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You've Got To Be Kidding

Disney’s Sexist New Shirts Describe Minnie Mouse As “Hot”


We can fully accept that Minnie Mouse isn’t exactly a feminist icon. And that’s alright — for a character first drawn in 1928, she’s doing okay.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t have limits, when it comes to Mickey’s better half. And that threshold has been crossed.

Disney has just released a line of four t-shirts, each with a classic character on the front. There’s Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie. And, as you can see in the accompanying image below, the characters are drawn in descriptive terms, rather than traditional cartooning. For example, Mickey’s head is outlined with the words “The Boss,” “Mischievous” and “Genuine.” These are words meant to describe the characters’ “personalities,” according to the Disney Parks blog.

This is rather curious, given the adjectives used to describe Minnie: “Adventurous,” “Adorable,” “Beautiful,” “Cute,” “Fun,” “Genuine,” Gorgeous,” “Hot,” “Lovable,” “Pretty” and “Sweet.”

Yikes.

It goes without saying (or it should, at least) that referring to a children’s cartoon mouse as “hot” is beyond creepy. Also, how does being “pretty” qualify as a personality trait? And, in case you were wondering, the blog Stitch Kingdom found that the other three (male) characters were given traits that almost universally applied to their personalities — not their appearance (okay, so Goofy was described as “Tall”).

I think this little one needs to pay the Disney execs a visit:

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  • Anonymous

    Feminist trolling at its best????

    Seriously, the t-shirt, in the worst case scenario, is only “borderline” sexist. It seems very petty and picky to say that the shirt is sexist. Why bother writing the article when you actually state that Goofy was described as “tall”?

    You forgot to mention that Donald Duck was described as “quack” in the t-shirt (not an endearing term). I wonder what your reaction would be if Minie was described as “quack”?

    Yes, “quack” could mean the sound or a fake, just as “hot” could mean pretty or sexy. Benefit of a doubt to both sexes please?

    I like Jane Dough and would love to see it grow but this feminist trolling is not helpful!

  • http://twitter.com/gabjoh Gabriel Johnson

    Creepy. Creepy creepy yucky.

  • http://www.stitchkingdom.com Brad

    Quack is a disparaging comment, sure. As are many of the Goofy terms (though he might in fact own it). That’s not the point, is it? Donald isn’t being described as Ugly — that’s the point. Out of 11 words to describe a female character, more than half comment on her physical appearance. That’s her net worth according to this line of merchandise. None of the male characters, save for Tall Goofy, are subjected to being described primarily by their appearance. Cute once is fine. Cute six different ways because you can’t come up with additional nice things to say is a bit much in my book.

    This is what the shirt says. Why do you like Mickey? He’s awesome and brave. Why do you like Minnie? She’s pretty and hot.

  • Ben

    Ah jeez…

  • Anonymous

    “Cute six different ways because you can’t come up with additional nice things to say is a bit much in my book. ”

    Come up with better terms then. You think it is easy to be creative?  What words would you use for Minnie that would resonate with children without describing her looks?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XGQL363ABEKB3PSKFHICWSBVFQ Emily

    Kind, smart, strong, brave, friendly, happy.

    Which if you’ve ever played kingdom hearts or watched Mickey’s club house she’s shown to be all of those things. 

    The shows, movies and games she’s been in have NEVER focused on her appearance.

    If a t-shirt designer can’t be creative then they are in the wrong field. 

  • Adam R. Charpentier

    Mickey & Minnie have personalities?

  • Anonymous

    FAIL!!!

    brave- already been used

    friendly, happy, kind- can be used for any character and are all synonymous

    Minnie mouse was  designed originally as a flapper girl……hot and cute describes a flapper girl and minnie’s original character

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper 

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_Mouse 

  • Slapped in the face by reality

    Maybe Disney did their research and found out the obvious truth: young girls care more about being pretty and cute than they do about being “leaders”. Don’t worry, once they get to college the marxist profs will properly indoctrinate them.

  • Slapped in the face by reality

    “Out of 11 words to describe a female character, more than half comment on her physical appearance. That’s her net worth.”Yes.

  • http://www.stitchkingdom.com Brad

    excellent point. if only we could still characterize all groups of people the way we did in the 1920s. although she is a cartoon character, not a human, so we could depict her any way we want and it will be okay.

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