Why Lady Elaine Fairchilde Was My First Feminist Role Model

A lot of things scared me as a child, but Lady Elaine Fairchilde on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was not among them. It appears I may be in the minority, however.

A recent internet search of her name primarily yielded comments about her “frighteningly engorged nose,” and ponderings about whether she was a “devil in a red cape.” In short? Everyone but me finds her rather creepy and disconcerting, and her visage way too scary to feature on a children’s television program today.

While the latter is probably true, I never thought of her as in any way creepy or scary; in fact, she was one of my first feminist icons.

There were a lot of things I admired about Lady Elaine, but the thing I got the biggest kick out of as a wee feminist was her unwavering confidence and ability to challenge authority. While the rest of the residents of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe were obedient of King Friday, Lady Elaine had no problem standing up to him, or just casually calling him “Friday.”

Even as a child I appreciated Lady Elaine’s independence; she wasn’t constantly trying to find a husband, as she was too busy having her own host of adventures — like traveling to space and discovering Planet Purple. Not only that, but she got to live in the Museum Go-Round — which frankly, still…