For Wednesday, our weekly show is to showcase examples of humorous female nudity that slipped through the cracks, stuff that went by in shows we used to watch, especially in our childhood. We call this one, Yes, It Can Be Done!
One of the most popular shows of the late 90's and early 2000's was The Powerpuff Girls. This show starred a trio of superpowered kindergarten-aged girls who fight crime and save the world before bedtime. It's easy to see why it's so popular; the show was a different kind of feminist show, a kind where boys could watch and not feel ashamed. It was about three distinct characters going on adventures together in a time when most girls shows are inoffensive and boring. The audience could relate to them, and loved to see them do things little girls couldn't do on TV, all while they were still identifiable as girls. It was funny and it was cool, and it was just the thing our feminist market needed.
And the animators behind the show? They weren't cowards.
So in the episode "Mommy Fearest", the blue Powerpuff Girl, Bubbles, deliberately resists going into her dress and spends 17 whole seconds in her underwear, which is a lot of time in a 10 minute episode. Not to lapse into my old Tumblr language, but can we talk about how a little girl pranced around in her undies and we didn't mind as kids? It was very much something kids did at that age, and the older kids would identify it at "Yeah, I've done that before." It also fit the character perfectly since Bubbles was the childish one. It's a great scene all around.
See? Just because people say it's bad to do this to girls doesn't mean it is, and this scene is proof of that.