Unbelievable!

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/866830/thomas-the-tank-engine-tv-gender-neutral-united-nations 

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The Express is hardly a rag worth reading and the UN is seriously deficient in following its own mandate. It cannot influence world affairs to any great effect so generally dabbles in trivia.

Whatever the Express is worth I agree whole heatedly with their attack on this kind of politically correct tripe.

This so called 'gender neutral' tripe is just more rubbish from the same shop that dishes out all the other garbage.

I am a man, was born with a penis which I still have, and am attracted to women. If this offends anyone (doubtful anyone on here :thumbup:) tough.

One of things I feel strongly about, amongst others.

Had my say, feel better for it.

Afterthought.
I like Conor McGreggor, great "gender stereotype", pity he lost the fight though.

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Have some people nothing better to do - or is it April 1st?
Who really cares what sex a toy engine is anyway?

'gender neutral' tripe

Whatever next? Bi-curious kidneys? Will cow-heel go the same way? When I go into the butchers I expect the gender to be unambiguous. The world has gone mad.

I seem to recall Thomas had a couple of lady carriages that followed him around. I hope there are plans to have a couple of gentleman carriages as well. I won't be reading the express article to find out. I have better things to do with my time.

At one time I had a couple of ladies that followed me around....
Wont go into that
:lol:

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Maybe his number plate should be altered to read "Suid Afrikaanse Spoorwee" for the sake of diversity.

Ah diversity, that 'buzz' word.
We are all diverse in every way, not just culture, race, orientation or whatever. No two people think exactly the same or do things exactly the same.
I am a great believer in 'live and let live' which I would suggest is a way of tolerance.

However, just like 'equality' which to me means exactly what it says on the tin, in other words, no one is more equal than others as Orwell put it, then "live and let live" should mean exactly that.
In other words, no particular group has a right to shove their porridge down the throats of the rest of us, it cuts every way.

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Absolutely Roy. Let's leave those who make the new programmes alone to do what they want with it. At the end of the day, it's a commercial enterprise and if it makes them more money then job done.

Absolutely Roy. Let's leave those who make the new programmes alone to do what they want with it. At the end of the day, it's a commercial enterprise and if it makes them more money then job done.

If they go that way I cant see them making more money, we all vote with our cheque books.

Not that I watch those sort of programs, you might well know more about them than me.
;D

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I read a piece in the Telegraph on the same topic instead. As far as I can tell (I never watched the series) what they are doing is adding some new female characters. With agency. Is that really so awful? That series was started in the forties (apparently) when it was perfectly normal to have a fictional world in which all the people who do anything useful or interesting are male. But times have changed! Do you really want the next generation to still grow up with such dated and insulting stuff? I think it is a good idea to make a few changes.

If men already stand up and start yelling 'outrage!' When women are about to enter the male-dominated world of someone as trivial as TtTE on an equal footing, that does not bode well for the more serious parts of society.

And to bring it back to children; I do remember fancy dress days coming up in primary school and wondering who I would dress up as. Robin Hood! No, that's a bloke. Fireman Sam! No, that's a bloke. A smurf! No, they are all blokes except one token simpering tart in heels. Etcetera. Hurray for female tank engines!

And yes I could have dressed up as Robin Hood anyway but I can tell you the boys in my class would have taken exception to that. And at that age, that matters.

And I hadn't heard of Wonderwoman.

There's a tank engine called Bluebell on the Bluebell Railway. That sounds a bit girlie to me. Margot is right. Fully agree. :thumbsup:

I still think its silly.

Male dominated world, err, who's our Prime Minister, our Home Secretary, kids stuff is one thing, the real world is there to be seen.

Business and political world, ladies everywhere, no problems here.

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Yes a lot has changed for the better! And I'm glad for that. TtTE is only now making the move and I'd say better late than never. But we're not there yet.
You may have noticed this forum, as I have pointed out before, is rather male dominated? Which does not have to be an issue, but if topics like this come up it becomes painfully clear. It did make me feel unwelcome (yes I say again: whoever wants to call me a snowflake now is welcome to do so; I don't care). And I don't at all think the initial poster intended to do that, but I think sometimes men only see the male side of things, and nothing is going to change if not sometimes a woman shows how things look from where we're standing. And vice versa, actually.
And if not me, who then?


Ps I don't know spitfire, and don't know if he is a man. It looked like that from the post. Would be a nice twist to the tale if he weren't!

Yes a lot has changed for the better! And I'm glad for that. TtTE is only now making the move and I'd say better late than never. But we're not there yet.
You may have noticed this forum, as I have pointed out before, is rather male dominated? Which does not have to be an issue, but if topics like this come up it becomes painfully clear. It did make me feel unwelcome (yes I say again: whoever wants to call me a snowflake now is welcome to do so; I don't care). And I don't at all think the initial poster intended to do that, but I think sometimes men only see the male side of things, and nothing is going to change if not sometimes a woman shows how things look from where we're standing. And vice versa, actually.
And if not me, who then?


Ps I don't know spitfire, and don't know if he is a man. It looked like that from the post. Would be a nice twist to the tale if he weren't!

Several things occur
One is that if we all thought the same we wouldn't have anything to talk about, like I said, diversity. Right?
Second is that maybe you should post more often, why should you feel unwelcome? Nobody has said anything against you. I hope!
Third. Snowflake? I dont call people anything or show disrespect.

And, never mind, but Spitfire is man.

So a question for you.
You have your perception of things, so would say renaming "manholes" to "person holes" make it a better world?

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who's our Prime Minister, our Home Secretary

Hey, Margot, quoting myself here after just re reading my earlier post.

How many people do you think had to look this up?
:lol:

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I like Margot's description of the (token) female smurf as a 'simpering tart in heels'. Whilst it's many, many years since I can remember that being on TV, growing up in a house with 3 sisters it struck a chord with them even then.

Young girls need the role models who are strong, who get out there, who can mix it up. If that starts in cartoons, then so be it. Not just sitting there preening themselves in the background, using tits (ok, maybe not those in the kids cartoons, but you get the idea) and fluttering eyelashes to make their way in the world, but their intelligence.

I'm reminded of the quote from the series 'Lucifer'. The young girl (Trixie) describes her doll as 'she's a ballerina by day, and a ninja chemist by night'.

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There's a tank engine called Bluebell on the Bluebell Railway.

Weren't they in the news a couple of years ago for an insalubrious bit of filming that necessitated a bit of deep cleaning of the upholstery ?

And I hadn't heard of Wonderwoman.

Or Minnie the Minx, clearly.

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