Miss Piggy Is A Feminist? I Beg To Differ

According to LifeNews.com:

Miss Piggy is “pro-choice.” On June 3, Miss Piggy received the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art’s First Award at the Brooklyn Museum and publicly announced, “Moi is a feminist!” In a follow-up interview airing June 6, MSNBC reporter Irin Carmon took the opportunity to ask Miss Piggy, “Are you pro-choice?”

“I am pro – I am pro-everything,” Miss Piggy gushed.

(And would she have answered the same to “Are you pro-life?” But feminist reporters don’t ask that…)

During “The Rundown With José Díaz-Balart,” the host asked Carmon about the “world class exclusive interview” with the “feminist icon.”

Carmon smiled and responded, “All I can is it was a great honor to be flanked by two of my heroes growing up: Gloria Steinem and Miss Piggy.”

While the award was a “controversial decision,” Carmon stressed that “the folks who gave her this award say that [Miss Piggy] just goes for what she wants, she pursues her dreams and she never apologizes.”

I gotta disagree here.

Sure, Miss Piggy is abusive, insulting, aggressive, violent, self-centered, conceited, condescending, and obnoxious – but those things in and of themselves aren’t enough to qualify her as a feminist.

Has she broken through the foam ceiling in Muppetdom, or is her presence  mere tokenism? Think about it – other than her and that stringy haired groupie in Dr Teeth’s band – are there any other significant female Muppets? There aren’t. She’s pretty much it. (Gonzo’s harem of horny hens don’t count, and I’m not talking about Sesame Street either.)

Not only that – she can’t say a word, or take a step, or flatten Scooter with a karate chop without Frank Oz’s hand up her skirt. And as far as I know, Frank Oz is a…man! What irony! She can’t go for what she wants unless Frank says it’s okay. She can’t pursue any dreams unless Frank permits her. So Miss Piggy is far from being a feminist. A feminist doesn’t let a man tell her what to say, where to go, or who to karate chop. You kidding? Maybe Oz is the feminist. Maybe he should have gotten the award.

Go ahead – call me a hater. Call me a mishogynist. But I stand by my opinion. Miss Piggy may be a lot of things, but a feminist isn’t one of them.

Photo credit: JeepersMedia / Foter / CC BY