Pee-wee Herman was our first introduction to gender fluidity and social nonconformity.
With the news of Paul Reubens passing, I’ve seen several online comments from millennials and Gen Xers about the impact his famous character, Pee-wee Herman, had on their lives. This often happens when someone of note passes away, but this one seemed to hit a little different.
Maybe it’s because I’m one of those millennials.
I’ve spent the day thinking about why Pee-wee Herman had such a strong and lasting influence on my life, and I now have the years and added knowledge gained from a shifting society to help inform my conclusion.
Pee-wee was a lot of things to a lot of people.
For adults, he allowed them to be kids again.
For kids, especially ones who didn’t quite understand who they were yet, he allowed them to feel comfortable and confident in being different.
In the 80s and 90s, words such as “nonbinary” and “gender fluidity” were not commonplace. To some, Pee-wee was a “weird little man” (exact words I saw written by a Baby Boomer today), a character who confused them because he didn’t conform to gender or societal norms. They felt vindicated in their beliefs when Paul Reubens was arrested for masturbating in an adult movie…
