Talk:Annie and Clarabel

Accusations of sexism

The following section was added today. I am assuming good faith but I am also conscious that Wikipedia's text gets mirrored worldwide and accusations like these can spread quickly. If appropriate references can be found, then of course the text can be re-instated.

Critisisms have also been made of 'Thomas and Friends Annual', part of a range of books accompanying The Railway Series. In the annual's 2008 edition Annie is described from Thomas' point of view as "one of my coaches. She works on my branch line with Clarabel." The use of possesives in this passage could be seen as subjugating female characters. Additionaly, critics point to the other 'male' characters presented along side Annie, who aren't described using possesives as evidence for sexism.

I am well aware that the other text in the section is also unreferenced, and this should be addressed too.

EdJogg (talk) 22:15, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure how to reference this online as the text is from the print version of the annual. If anyone could help find an online reference that would be a great help.

Tomilo23 (talk) 23:45, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

You can use {{cite book}} for the Annual text, that isn't a problem, but the above commentary around that text appears to be original research. -- EdJogg (talk) 12:09, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

@EdJogg: @Tomilo23: Just to let you know I've removed the current section from the article - I couldn't find any sources on the Birmingham library ban apart from mirrors, and feminist critiques of Thomas the Tank Engine should be located in the main article, not on character pages unless these characters in particular are the topic of multiple, reliably sourced discussion with regards to gender roles. I hope you understand my edit. :) Thanks, Acather96 (click here to contact me) 10:35, 1 February 2014 (UTC)

Quite agree with your edit. I should have had the courage to do this myself! -- EdJogg (talk) 09:28, 12 February 2014 (UTC)