It doesn't get much more innocent than Winnie the Pooh. The adventures of Christopher Robin and his stuffed animal friends were the cornerstone for many a childhood, and to this day, he remains one of Disney's most popular characters. It almost seems impossible to take something from Winnie the Pooh and make it anything other the family-friendly. But someone found a way.
As is to be expected, many were surprised when Winnie the Pooh was dubbed a hermaphrodite by a Polish committee earlier this week. The lovable character was originally going to be the mascot for one of the nation's public parks, but the suggestion was shot down before anything could be finalized.
No, this isn't a joke: due to the character's wardrobe and some seriously disturbing assumptions made by the council, Pooh will not be appearing as the park's mascot. The ruling was first made public in the Croation Times newspaper:
"The problem with that bear is it doesn't have a complete wardrobe. It is half naked which is wholly inappropriate for children. [The Polish mascot] Our is dressed from head to toe, unlike Pooh who is only dressed from the waist up."
So, they just banned 98% of all Disney characters. It's a complaint that's surfaced before, but quickly ignored because of how ridiculous it is to assume that Disney characters are meant to represent real people. That argument doesn't really matter, though, because it pales in comparison to what some of the other officials were saying.
"It doesn't wear underpants because it doesn't have a sex. It's a hermaphrodite."
That's clearly not true, as Pooh doesn't wear pants because he is a stuffed animal. On top of that, it's factually incorrect, but that didn't stop Councillor Hanna Jachimska from taking it one step further:
"This is very disturbing but can you imagine! The author was over 60 and cut his [Pooh's] testicles off with a razor blade because he had a problem with his identity."
Considering the ruling had to be leaked to go public, there is a chance that some of these details are exaggerated...we can only hope that is indeed the case.
The full story can be read in English over at the Croation Times.
