I may be the final person to find out that Kermit had a potential new girlfriend.  Frankly, I never cared much for The Muppet Show, and so merely pay attending now when someone brings information technology up.  This night, my husband did, via text.

Sweet Jesus. People are mad most Kermit's new girlfriend considering she is "thinner and younger".  They are talking nearly how a potent adult female Miss Piggy is, completely ignoring the fact that she was egotistical and abusive.

Nosotros had a bit of a chat, and actually, not much bothers him.  He's rather balmy and mellow.  But this is something he couldn't let get of.  So I felt compelled to look into it, and I'k pretty shocked.

Kermit'south potential girlfriend is Denise, and she's a career-grunter who is an advert executive.

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No, Denise actually is not nonetheless his official girlfriend (according to the Muppets' Twitter folio, they're "seeing" each other, but according to Kermit's page, they aren't at the sectional level yet), simply she's certainly got some people raging mad.

She's younger and thinner, though still chubby.  Because she'southward isn't older than Miss Piggy, and at least as big, the character of Denise has been called everything from anti-feminist to banal (without anyone having a chance to go to know her) to a homewrecker, since somehow dating later on a breakup, even potentially, means the new girlfriend (or mayhap-girlfriend) is wrecking a home.  Of course the adult female is to blame.  Men can't command themselves, you know.  Women are the ones who take to control men's lust, and then this means Denise is somehow oh and then bad.  Well, that in addition to the same size of her body and her age.

Now I know theses are puppets with people'due south hands up their butts to control them, but they reveal something deplorable virtually society.  Denise is bad considering existence thinner is bad because it's but okay to be fat these days (any message about how any body size is bad is very harmful, and having been as loftier every bit 400 pounds and as low as 113 pounds myself, I personally know how damaging it is to hear shame on either terminate), and considering she'south younger.  These are all that people have to employ against her.  She'southward rotten for them, and should become away.  She can't concur a candle to Miss Piggy!  Miss Piggy is perfect, and if you don't concord, y'all should get punched!

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Wow.  Advocating violence equally a show of force.

Okay, a lot of people concord Miss Piggy up as a feminist icon.  She'southward fifty-fifty won an laurels.  No, I'm not kidding.  Miss Piggy, a puppet, has literally won a really real actual real-earth award for feminism at the ackler Centre Commencement Honour from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum.  Sandra Day O'Connor and Toni Morrison and Connie Chung were among the fifteen co-recipients in 2012.

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Miss Piggy alone won in 2015.

Now I'grand not proverb her conviction and unwillingness to be held dorsum and her acceptance of her body are bad things.  They're good.  They're very good.  But why is no one addressing her domestic corruption and acrimony problems?  See how far you can watch into this video before you're besides disgusted and take to stop.  I tin't make it all the manner through. These are highlights from just the showtime season:

Could you lot get through all eleven minutes?  Congrats.  Your tummy is stronger than mine.  Equally unsettling as it is, you might take noticed that the sense of humour is both on Kermit getting striking and in Miss Piggy not getting hit.  Why are those funny?

If the genders were reversed, the abuse would be clearer.  Why, plenty of people today have a trouble with Ralph Kramden'due south signature like of, "One of these days… Pow!!! Right in the kisser!"

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Mere empty threats by a man who is really rather spineless (Alice merely rolls her eyes earlier telling her married man to "shaddup") gets ire, but Miss Piggy actually beating on Kermit doesn't!

At present I'yard not trying to plow this into a debate over who has information technology worse.  Women who are abused are more likely to be murdered past their abusers than men who are driveling.  Only there is a problem that such a feminist icon is a long-time abuser, and her victim's rumored new girlfriend is shamed for beingness thinner and younger, and torn downward for non being the same manner an abuser was.

Is this what nosotros want?  When we feminists are fighting confronting the romanticization and acceptance of violence against women, do nosotros really desire to hold up every bit an icon a woman-er, pig, who hits, especially without provocation?  "Oh, uh, Piggy, have you met Lydia?" "No.  Accept yous met my left fist?"  Follow that with Miss Piggy punching him off his feet and blowing on her knuckles.  Is this really, actually what we want?

Self-esteem should never Ever come from mistaking a willingness to corruption as force.  It'south weak.  Abusers are weak and insecure.  Someone who is secure and strong doesn't need to show it through karate-chopping and punching and stomping on someone the way Miss Piggy does.  She lifted herself by violent someone else down, and she was praised for being "strong" plenty to do that.

I am extremely disappointed in those who choose to ignore Miss Piggy'south groundwork and instead praise her every bit a role model.  I'chiliad equally disappointed in the supposedly-enlightened and supposedly-progressive people who call back a proper style to deport to Kermit's new friend is to insult her body size and age, and utilize those to make prejudgements virtually her personality.  That'southward not feminism.  It'south misogyny.  How dare Denise be thinner than someone.  How cartel she be younger.  She'southward bad.  BAD.  All because of her torso size and age.  And Miss Piggy is awesome for being "strong" enough to abuse.

Even though these characters are puppets, they are capable of making it abundantly clear that feminism has a much further way to go than many of us realized.

If you were on the bandwagon of un unrestrained praise for Miss Piggy, do yous still experience that way when faced with her abuse history?  If you jumped on the railroad train of acrimony over Denise's body size or age, how can you defend it as annihilation other than misogyny and body-shame and historic period-shame?  I genuinely don't understand how these things are good, and why they stand for feminism when they'due south abhorrent things.

Delight, someone aid me empathize.  Why is Miss Piggy practiced and Denise bad?  How does Miss Piggy define feminism and Denise is everything wrong with feminism?  Why should existence strong mean taking pride in hitting?

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