Peppermint Patty's Sexual Orientation?

[Chris Tsao]

In two different radio programs on a Gay radio station, the hosts very
matter-of-factly and seriously called Peppermint Patty as a "lesbian."
One of them said that he always wondered why they put a gay charactor
in the Peanuts. He said that the little girl who follows her around and
calls her "Sir" is also gay.

Are these radio hosts jumping to conclusions, or is Peppermint Patty
really gay?

[Your Pal Brian]

Post by Chris Tsao
In two different radio programs on a Gay radio station, the hosts very
matter-of-factly and seriously called Peppermint Patty as a "lesbian."
One of them said that he always wondered why they put a gay charactor
in the Peanuts. He said that the little girl who follows her around and
calls her "Sir" is also gay.
Are these radio hosts jumping to conclusions, or is Peppermint Patty
really gay?

Back in the narrow-minded 'fifties, adopting one or two characteristics of
the opposite sex meant you were gay. By the 'seventies, it meant you were
progressive and up-to-date. Now, in today's enlightened atmosphere, it
means you're gay again.

Peppermint Patty came of age in the seventies, so I'd say no.

(And didn't she have a crush on Charlie Brown for a while?)

Brian

[David Oberman]

Post by Your Pal Brian

Post by Chris Tsao
In two different radio programs on a Gay radio station, the hosts very
matter-of-factly and seriously called Peppermint Patty as a "lesbian."
One of them said that he always wondered why they put a gay charactor
in the Peanuts. He said that the little girl who follows her around and
calls her "Sir" is also gay.
Are these radio hosts jumping to conclusions, or is Peppermint Patty
really gay?

Back in the narrow-minded 'fifties, adopting one or two characteristics of
the opposite sex meant you were gay. By the 'seventies, it meant you were
progressive and up-to-date. Now, in today's enlightened atmosphere, it
means you're gay again.

Peppermint Patty is a tomboy. What's confusing the radio station DJs
is probably that Peppermint Patty is by far the most masculine,
capable presence in the Peanuts universe. The little girl who follows
her around (Marcia?) just needs a daddy.

Post by Your Pal Brian
(And didn't she have a crush on Charlie Brown for a while?)

She did have a slight crush on Charlie Brown.

If any of the girls in Peanuts moved to Daylesford, shacked up with
female lovers & started wearing Doc Martens, it was probably Lucy
(whose pursuit of Schroeder was more ego-driven harassment than true
attraction).

[Frank R.A.J. Maloney]

"David Oberman" <***@IGNOREsocal.rr.com> wrote in message news:***@4ax.com...

[deletions]

Post by David Oberman
Peppermint Patty is a tomboy. What's confusing the radio station DJs
is probably that Peppermint Patty is by far the most masculine,
capable presence in the Peanuts universe. The little girl who follows
her around (Marcia?) just needs a daddy.

[deletions]

It's pretty widely acknowledged that Marcie is modeled on Billie Jean King.
But unlike Billie Jean she's largely affectless and bookish. That makes her
a complement of Peppermint Patty's highly emotional, highly obtuse
personality.

Peppermint Patty (not her real name, which was Patricia Reichardt -- like
known fact) and Marcie are the only girls -- not just Lucy, but also the
original Patty and Violet and later Sally Brown in a different way -- in
"Peanuts" are not total bitches. And don't even get me started on the Little
Red-Haired Girl.

What all that means about the "real" meaning of the strip I leave to others
to unravel.

[D.]

Post by Frank R.A.J. Maloney
Sally Brown

I vaguely remember that she suddenly got snooty and unlikable, but not
much else.

[Grant Hurlock]

Post by Your Pal Brian
(And didn't she have a crush on Charlie Brown for a while?)

A little bit like Sheila James mooning after Dobie Gillis while he's
lusting for the likes of Yvonne Lime & Tuesday Weld?

[Harkness]

aren't the Peanuts characters ten years old?

I think that would come under the heading "too soon to tell"

John Harkness

[Aldo Pignotti]

She had the hots for Charlie Brown, I'm guessing she's bi.

[mark angelis]

Post by Aldo Pignotti
She had the hots for Charlie Brown, I'm guessing she's bi.

Well, I remember one of the cartoons where she definitely had *something*
going on for Snoopy.

Make of that what you will.

[David Matthews]

Post by Aldo Pignotti
She had the hots for Charlie Brown, I'm guessing she's bi.

Is she one who used to call him Brownie Charles?

Dave in Toronto

[Frank R.A.J. Maloney]

Post by David Matthews

Post by Aldo Pignotti
She had the hots for Charlie Brown, I'm guessing she's bi.

Is she one who used to call him Brownie Charles?

Nope. That was a minor character called Peggy Jean. He met her at summer
camp in the early 90s. Like the Little Red-Haired Girl, she eventually broke
his heart.

[v***@yahoo.com]

Post by David Matthews
Is she one who used to call him Brownie Charles?

Peppermint Patty called him 'Chuck' from the get-go, to Chuu--Charlie
Brown's bewilderment.

VMacek
"Chuck"?

[l***@yahoo.com]

Well, Chris Rock certainly thought so - or seemed to in one of his
earlier SNL monologues. (He was complaining - rightly - about how
everyone in "Peanuts" had a personality handle except Franklin.) Pretty
funny, I must say. Regardless of Schulz's intentions, one can't blame
adults, at least, for seeing PP as a lesbian, with or without Marcie in
tow.

Lenona.

[Al Wesolowsky]

***@yahoo.com wrote:
snippo....
: funny, I must say. Regardless of Schulz's intentions, one can't blame
: adults, at least, for seeing PP as a lesbian, with or without Marcie in
: tow.

I'm recalling a modern animated show..."Family Guy" maybe, or
"Simpsons," in which Peppermint Patty and Marcie have a cameo.

Someone knocks on their door, PP answers, and then Marcie comes up
behind her and asks what's going on. I *think* Marcie puts one arm
around PP in a protective/you-back-off sort of way.

Not canon, certainly, but the notion that they are a couple seems to be
held widely enough that animators figured viewers would get the joke.

[Aldo Pignotti]

How do you think Charlie Brown turned out? I bet he was one
of those "nice" guys who couldn't get laid until he met a
woman with a very loud biological clock ticking. They got
married, had a kid and then Charlie Brown got dumped like
a load of bricks. Now, he's the office whiner somewhere
because he's paying child support, alimony and his ex is living
in Charlie Brown's old house with Linus (who isn't working).
I keep expecting him to show up in "Dilbert".

[m***@excite.com]

For all of Charlie Brown's complaining, he got more female attention
than I did when I was his age...

By the time the strip ended, I could count about 3 or 4 girls who had
the hots for him at one time or another. Peppermint Patty, Peggy Jean,
the Unnamed Dance Girl (probably the only one who didn't eventually
break his heart), and Marcie. And if you count real time, which is
about 50 years, the fact is, having 4 genuine crushes in 50 years
really ain't that bad compared to some people.

[Aldo Pignotti]

Just like Lucy pulling the football away, I bet he didn't
get laid until he got married.

[Grant Hurlock]

Post by Aldo Pignotti
Just like Lucy pulling the football away, I bet he didn't
get laid until he got married.

The gynic symbolism of that upended football is hard to miss--(yet she
pulls it away every time).

[Grant Hurlock]

Post by Aldo Pignotti
How do you think Charlie Brown turned out?

I think he changed his name to Garrison Keillor & went on the radio.

[D.]

Post by Grant Hurlock

Post by Aldo Pignotti
How do you think Charlie Brown turned out?

I think he changed his name to Garrison Keillor & went on the radio.

I think you're right.

And that would explain all the snow in the 'toons.

[D.]

Post by Al Wesolowsky
Someone knocks on their door, PP answers, and then Marcie comes up
behind her and asks what's going on. I *think* Marcie puts one arm
around PP in a protective/you-back-off sort of way.
Not canon, certainly, but the notion that they are a couple seems to be
held widely enough that animators figured viewers would get the joke.

Little girls that age often are "couples" -- many girls have a "best
friend" from whom they're inseparable -- but it's not exactly an
indicator of sexuality.

[Your Pal Brian]

Post by Al Wesolowsky
I'm recalling a modern animated show..."Family Guy" maybe, or
"Simpsons," in which Peppermint Patty and Marcie have a cameo.

[snip]

I don't know why, but this thread reminded me of these:

http://www.achewood.com/?date=05202003
http://www.achewood.com/?date=05222003
http://www.achewood.com/?date=05232003

Brian

[karnak17]

Post by l***@yahoo.com
Well, Chris Rock certainly thought so - or seemed to in one of his
earlier SNL monologues. (He was complaining - rightly - about how
everyone in "Peanuts" had a personality handle except Franklin.) Pretty
funny, I must say. Regardless of Schulz's intentions, one can't blame
adults, at least, for seeing PP as a lesbian, with or without Marcie in
tow.
Lenona.

I can. Adults who go around calling ten-year old girls lesbians just
because they happen to be homely and/or tomboys need to be drowned like
kittens. It's not so bad if said little girls are fake cartoon
characters, but it's still pretty obnoxious.

As for Patty. She has a crush on Charlie Brown, and there was that
very sweet cartoon where she gets flowers from her Dad for the first
time because he said that he wanted to be the first of the many guys
who were going to be giving her flowers someday. "I suddenly feel very
feminine" was Patty's blissful reaction. She seems intended as the
sort of girl who doesn't feel feminine enough for the Disney Princess
image of little girl-hood, which is very common. She's the sort of
girl who would be CALLED a lesbian in real life, by mean-spirited
children and the sort of adults who should be drowned as kittens, but
she's actually the very last of the female Peanuts that I would pick
out as a potential future lesbian if I was inclined to start
speculating on the issue.

[l***@yahoo.com]

Post by karnak17

Post by l***@yahoo.com
Well, Chris Rock certainly thought so - or seemed to in one of his
earlier SNL monologues. (He was complaining - rightly - about how
everyone in "Peanuts" had a personality handle except Franklin.) Pretty
funny, I must say. Regardless of Schulz's intentions, one can't blame
adults, at least, for seeing PP as a lesbian, with or without Marcie in
tow.
Lenona.

I can. Adults who go around calling ten-year old girls lesbians just
because they happen to be homely and/or tomboys need to be drowned like
kittens. It's not so bad if said little girls are fake cartoon
characters, but it's still pretty obnoxious.

Well, OK, maybe I should have said something like "label-throwing teen
readers," not "adults."

Or, of course, comedians like Chris Rock.

BTW, I don't believe Schulz ever had any of his child characters make
it to nine, never mind ten, but I could be mistaken. (In the 1950s,
Charlie Brown made it to six, and in the late 1970s, he was eight and a
half.)

Lenona.

[Grant Hurlock]

Post by karnak17
I can. Adults who go around calling ten-year old girls lesbians just
because they happen to be homely and/or tomboys need to be drowned like
kittens.

So you think kittens need to be drowned? Seems a bit cruel, though
maybe you're referring to cartoon cats.
Could spawn a new fashion line for perverse ten-year old girls:
Goodbye Kitty

[karnak17]

Post by Grant Hurlock

Post by karnak17
I can. Adults who go around calling ten-year old girls lesbians just
because they happen to be homely and/or tomboys need to be drowned like
kittens.

So you think kittens need to be drowned? Seems a bit cruel, though
maybe you're referring to cartoon cats.

"Adults who go around calling ten-year old girls lesbians . . . need to
be drowned like kittens." Clearer?

In ye olden days, before kitty birth control was invented, persons
wishing to prevent their cats from Taking Over the World would drown
each new litter which came along as a matter of course. Nowadays, with
kitty birth control available, we tend to make an effort to find good
homes for those kittens instead of drowning them. IMHO, adults like
the ones described above are not due the same consideration.

Post by Grant Hurlock
Goodbye Kitty

It would be hugely succesful Actually, I think I read somewhere that
it is already being done, or something like it. Not legally, of
course.

[DT]

Post by Chris Tsao
In two different radio programs on a Gay radio station, the hosts very
matter-of-factly and seriously called Peppermint Patty as a "lesbian."
One of them said that he always wondered why they put a gay charactor
in the Peanuts. He said that the little girl who follows her around and
calls her "Sir" is also gay.
Are these radio hosts jumping to conclusions, or is Peppermint Patty
really gay?

From PP's debut on August 22, 1966, she seems pretty normal:


PP: Hi, Roy,... who you writin' too?

Roy: I'm writing to a little kid named Linus that I met at camp several weeks
ago.

PP: Is he cute? If he is, tell him your very good friend 'Peppermint' Patty
says, "Hello".

PP: Tell him what a swinger I am...

PP: Put in a good word for me, Roy, and next time we Indian wrestle I'll try
not to clobber you.

Dennis