Hey guys! For the first time in ages I remembered an episode of a cartoon I once watched (Lloyd in Space), in which there is an alien who is born genderless, and must choose their gender when they turn 13. Today I decided to go and look it up, and here it is!

'Neither Boy Nor Girl'
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/lloyd-in-space-season-3-episode-9-neither-boy-nor-girl

I think they handled the whole thing really well! I got a little disheartened when the whole 'boy activities/girl activities' thing came up, but then lo and behold, they even managed to get that right!

I really recommend watching it, it left me with a bit of a smile.

Mine also! I'm so glad I went and looked it up.

Hahah, yeah, that's how I saw it too! Each one of the guys liked one of the 'girl' activities, which I felt did a lot to impress upon the fact that these things aren't set in stone. As little as it might seem, kids pick up on those things.

I didn't even remember watching this show until I watched the episode but I used to watch it all the time. I've never watched this episode before though.

Quote from: Kohdy on September 18, 2011, 08:59:11 AM
It's been a long time since I've seen it, and after watching it again, I love how when they were watching them doing girl things, each one of the guys were slightly interested in the activities the girls were doing. (The brain guy liked the exercise, the dude asked the guys if the clothes clashed with his hair, etc (forgive me I forget the characters' names XD)). I think this show goes out of it's way to explain that just because it's a stereotypical girl activity doesn't mean a guy can't like it too.  Hurray for breaking gender norms!

Good point - although for me, it was still more saying "girl stuff is better than boy stuff" because you didn't see the girls getting into the boys' activities at all. There's a lack of saying "what boys like to do is actually okay, even if it's not important to girls" which is a bit of an epidemic in UK culture, at least. I notice this a lot in cartoons, particularly US ones (and in adverts too) - the message that the girls are more mature and don't make mistakes and are generally better than the boys keeps getting reinforced.

I loved it! I've never seen this show before, so thanks for sharing. I enjoyed all the little cute sci-fi touches in it too, completely aside from the gender issue.

Quote from: Padma on September 18, 2011, 01:00:43 PM
Good point - although for me, it was still more saying "girl stuff is better than boy stuff" because you didn't see the girls getting into the boys' activities at all.

If you listen closely, there is a point where the boys say "We were playing Pile-on!" (or whatever that ballgame was) and in the midst of all the girls going "Ew!" or whatever, one of the two-headed girl's heads says "Pile-on? And I missed it?"

Quote from: Padma on September 18, 2011, 01:00:43 PMThere's a lack of saying "what boys like to do is actually okay, even if it's not important to girls" which is a bit of an epidemic in UK culture, at least.

I kinda feel like Zoid was saying this the whole time.

Quote from: Wolfsnake on September 18, 2011, 01:39:52 PM
I kinda feel like Zoid was saying this the whole time.

But then Zoid is neither-boy-nor-girl . I'd like to have seen the "apparently girly-girls" being into some of the boy stuff too, not just their token mannish-head.

Hey, I still enjoyed it a lot, just thought it could have gone further.

Well I loved that whole cartoon.  right up until the very last scene. then I had a problem.  I didn't like how the kid said that they would find out what gender he chose when he got a crush on one of them.  because, as we all know, gender identity has nothing to do with sexual orientation.   but, perhaps that was too much to show to kids yet.

Just so we're clear, Zoid obviously chose to be a girl.

My theory is that "(s)he" was just messing with their heads, and that Zoid's species doesn't have male or female at all, ever . After all, there's some of that even on this planet!

But as for the "crush" thing, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and assumed Zoid meant something like "when I have a crush on one of you, I'm going to act on it, so at least one of you will discover which parts I have..."

Hahah, yeah that line was a minor setback, but I think they were probably just  looking for some kind of punch line for the end of it. I figured that after all the good points the episode had, I could give them that.

My fave line was 'At least I think he was your mum...'

Yes, it was a bit of a clichéfest - but built on the general attitude that girl-stuff is worthwhile and boystuff isn't (bee in my bonnet, sorry). I bet girls do gross things together too that you'll never see in a kids' cartoon (anyone??)