children – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Tag: children

Bickford, T. (2015). Tween intimacy and the problem of public life in children’s media: “having it all” on the disney channel’s hannah montana. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 43(1), 66-82. Retrieved from http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1665109811?accountid=11107 *

This peer-reviewed source explores the concept of the “tween,” the age cohort between childhood and the teenage years. The source delves into the discussion about how tweens in the United States have a misrepresented image in children’s television. Bickford examines how gender stereotypes affect the image of the tween in America, and it is presumed that tweens are girls who regularly consume children’s media. Bickford utilizes Hannah Montana to argue that even the protagonist, a tween pop star living a double life, is having trouble “having it all” in her public and private life. This source relates how the hyper-feminized view of tweens is negatively affected by the notion of “having it all,” where women are expected to have control over both their public persona as well as their private image. The source argues that adult women in the media are treated as social minors, whereas tweens in the media are eroticized for their childhood innocence. This peer-reviewed source is relevant because it reinforces how female gender roles in children’s television mirror the unequal representation of a woman’s life in the general media.

Breed, Lisa, et al. “Variations in the Gender‐Stereotyped Content of Children’s Television Cartoons Across Genres.” The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Wiley-Blackwell, 31 July 2006. Retrieved from onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02767.x. **

This study examined how gender role stereotypes are projected across four different genres of cartoons, such as traditional adventure, nontraditional adventure, educational, and comedy. While certain behaviors of aggression were not as present in educational cartoons than in the other genres, the study deduced that male characters were still at the forefront of the storylines across all types of cartoons. The study found that male characters were more represented and had more leverage in the plot of the cartoons than the female characters, and the stereotypical male behavior of aggression was emphasized in the adventure cartoons. The study also supported the notion that female characters were mainly employed as the love interest or supporting character, rather than significant, plot-progressing characters. While this source tends to be redundant with its findings on male representation over female in children’s cartoons, the source does add a specific criteria of cartoons to highlight the differences of representation across the genre. Despite the specificity, the source continues to bolster the fact that female characters are misrepresented in children’s media, which can perpetuate into future generations.

Browne, B. A. (1998). Gender stereotypes in advertising on children’s television in the 1990s: A cross-national analysis. Journal of Advertising, 27(1), 83-96. Retrieved from http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/236627552?accountid=11107 *

This peer-reviewed source is a study on how gender stereotypes are perpetuated through advertising on children’s television. In the analysis, gender stereotypes were observed in advertisements that aired on children’s television in the United States and Australia. The goal of the study was to examine how often gender stereotypes are projected through these commercials, and if there was any difference between the children audience in the United States and Australia. The study found that there was relatively little difference in the projection of gender stereotypes in these advertisements between the two countries. The source argues that on a consistent basis, boys were viewed as more knowledgeable and dominant than girls were viewed, regardless of the country. Therefore, this source contains relevant information because it supports the notion that children’s programming inherently perpetuates gender stereotypes that diminish girls’ value. The source is valuable because it has concrete evidence in the misrepresentation of girls in children’s media. This peer-reviewed source supports the idea that this gender bias affects the fabric of the general media in that women are continually portrayed as less than men.

Chandler, E. (2016). “I never wanted to be an ashley!” androcentrism and gender entitlement in disney’s recess. Gender Issues, 33(2), 148-162. Retrieved from doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12147-016-9154-9 *

This peer-reviewed source tackles the idea of androcentrism in the range of normal childhood femininity. Chandler utilizes Recess, a popular Disney cartoon, as the prime example of how androcentric characters do more to harm the image of femininity in childhood than help it. The source describes how in one episode, Ashley Spinelli, a “tomboy,” does not like her name because it is associated with the girly-girl Ashleys of the school. Spinelli’s inhibition to accept her name relates to the source’s argument that androcentrism is an alternative way to downplay femininity as cruel and vile. The source acknowledges how perceived masculinity in girls is a better life than embracing their femininity, which is relevant to the gender stereotypes in children’s television as it is. This peer-reviewed source adds a crucial point in the representation of gender in children’s television because it tackles how masculinity is always perceived as better than femininity. This source proves that rather than embrace themselves for who they are, children view masculinity as the best way to live their lives.

Morgan, M. (1982). Television and adolescents’ sex role stereotypes: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(5), 947-955. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.43.5.947 **

This study analyzed the relationship between sex-role stereotypes and television viewing in a sample of 349 middle-school aged children over two years. The study was conducted to determine if television viewing did impact the children’s sex-role attitudes as well as the difference in attitudes between boys and girls. The study concluded that television viewing greatly affected the sex-role attitudes of the girls, whereas the boys were seemingly unaffected by television viewing in their attitudes towards gender norms. However, this source does add a unique perspective to gender representation in children’s television because the study includes the socio-economic background of these boys and girls. Lower-class girls were found to have consistently similar views to the boys while the more affluent girls reacted much more strongly to the television viewing. The study adds a significant point that those who are least likely to have traditional sex roles, such as upper class girls, were impacted much more by the television viewing than everyone else. This source reinforces that girls are much more influenced on their sex-role attitudes by television, but it also adds how socio-economic status can differ the attitudes within girls themselves.

Thompson, T.L. & Zerbinos, E. Sex Roles (1995) 32: 651. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01544217 **

This source describes a study that sought to examine the evolution of gender roles in animated cartoons within a twenty year span, from the 1970s to the 1990s. The study observed the behaviors, communication, and overall significance of male and female characters in these selected cartoons. The study found that male characters were still a dominating force in the story and significance of the cartoon, and they wielded much more of the total speaking lines and screen time than the female characters. The source describes how within the twenty year span, there was little change in how male characters are portrayed in cartoons as compared to the female characters. However, the source also acknowledges that the roles of female characters in these selected cartoons has grown in significance from the 1970s to the 1990s, even though the evolution was miniscule. This source provides a unique representation of gender roles because it examines the stereotypes within cartoons, which are ultimately made by men and women. The projection of the real world societal stereotypes in children’s cartoons supports the inherent disparity of gender representation in children’s television.

*=peer-reviewed

**=not peer-reviewed

Gender Representation in Children’s Television (Annotated Bibliography)

By Amanda McAuley

On September 20, 2018

In Annotated Bibliography

Coyne, Sarah M., et al. “It’s a Bird! it’s a Plane! it’s a Gender Stereotype!: Longitudinal Associations between Superhero Viewing and Gender Stereotyped Play.” Sex Roles, vol. 70, no. 9-10, 2014, pp. 416-430. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1531890817?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-014-0374-8.

This longitudinal study explores the gender stereotype of masculinity. It had 134 mothers of pre-school children report information over several years. The study takes into account the exposure of children to superheros (television and movies) and their amount of male-stereotyped play and weapon play that results from it. Boys are more likely to mimic the male-stereotyped and weapon play because they can relate to the superheroes. Since the superheroes are mostly boys or geared towards boys, young boys see them as a role model. But, girls who watched high levels of superheros were not more likely to use male-stereotyped play or weapon play than girls that didn’t watch as much because they can not relate to the shows and movies as much as boys can. This source is valuable because it is longitudinal so it portrays the effect on children viewing of these hypermasculine shows. It also details the social psychology behind imitating shows and why boys and girls react differently when they watch the same thing. Also, the comparison of boys to girls is extremely effective in this source.

England, Dawn E., Lara Descartes, and Melissa Collier-meek. “Gender Role Portrayal and the Disney Princesses.” Sex Roles, vol. 64, no. 7-8, 2011, pp. 555-567. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/857999236?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-9930-7.

This article details how Disney princess movies have trended towards more egalitarian gender roles. In the study, they determined the frequency that princes displayed certain qualities and how often the princesses displayed the qualities. For example, some of the qualities are helpful, sensitive, curious, assertive and athletic. The rise of feminism affected their tactics because then princes began showing emotions and princesses became more assertive, but the plots often rely on the princess getting the man in the end. For example, while Pocahontas and Mulan deal with diplomacy and war, in the end they are paired off with their princes. The value of this article comes from the contrast from the 1930s to modern day and how Disney employs traditional gender roles. The paper suggests provocative ideas, but doesn’t necessarily have empirical evidence because the display of kindness (or any other trait) is vague and subjective. It overall details how it is hard for Disney to break from gender stereotypes, while still pleasing their consumers.

García-Muñoz, Núria and Maddalena Fedele. “The Teen Series and the Young Target. Gender Stereotypes in Television Fiction Targeted to Teenagers.” Observatorio (OBS*), vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 215-226. EBSCOhost, prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=82233901&site=ehost-live.

This article focuses on television for teenagers. It increases the information about the images of young people that are portrayed in teen television.The conclusions come from analyzing the social and physical descriptions, personality traits, and role in the plot of each character. The results are more than just which qualities boy characters or girl characters have, it is much more in depth. It introduces the idea that older people are underrepresented on television. Also, that almost all homosexual characters display traditional feminine qualities, which is based purely on stereotypes and not reality. This article is valuable because is important to know what messages teen shows promote because the teen years are when the identity is formed and teens should not have to be limited by stereotypes. While the article displays how powerful media is and the need for less stereotypes in television, it is a very limited study focusing on few shows and specific characters. It is overall easy to read, but some conclusions may not have enough evidence to be significant.

Gerding, Ashton, and Nancy Signorielli. “Gender Roles in Tween Television Programming: A Content Analysis of Two Genres.” Sex Roles, vol. 70, no. 1-2, 2014, pp. 43-56. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1477375870?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-013-0330-z.

This is a content analysis of gender roles in teen television shows. The study used 49 episodes from 40 different shows that can be distinctly identified as either teen scene (geared towards girls) or action-adventure (geared towards boys). The results are displayed in percentage of male and female characters in both show categories that are attractive, show bravery/rescue, and use technical skill. Overall the analysis details how females were more likely to be attractive , while the males were considered more unattractive. Women have to be beautiful to be watched, but men can rely on personality alone in shows was one of the conclusions. Also, the analysis dissects how the ratio of males to females in the shows are 2:1, thus continuing the culture that men/boys are more important. The value of this source is that it takes into account television shows for girls and boys. Overall the focus is on teen television’s misrepresentation of females and it may not disclose how men are misrepresented on television shows, so it is overall more biased than some other articles.

Steyer, Isabella. “Gender Representations in Children’s Media and Their Influence.” Campus — Wide Information Systems, Mar. 2014, pp. 171-180. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1108/CWIS-11-2013-0065.

This article details the negative influence sexist representations in media (including television) have on children’s development. In the era of “equal rights”, it is still common to see women underrepresented in television and to see them performing traditional roles. This scholar article argues that society is far from equal, but change starts with the next generation. Children who are exposed to non-traditional gender representation have more positive development, but this is not common. The article explains in depth how men outnumber women in children’s television. For example, the ratio of men to women is 2.6:1 in the 101 G-rated films taken into account. Not only are do girls see less of their gender, but boys are developmentally stunted. Females are often more attractive and intelligent than their male counterparts, which lowers boy’s self-esteem. Also, women are portrayed more as moms, while older men are seen more as bachelors, therefore a lot of television lacks positive male role models. The value of this article comes from its mixture of conceptual ideas with statistical evidence. It also gives equal thought to all children’s development, not just specifically girls or boys. It is worth reading because a lot of themes and stereotypes go undetected in children’s television shows and these just further promote inequality, but they are sometimes hard to point out because sexist representations are so deeply connected to our culture.

Thompson, Teresa L., and Eugenia Zerbinos. “Television Cartoons: Do Children Notice it’s a Boy’s World?” Sex Roles, vol. 37, no. 5, 1997, pp. 415-432. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/225382192?accountid=11107.

This article explores a study of how 89 children perceive male and female cartoon characters differently. The article provides background in behavioral psychology and typical gender stereotypes in television including the job status, knowledge, and representation of characters. It reports that children noticed gender-stereotypical behaviors in cartoon characters including the stereotypical representation that boys are violent and active, while girls are more domestic and boy-obsessed. Also majority of the kids chose traditional occupations for their own futures. This is worth reading because the study results take into account factors like age and Mother’s working status, making it more reliable. It is also important because it explains in detail that kids are exposed to television at a young age and do not always separate the fantasy of cartoons from reality. The value comes mostly from the empirical evidence that supports that gender stereotyping begins at a young age and that it can be connected specifically to television because especially in the Humanities field there is not always evidence to support arguments.

English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Tag: children

Citations On The Role Of Gender Stereotypes In Children’s Television: Annotated Bibliography

Gender Representation in Children’s Television (Annotated Bibliography)

Archives

What We’re Talking About