupid their thinking is.
These Biblical admonishments regarding mode of dress is BEYOND dumb, even for the Scripture writers.
These instructions were all about certian matters of identification and CONTROL of the masses all over again!
Look at how Muslims have distorted mode of dress according to edicts from interpretations of the Q’ran, not any specifics in the text.
Now the women of Islam have to go around in all covering BODY BAGS!
In so many OTHER cultures, a token of dress attributed to one’s lover was to show that you were in love and were cared for-like the symbolism the wedding band entails.
How we dress, is for fun as much as comfort, so whose business is it to give a crap?
Clothes are a superficiality.
Slobs are slobs.
But the stylish person-is compelling.
And I give a thought that a soul who can look great no matter what they have on….is blessed.
BTW, I was at a film festival by gay people of color last night.
And there were several spectacular Latinas…sporting beautiful ZOOT SUITS.
Very cool, believe me.
And God…I can be sure, had to be smiling.
I don’t see how anyone can say they ( The doddleBops) are gay!!! I saw the show they are talking about. And if I remember it right, it was her birthday and she wanted them to do a song for her on stage and they did NOT want to put them on but because they saw how sad she was they both decided to make there Sister or friend happy by doing ONE skit with the stupid tutus on. To me that doesn’t scream ” Iam GAY ” or “Iam NOT GAY!” it said ” I love you enough to show you that on your special day I will put on this stupid thing and dance and sing one STUPID song to make you smile along with about 1000 kids and ther parents! for only one reason. ILOVE YOU.” Now tell me…………. wheres the sin?
My daughter watches the Doodlebops every morning. Who cares if they’re gay. There is no way I am going to keep my child from watching a show that she loves. As long as they aren’t trying to kill eachother or promote violance or having sex with eachother, my daughter is allowed to watch it. Just like the teletubbies. I can’t remember which one it was but there was a talk about one of them being gay. If my one year old can tell the difference between a straight person off the tv and a gay one than I hope that she has enough smarts not to judge. There’s more worries in the world than if a person is acting there sex. How about people start acting there age. I’m not saying I approve of gays, but I’m not the one that is going to judge them. If it is wrong, then it will be tooken care after they die. I think the real christain thing to do would to not judge and show everyone love. They are human beings, i’m sure if you pinched one of them it would hurt just like it would hurt anyone else. I’m sure that some gay ppl molest children and do all those horrible things. But that is just ppl in general. You have to worry about that from anybody. I think I’m just going to stick to the complaint about gas prices and not how ppl are.
Maggie,
I think your perspective is one shared by a great many people. And while I’d like to change your “not saying I approve” a little bit, I can appreciate that you somehow in this political and religious environment remembered that “the real chrisitain thing” is not to judge but to show everyone love.
so, thanks, kinda
Wait a minute… since when did someone’s acting career earn them the title of being gay? Jonathan Wexler and Chad McNamara are the actors who play Moe and Rooney Doodle. They most definately are NOT gay. Infact, they accepted the role simply as a stepping stone in their acting careers… and then they have to take crap from people like you.
The bit about them wearing the tu-tu’s was simply for humor. It was Deedee’s birthday, she had written a song, and she wanted them to wear tutu’s when they performed the Wobbly Whoopsy! Because it was her birthday, they GRACIOUSLY put their own desires (to not wear the tutus) aside to make their sister’s birthday as special as possible!
Now think about how this would probably play out in a real life situation — a little girl with 2 brothers who wants them to play dress up and perform a song she’s written with her.
Thats how all these episodes were written… from a child’s perspective but with an adults sense of teaching ability…
You can read anything you could possibly imagine into something if you try hard enough. But why waste your time trying to prove something is what it isn’t?
My 1 year old loves the doodlebops and it keeps him happy watching it. If I believed it would make him gay watching it, I would’nt approve. BUT, it is a child’s show that just so happens to have a gay character, is that going to make him grow up and be gay? Absolutely not! I believe that home life and they way you are raised can make you gay, not a kid show you watched when you were 1. And even if it does, I would never love my son any less!
Jen — You said, “I believe that home life and they way you are raised can make you gay,”. What was it about your home life that you believe made you straight? Why are some parents able to raise both straight and gay children?
I believe the environment a child is raised in can make them more or less likely to be honest with themselves and others about their sexuality, but I don’t see how you could make a child gay or straight (or both, ie, bisexual) via environment when we certainly haven’t figured out how to unmake someone gay, straight or bisexual via environment.
Just trying to understand where you’re coming from.
I think it is completly sad that parents are teaching their kids that. Even at the age of four. First i’d like to explain i’m not a religious person, and i’m tottaly for whatever sexuality you choose, and even though i’m 15 i happen to watch the Doodlebops with my sister.
The enviroment that a person grows up with has nothing to do with them becoming gay or not gay. I know tons of homosexual people and they were all raised that diffrent way, they even have stright siblings? If it all deals so much on the enviorment how could not all of them are homosexual. I even know some people who grow up around anti-homosexual enviroments and they turn out homosexual. Homosexuality isn’t something to get attition, or something someone becomes because of something that happens. Its just happens.
Its a t.v show, about clowns that sing. I’m sry but i am sick and tired of people going around and saying what your doing is a sin. And thinking that homosexuality is the worst thing in the world, because its not the way god planned it to be.
Just because their wearing clown clothes and stuff, their gay. Its wrong to discriminate just because of looks. These people are siting here and telling their children its good to be diffrent, and that you should judge people, but what do they turn around to do. Exsactly what their telling people not to do!
I’m sry if i’m ranting, it just upsets me that people think that and then pass it down to their children, who havn’t the time to think for themselfs whats good or bad.
People should’nt judge others, God is the only true judge. I am a christian, and i believe in God and what he did for us, but that does not mean im against homosexuality. IM NOT. My uncle is gay, so hes going to hell?? no. so for all you people that know oh so much about God, tell me this, what if someone on the other side of the world knows NOTHING about God or christianity are they gonna go to hell? I love gay people theyre cool. Also you should’nt be telling your kids about homosexual people if they’re four!!! i mean gosh. You people sound like president Bush.
>>>”I love gay people theyre cool.”
“I love gay people theyre cool.” … See, this is because of the the CRAP and propaganda that the pervemongers in Hollywood are putting out (and apparently it’s working). It’s now “cool to be gay” and everyone should have their cool, hip, gay friend … As though homosexuality is “normal” and is really no different than heterosexuality. Yeesh. No wonder sexual perversion is getting more and more common. And for those going on about a “dress code from God” you missed the point. It’s about men being men and women being women. And not confusing the two. I doubt anyone doesn’t understand that a Scottish man wearing a kilt is not the same as a man dressing in drag. So that was a stupid comparison. And yes, Christians are to judge peoples actions and behaviors and point out the sins of others – this is part of loving them (but be prepared for your own sins to be condemned). Ignoring sin does no good. And God called homosexualitry an “abomination” and it doesn’t get much worse than that. It doesn’t mean you should hate gays, but you should hate the sin.
Interesting how the rest of my post disappeared except for that quoted portion. Hmmmm.
Tony,
You posted a one line comment which showed up. Three minutes later you posted a long comment but did not enter the correct code when posting so it went into the spam folder. Then approx one hour and 15 minutes later you posted your last comment, apparently suggesting a conspiracy. It’s a 5 digit, undistorted code so we make it pretty easy.
I’ve released your comment from the spam filter, though I think I would have been doing you a favor to leave it there. If you want to post further, please view our guidelines and find a current subject, this one is from 2005.