Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

For representation. Representation matters more than you'll ever know if you're part of a marginalized community.

I'm a lesbian. I grew up without any gay TV characters for most of my childhood. It just reinforced the idea that gay = bad and that homosexuality should be hidden. Ellen came out in 1994 when I was 12. I knew at 12 that I was 100% different than my peers because my crushes weren't on boys in my class, but on my best female friends. I felt so ashamed and broken because I was different and I didn't understand why. I thought gay only applied to men. It never occurred to me that a woman could also be gay or that I was gay. I remember my parents discussing Ellen's coming out at the dinner table and explaining it to me and siblings and as we asked questions, and it was like a literal lightbulb went off for me... holy sh!t! I liked girls the way Ellen liked girls and that meant I was a lesbian. I wanted to cry when I realized I wasn't broken as a person, I was just different and simply didn't know the proper name because I'd never been taught.

But then all the backlash happened (and honestly, not everything my parents had to say about Ellen was great, either), and again, I knew that I had to keep that newfound information about myself secret. Because all around me I saw people hating on her for being who she was as a person.

Even when there was a lesbian couple on a TV show, it was never really the main character or the main storyline. The relationships were often played out with a negative connotation, too... gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female co-worker, gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female friend, a seemingly straight young character escaping an abusive relationship into the arms of a much older lesbian character, married wife & mom getting kissed by gay friend, etc.

Straight people had tons of happy couples on TV and gays had 10-minute blurbs of messy relationships, secretive relationships, and lots of spontaneous kisses on (non-consenting) parties.

So in your mind, what % of the time should a cartoon show be lgbtqia? What % of the characters? What % of the school assemblies? % books read to classroom? % of the plot line or characters or main characters?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

For representation. Representation matters more than you'll ever know if you're part of a marginalized community.

I'm a lesbian. I grew up without any gay TV characters for most of my childhood. It just reinforced the idea that gay = bad and that homosexuality should be hidden. Ellen came out in 1994 when I was 12. I knew at 12 that I was 100% different than my peers because my crushes weren't on boys in my class, but on my best female friends. I felt so ashamed and broken because I was different and I didn't understand why. I thought gay only applied to men. It never occurred to me that a woman could also be gay or that I was gay. I remember my parents discussing Ellen's coming out at the dinner table and explaining it to me and siblings and as we asked questions, and it was like a literal lightbulb went off for me... holy sh!t! I liked girls the way Ellen liked girls and that meant I was a lesbian. I wanted to cry when I realized I wasn't broken as a person, I was just different and simply didn't know the proper name because I'd never been taught.

But then all the backlash happened (and honestly, not everything my parents had to say about Ellen was great, either), and again, I knew that I had to keep that newfound information about myself secret. Because all around me I saw people hating on her for being who she was as a person.

Even when there was a lesbian couple on a TV show, it was never really the main character or the main storyline. The relationships were often played out with a negative connotation, too... gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female co-worker, gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female friend, a seemingly straight young character escaping an abusive relationship into the arms of a much older lesbian character, married wife & mom getting kissed by gay friend, etc.

Straight people had tons of happy couples on TV and gays had 10-minute blurbs of messy relationships, secretive relationships, and lots of spontaneous kisses on (non-consenting) parties.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

For representation. Representation matters more than you'll ever know if you're part of a marginalized community.

I'm a lesbian. I grew up without any gay TV characters for most of my childhood. It just reinforced the idea that gay = bad and that homosexuality should be hidden. Ellen came out in 1994 when I was 12. I knew at 12 that I was 100% different than my peers because my crushes weren't on boys in my class, but on my best female friends. I felt so ashamed and broken because I was different and I didn't understand why. I thought gay only applied to men. It never occurred to me that a woman could also be gay or that I was gay. I remember my parents discussing Ellen's coming out at the dinner table and explaining it to me and siblings and as we asked questions, and it was like a literal lightbulb went off for me... holy sh!t! I liked girls the way Ellen liked girls and that meant I was a lesbian. I wanted to cry when I realized I wasn't broken as a person, I was just different and simply didn't know the proper name because I'd never been taught.

But then all the backlash happened (and honestly, not everything my parents had to say about Ellen was great, either), and again, I knew that I had to keep that newfound information about myself secret. Because all around me I saw people hating on her for being who she was as a person.

Even when there was a lesbian couple on a TV show, it was never really the main character or the main storyline. The relationships were often played out with a negative connotation, too... gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female co-worker, gay character spontaneously planting a kiss on a straight female friend, a seemingly straight young character escaping an abusive relationship into the arms of a much older lesbian character, married wife & mom getting kissed by gay friend, etc.

Straight people had tons of happy couples on TV and gays had 10-minute blurbs of messy relationships, secretive relationships, and lots of spontaneous kisses on (non-consenting) parties.

Anonymous wrote:Here is the CNN article

https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/entertainment/velma-scooby-doo-gay/index.html

I guess I really don’t understand why Velma needs to “come out” in a kids Halloween cartoon. Why does she need to identify as anything? Is her crush on a girl really need to be part of the storyline for a kids holiday movie? No qualms with whatever people decide it right for them sexually, this just seems like an odd choice for a Halloween storyline

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

Daphne & Fred were a couple in the show, so you always knew their sexual identity. Why is that one “OK”?

I watched Scooby Doo in preschool and early elementary. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a sexual identity. I didn’t know the mechanics of sex. I certainly had never experienced sexual attraction to anyone of either gender. I knew that couples kissed (which to me meant a peck, it wasn’t until years later I learned tongues could be involved), but to my best recollection, Fred and Daphne never kissed.

So in your mind, Fred and Daphne will still be chaste heterosexuals - but clearly now that Velma is out she'll basically be having porn because that's what it means for a character not to be heterosexual?

What if she's exactly the same as she was, only now we know she's gay. Does that make you feel funny in your private parts?

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great.

Now a bio girl can’t like science, have short hair, and be book smart without also being homosexual.

Identity label stereotypes for the win! Again!

Damn, I apparently was lesbian my whole middle and high school life, if those are the criteria....Shocker, really, since all I thought about (besides science and books) was boys.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She's always been a lesbian, it's just that mores have changed enough that subtext can now be text.

She looks pretty hetro hot here…

It takes a special kind of idiot to think you've disproved her queerness by pointing out she's pretty.

DP. I agree with you, but then why are so many saying they knew she (or, say, Peppermint Patty) were gay all along? What’s the tell if not their physical appearance?

She has the bisexual bob

Anonymous wrote:The problem with this is that it actually enforces dumb gender stereotypes. Now, if Velma was a regular hetero girl who just happened to look butch and not be a blonde, that would be the real inspiration. But now of course, if you're not a blond bimbo, you must be LGBTQ.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I loved the show as a kid and never once wondered or thought about the sexual identity of the characters. I don’t understand the need to define them now in the show- can’t they just solve mysteries and eat Scooby snacks?

Daphne & Fred were a couple in the show, so you always knew their sexual identity. Why is that one “OK”?

I watched Scooby Doo in preschool and early elementary. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a sexual identity. I didn’t know the mechanics of sex. I certainly had never experienced sexual attraction to anyone of either gender. I knew that couples kissed (which to me meant a peck, it wasn’t until years later I learned tongues could be involved), but to my best recollection, Fred and Daphne never kissed.