Last week, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum gave Miss Piggy an award for feminism. If you’ve been reading this for a while than you know that I’m a huge fan of the Muppets, but not so much of Miss Piggy. In fact, I once wrote in an online dating profile: “If Miss Piggy is your favorite Muppet, you and I probably won’t get along.” I actually got several angry emails from women about it, so wrote them all back saying: “Thanks for proving my point.”
Maybe it’s just because I’m an unenlightened man, but I just don’t see Miss Piggy as a feminist. I see her as a feminist wannabe who is undone by her own insecurities and unhealthy obsession with a frog. If they were going to give this award to a feminist hero, why not Korra?… or pretty much any female in the Avatar universe for that matter.
To coincide with the award, Miss Piggy penned an op-ed in Time Magazine. Here’s a highlight from it:
for those who haven’t been paying attention to moi’s massive media blitz about this accolade: the prestigious Sackler Center First Award is presented to women who have broken barriers and charted changes in all disciplines and areas. Past honorees include Associate Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (ret.), Toni Morrison, Jessye Norman, Susan Stroman and Julie Taymor, to name just a few. I am thrilled to be in such esteemed company. And needless to say, they are thrilled to have moi!
Some Internet opinion givers may question whether moi deserves such an honor. After all, some might say moi is just a mere Hollywood celebrity who cares more about her appearance, her star billing and her percentage of the gross than about women and women’s rights.
To which I can only respond: “Oh yeah!?!” By which, of course, I mean that moi is now and has always been an ardent feminist and champion of women’s rights.