children’s television – English 1102: Television and Feminism

Tag: children’s television

Eisenstock, Barbara A. Television as a Source of Career Awareness for Children: Effects of Sex and Sex Role Preferences, University of Southern California, Ann Arbor, 1979. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu

Eisenstock’s paper above goes into talks about the discovery of career and career options by children, and the various factors that go into this discovery, as told from a professional research angle (graduate school). Eisenstock focuses on TV as a career discovery tool for children, in part due to its accessibility to anyone. Eisenstock references the common trend for TV of the time (1979) to place women in low-status occupations, such as secretaries and homemakers, and for men to be placed in high-status occupations such as doctors or lawyers. Eisenstock states that the continuation of these traditional sex-roles may be a major factor in the slow acceptance of non-traditional occupations and sex-roles. Eisenstock found that a child’s knowledge of his or her sex role mitigated the effect of traditional TV and that feminine and androgynous identified children reacted much better to the non-traditional work role sexes on TV than the masculine identified children. The idea that TV can both bring down and uplift society through its portrayal of gender is a good starting point for my group’s discussion.

Foust, James C., and Katherine A. Bradshaw. “Something for the Boys: Framing Images of Women in Broadcasting Magazine in the 1950s.” Journalism History, vol. 33, no. 2, 2007, pp. 93-95,97-100. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu

In the paper above, Foust and Katherine analyze the presence of women in Broadcasting magazine, a trade magazine associated with the broadcasting and TV industry, and determining in what light women are portrayed. They found that there are four major portrayals of the women in the magazines: women as sex objects or decoration, women as housewives, women displaying stereotypical behaviors, and women as professionals. The positive portrayals of women as professionals was found the be heavily outweighed by the other portrayals, 85 percent as opposed to 12 percent. One prominent example was the “Something for the Boys” section of an edition that only portrayed female models for a two-page spread. This research was done using a random sampling method and coding to analyze the frames of 1950s decade issues. This portrayal of women in Broadcasting publications could have been another reason why women in professional broadcasting roles were very rare in the early years of TV in addition to the already high barrier to entry for women in a male dominated industry.

Hoffner, Cynthia, and Martha Buchanan. “Young Adults’ Wishful Identification with Television Characters: The Role of Perceived Similarity and Character Attributes.” Media Psychology, vol. 7, no. 4, 2005, pp. 325-351. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu

The above paper tried to answer the question of the factors that go into the perceptions of young adults’ wishful identification, that is the desire to be like or act like a character. They organized a list of perceived character attributes (smart, successful, attractive, funny, violent, and admired) and determined the most wishfully identified with character traits. They found that males tended to want to be like male characters that they perceived as successful, intelligent, and violent, whereas women identified with female characters that were perceived as successful, intelligent, attractive, and admired. The above research helps to determine a difference between older audiences preferred traits and the genders that preferred them. The knowledge that women liked attractive and admired characters versus men liking more violent characters can help to focus in my thoughts on what to look for in a sample of children’s TV shows’ gendered characters; violence in male characters and attractiveness and admiration for female characters.

Liben, Lynn S., and Rebecca S. Bigler. “The Developmental Course of Gender Differentiation: Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Constructs and Pathways.” Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, vol. 67, no. 2, 2002, pp. 1-147. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu

Liben and Rebecca set out to determine how exactly gender differentiation unfolds to stop a classic situation of gender stereotyping possibly limiting individual expression. They state that gender differentiation might come about from consumption of general ideas about specific concepts (toys, jobs, etc.) and then be applied to other various aspects (including themselves). They then also say that the same process can happen, but the child instead focuses on themselves to determine their ideas. This could be shown simply through two scenarios, one where a male child likes a toy, and using their identity, they identify that toy as male toy, and another where a male child identifies that toy as male, and then plays with it, identifying himself as a male. This understanding of some possible gender differentiation ideas can help to understand to what extent TV and culture has on gender and gender identity, serving a purpose for my research and developing my understanding.

Miller, M. M., and Byron Reeves. “Dramatic TV Content and Children’s Sex Role Stereotypes.” Journal of Broadcasting, vol. 20, no. 1, 1976, pp. 35-50. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/60878348?accountid=11107.

In the above paper, Miller and Byron asked the question of whether the portrayal of women in TV in non-traditional occupations would make a child (3^rd – 6^th grade) say that the non-stereotypical role was fitting for women. The findings showed that in 5 out of 6 cases, children who were exposed to non-stereotypical in TV would say that the role seen was fitting for girls. They found that, in general, TV causes sex-role stereotyping in children, but this could be reversed, and TV could become a factor in helping society break down these sex-role stereotypes. This study helps to further back the main idea that children’s TV can and will affect their view on other people and genders. (and the roles associated with them) The further backing helps to both strengthen the argument of this paper, but also strengthen the argument of any other papers that dealt with TV and children’s thoughts on gender roles.

Pila, Sarah C. The “Good Girls”: Exploring Features of Female Characters in Children’s Animated Television, Tufts University, Ann Arbor, 2015. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu

Sarah begins the paper by stating a goal of determining how animated children’s (ages 6 – 12) cartoons portray women in general. Sarah mentions that there could be possible unknown effects of children being exposed to cartoons that portray women in a specific way. Generally, Sarah found that animated TV portrays twice as many male characters when compared to female characters, and that female conversations are more stereotypical in educational TV. Sarah’s extensive usage of other research and relating to the social cognitive theory of children’s development helps to ground and explain her thought processes clearly. Sarah states that her findings are that women are portrayed less and that they tend to be portrayed as more youthful and ‘attractive’ than the male characters. If we accept that children practice social learning, this may lead us to understand why children tend to simply fall into the gender dichotomy that is classically portrayed, girl actions and boy actions, and no mingling of the two.

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.

Gender Roles in Children’s Television Annotated Bib

By Sofia Soto-Tredunlo

On September 20, 2018

In Annotated Bibliography

CherneyKamala London, Isabelle,D. “Gender-Linked Differences in the Toys, Television shows, Computer Games, and Outdoor Activities of 5- to 13-Year-Old Children.” Sex Roles, vol. 54, no. 9-10, 2006, pp. 717-726. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/225367898?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11199-006-9037-8. This article analyzes the preferences of male and female children with regards to their sources of entertainment. It found that female children have a general tendency to watch more television while male children spend more time partaking in other activities. One of the more interesting findings was the opposing trend in the femininity of girls’ television shows and other forms of childhood entertainment. Girls’ choice of television tended to become more feminine as they grew older, while their other forms of entertainment tended to become less feminine over time. There was an noteable preference for entertainment within a child’s gender. However, this was more present in boys than girls. This article is relevant, because it shows the rapidity of the formation of gendered opinions in a child’s mind. While this focuses on a variety of forms of entertainment, the most relevant focus for our research is on television. One issue with the relevance of this source is that rather than focus on the effect entertainment has on a child’s gender stereotypes it focuses on the gender-stereotype’s effect on a child’s choice in entertainment.

Childs, Nancy M., and Jill K. Maher. “Gender in Food Advertising to Children: Boys Eat First.” British Food Journal, vol. 105, no. 6, 2003, pp. 408-419. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/224679133?accountid=11107. This article focuses on food advertisements and the roles of the genders within them. Based off certain categories such as main characters, primary product users, and voice overs, the study managed to quantify the bias. Despite the foods being advertised to both genders, the study found that there was a statistically significant gender bias within the advertisements – more so than for non food advertisements. Boys played a more dominant role in these commercials than females did. This therefore reinforces the idea of male superiority and dominance in a child’s mind. Furthermore, it might begin to instill the dangerous concept that females should consume less food, because food advertisements are not targeted for her. This article is important, because it shows how things that are not normally thought of as gendered could have a large impact on a child. Children spend an increasing amount of time watching advertisements, so it is important to be made aware of the effects on a child’s mind. While this is relevant to our research, because of its presence on television, it may be flawed because its focus is not on television shows.

Meyer, Michaela D.E., and Megan M. Wood. “Sexuality and teen television: emerging adults respond to representations of queer identity on Glee.” Sexuality and Culture, vol. 17, no. 3, 2013, p. 434+. Gender Studies Collection, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A343054749/PPGB?u=gainstoftech&sid=PPGB&xid=5342f42b. This particular study focused on adolescent responses to sexuality in the popular teen show Glee. In terms of the sexuality, teens were much more prone to notice the queer sexuality rather than the heterosexual. This is despite the shows major plot lines and main character focus on heterosexual relationship. This reveals teen tendency to relate sexuality with a nonhetersexual outlook. Many of the male participants in particular mentioned that they were ashamed to say they watched the show, because of their heteronormativity. The show involves song and theater which are normally associated with queer stereotypes, therefore the men were scared to be identified as nonheterosexual for their enjoyment of the show. The show was commonly viewed as progressive for its high population of queer characters. This study truly highlights a teens view on sexuality and the development of it through shows. It is relevant to our research, because teen audiences are still developing their minds based off the television they watch, yet it is clear that by the time they reach their teen years significant biases have already been formed.

Powell, Kimberly A., and Lori Abels. “Sex-Role Stereotypes in TV Programs Aimed at the Preschool Audience: An Analysis of Teletubbies and Barney & Friends.”Women and Language, vol. 25, no. 1, 2002, pp. 14. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/198879860?accountid=11107. This article is arguing that gender stereotypes begin to be enforced on children starting at very young ages thorugh popular television shows such as Barney and Friends and the Teletubbies. Through analysis of the roles of males and females on the show, this study found that males tend to be leaders while females just follow within both television shows. They also found that the traditional roles of mother and father were reinforced as caretaker and working man respectively. This is relevant, because it shows a lot about what standards modern society is pushing through to further generations. These shows are some of the first introductions children get about gender roles. Therefore, it is worth noting so that stereotypes can be corrected for further generations. This is exceptionally relevant in our research on gender stereotypes in children’s tv shows, because while it covers that topic, it narrows in on the very youngest audience. These are the first impressions youth have to form opinions on the matter.

Preston, Elizabeth, and Cindy L. White. “Commodifying Kids: Branded Identities and the Selling of Adspace on Kids’ Networks.” Communication Quarterly, vol. 52, no. 2, 2004, pp. 115-128. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/216483170?accountid=11107. This article focuses on the new role of children as consumers and how children’s television networks are using this to sell adspace. Theses advertisers are branding children in a way that it is already idealizing what a child should look like and the kind of lifestyle they should live. When the child realizes they do not have that they proceed to asking their parent to buy them the product. This quickly brings the idea into a child’s mind that their worth is defined by the brands they use. This materialistic consumerism is being introduced to children at a very young age and they going to be influenced by these ideas as they become active citizens. This is relevant to our research for its mention of gender in these ads and how some brands are throwing away gender neutrality in order to target a smaller group better. This however is a minor point in the article and therefore might not be entirely relevant.

Schooler, Deborah, Janna L. Kim, and Lynn Sorsoli. “Setting Rules Or Sitting Down: Parental Mediation of Television Consumption and Adolescent Self-Esteem, Body Image, and Sexuality.” Sexuality Research & Social Policy, vol. 3, no. 4, 2006, pp. 49-62. ProQuest, http://prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/858939798?accountid=11107, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/srsp.2006.3.4.49. This article studies the implications of parental involvement on a child’s self esteem and self acceptance. According to the results of the study, children whose parents simply sat with them to watch television experience higher self-esteems when they grow up. The higher the parental involvement in the child’s television, the higher the self-esteem. For girls, parental involvement was also correlated with positive body image. This is because for girls self esteem has a much higher correlation with body image than it does for boys. This journal seemed to show a particular bias against sexuality, because of its constant recommendations about how to remedy and avoid adolescent discovery of their sexuality. This is quite relevant to our research. Not only does it discuss the effect of gender in television on children, but it also describes certain effects of some of this television being filtered out. It is worth reading to find out the different effects television can have on young girls versus boys.

English 1102: Television and Feminism

Dr. Casey Alane Wilson • Georgia Institute of Technology

Tag: children’s television

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