For the record, I'm reposting an example of "Down By The Banks of The Hanky Panky" that was just posted on another Mudcat thread. I do so because I believe it adds another perspective to the discussion about homosexuality (and not "homophobia")in children's rhymes.


Subject: RE: Origins: Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Apr 09 - 01:08 AM

The version that I learned as a child (Arizona in the 1980s) were:

Down by banks of the hanky panky
where the bullfrog jumps from bank to banky
With a hip, hip, hip, hop
He jumps from a lilypad --
KERPLOP

This was sung, so it was likely taught to us by adults at summer camp.

My friends and I also had variants of the other rhymes, but they were separate:

Coca-cola went to town
Pepsi Cola shot him down
Doctor Pepper fixed him up
And now we're drinking Seven-up
(sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle)

and the rhyme in question:
I pledge allegiance to the flag, Michael Jackson is a fag.

That was 1985 give or take a year. The version I knew from childhood did not include the line about little toys or little boys. I believe this predates the sex scandals. Rather, the faggotry in question was his wearing a white glove, prancing on stage, and grabbing his crotch. I distinctly recall that none of my friends knew what a fag was, but Michal Jackson grabbing his crotch was a sources of considerable discussion.

thread.cfm?threadid=94034&messages=255#2606221

-snip-

Let me state (I hope that this is a re-statement) that I don't like the word "fag" or variants of that word. Yet, I'm copying it without resorting to strategies like I do for another pejorative word-the "n" word. I recognize that some folks can cringe when they see that other word as I do when I see the "n" word in print. I cringe (but I admit not as much)when I see that colloquial word for "a male homosexual". But there's no commonly used strategy to substitute for that word, and so, for the sake of the folkloric record, I've left that word and its' other forms alone in that example. But I want it known that I don't use those words.