Sesame Street to introduce HIV positive muppet
 

http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/0...eut/index.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- Sesame Street will soon introduce its first HIV-positive Muppet character to children of South Africa, where one in nine people have the virus that can lead to AIDS.

The upbeat female Muppet will join "Takalani Sesame" on September 30 for its third season on the South African Broadcasting Corp.

The character -- which has yet to have a name or final color or form -- will travel to many if not all of the eight other nations that air versions of the educational children's show that began in the United States in 1969, said Joel Schneider, vice president and senior adviser to the Sesame Street Workshop.

Schneider said talks are under way to introduce an HIV-positive character to U.S. viewers.



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Schneider announced the new character this week at the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain, where he spoke by telephone on Thursday.

"This character will be fully a part of the community," Schneider said. "She will have high self-esteem. Women are often stigmatized about HIV and we are providing a good role model as to how to deal with one's situation and how to interact with the community."

The program is aimed at children from 3 to 7 and the messages delivered by the new character will be "appropriate," said Schneider, meaning that there will be no explicit mention of sex.

"Not every show will deal explicitly with HIV/AIDS," Schneider said. "We want to show that here is an HIV-positive member of our community who you can touch and interact with.

"We will be very careful to fashion our messages so they are appropriate to the age group. What do I do when I cut my finger? What do I do when you cut your finger? That sort of thing."

"Takalani Sesame" will be the second children's show in South Africa to have an HIV-positive character. But it is believed to be the first among shows designed for preschoolers, said Beatrice Chow, spokeswoman for the Sesame Street Workshop in New York.

In some parts of South Africa, 40 percent of women of child-bearing age are infected with HIV, and in 2000, about 40 percent of adult deaths in South Africa were attributed to AIDS, according to the U.S. State Department.



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Originally posted by Irrelevant:
EAT A BAG OF FUCK, HOMOLOVER.
http://www.livejournal.com/userpic/2070689

I know it sounds really obsurd when you first start to read it... but it's actually a pretty good idea. Let the children educate the adults. That's the only real way tolerance happens.

wheres the leper muppet?

it has good intent, as always. no matter that it's terribly fucking sad.

can kids be kids for once? holy jesus

3 year olds asking mom questions about HIV? no way man

This is Africa we are talking about. These kids, well girls anyway, will be lucky is they make it past 12 without being infected.

They show kids of all races playing together....if you ask me, its kinda the same thing.


And who exactly gets to infect the muppet???

I wouldn't agree with that. Seeing kids of different races playing together preaches acceptance. A muppet with HIV won't really preach acceptance because these kids will be too young to understand the stigma that comes with being infected with HIV. It's education. I don't know if an HIV muppet in America is quite necessary, but Africa is just so fucked maybe they do need it.

Fine then, how about handicapped kids?? Kids with diseases that cause them to be in wheelchairs, etc ?

maybe when, like, 40% of Africa is handicapped...

I don't see a real difference between education and tolerance. as it says in the post above, all they're teaching is that its ok to interact w/ HIV positive people....


3 yr olds are also too young to understand the stigmas about why certain groups are discriminated against.... does that mean that only one race should be on the show?

3 yr olds are too young to understand what cystic fibrosis is....should there not be handicapped people on??

It's all the same thing.

OK... these kids need to be educated about HIV cuz it is one hundred times more part of their lives than it is a part of ours.

how the hell does race = aids?

in kindergarten do they announce in fornt of the class all the kids who have HIV?

where does it say race = AIDS?

read SVSAm's posts

"3 yr olds are also too young to understand the stigmas about why certain groups are discriminated against.... does that mean that only one race should be on the show?"


[This message has been edited by bittertrance (edited 07-12-2002).]

no it's really not

race has nothing to do with fucking or drugs

the muppet will be in the US soon; read the article

it's a better idea for south africa; not the best idea, but it's such an AIDS firestorm over there

bad argument. muppets don't have races. is kermit white?

No, they aren't necessarily able to comprehend those topics and their complexity, but I sure do believe that they can comprehend the fact that Elmo can hang out with, laugh with, cry with, and hug untitled HIV-infected-muppet, and so that makes it OK for them to hang out with, laugh with, cry with, and hug untitled HIV-infected person.

That is until uneducated Mommy and Daddy come along and tell them to stay away from that untitled HIV-infected person because they're a fag and that they might make them sick.

[This message has been edited by AndySlash (edited 07-12-2002).]

All the muppets are all kinds of different colors and ethnicities, and they interact regardless of what color their skin (read: fabric) is.

I'll say it again. Sesame Street is the best kids' show ever.

This is just like the Nick News feature on gay parents thread. The show didn't discuss homosexuality and the homosexual lifestyle, rather they promoted tolerance for "different" families. Likewise, I think Sesame Street will teach kids to not be afraid of other children/people who have HIV. I doubt they will ever go into discussion about how HIV is contracted or any such thing.

Best post in this thread, period.

This is a bad thing?

Kids shouldn't learn how HIV is contracted from Sesame Street...but I think it's ok for them to learn tolerance form the show.

And the 5 yr old children infected with HIV have gotten it from fucking and drugs.

You're the reason they need education!

Muppets are from a different show.

On sesame street they have real kids and adults.

I never said its the same thing.

All i was implying was that race, handicapp, and HIV (or other diseases) are things that could cause kids to see other kids as different or weird. And hence the program, showing people interacting with different types of people teaches kids not to be afraid of others who are different.

"so then snuffalumpagus stuck his fat trunk in big birds bottom"

Huh? That's what I just said.

no, all the jim henson puppet charecters are muppets. the fraggle rock muppets, seasame street muppets, and then the muppet show muppets.

You can be born with aids or hiv if your mother has it.

That was supposed to be a joke http://www.netphoria.org/wwwboard/frown.gif

bad argument. kids needn't be "taught" to "not be afraid of other" kids; kids naturally love; it's the parents who need to be re-educated

but know that 99% of kids are going to ask why? and how?

"johnny, that muppet's dad used a dirty heroin needle"

"susie, that girls mom had unprotected sex"

I misunderstood the icon.

two tips:

1. actually read the story posted (if it's faulty, then it's faulty)---kermit WAS a bad example b/c he ain't on there sorry

2. actually watch an episode of sesame street; they have all kinds of "muppets"


like i said initially, tolerance is natural for children; let kids have a childhood apart from questions about oral sex and intravenous drug use!!

what a revolutionary idea!

kids without aids don't naturally have prejudice against kids who are HIV positive; like i said, re-educate the parents; let the kids have a childhood