The stereotyping of things is not only in evidence all around us today but is almost a necessity. When the average person is looking for clothes they have to find the section that will likely have the items that they are looking for. Men go to the men’s section, women to the women’s section, girls to the girl’s and boys to the boy’s. This stereotyping of gender is also found on TV and is displayed by the roles that men/boys and Women/girls occupy. One has to ask themselves why this is and where do these stereotypical ideas come from. The unfortunate truth is that it begins at birth and continues on through the informative years of children in today’s society.
When a person walks into the toy section of a store, (Wall-mart and Kmart were used
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The facial expressions of the male characters ranged from neutral to a growl or grimace while the girl figures were almost always smiling. Tarisha also noticed that the baby toys seemed to be more unisex than gender specific.
Television plays a large role in the education of the children of today. In an article published in November of 2013 by Lily Rothman she references a study done by Nickelodeon that shows that children 9 and under spend an estimated 35 hours a week watching TV. (This does not include computer and other media devices) (www.entertainmenttime.com) with this much time being spent in front of the Television the influence it has on children must be extensive.
In this assignment we are targeting cartoons specifically and the cartoons viewed were: Yu Gi Oh, Mickey Mouse Play House, and Pirates of Dark Water. In each of these cartoons gender roles were defined by the actions performed, the dress, and the roles occupied by the
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The target age group of all the cartoons was the 1-7 range and they aired, respectfully, at the same time (between 10 and 12 am). The dress of the characters was also gender specific the girls were all wearing clothing styles or colors that immediately identified them as male or female.
Hannah commented that in the cartoon Yu Gi Oh they left no doubt that it was the male characters that would have to save the world because the female characters were not portrayed as having enough intensity. Hannah also noted that the commercials aired during this cartoon portrayed other cartoons of a like nature.
On Mickey Mouse’s Play House De Jane was impressed with the subject matter of the show and with the commercial breaks. The lessons being taught children watching the show were of a positive and educational nature and even the commercials were of an informative
Construction of Gender: Disney Channel Nowadays children have endless options of TV shows. There is something for anyone’s taste. Even though the portrayal of gender has changed through time, some of the stereotypical elements are still deeply embedded in the TV culture. It is visible how gender portrayal changed from girls only being shown as superficial and very emotional while boys were shown as strong and neutral in emotion. The commercials and advertising used to show a similar pattern in offering products meant for girls such as princesses, Barbie dolls, kitchen sets and so on, and the products meant for boys such as Action Man figures, soldier toys, cars and so on.
In many shops, there seems to be an obvious separation between boys and girls items, for example, the birthday cards, books, clothes, and toys. This is shown in a variety of ways the boy's items are mainly the color blue and the books have pictures of either action figures, superheroes or tools. Whereas the girl's items are mainly the color pink. The books show pictures of fairies, princess, and Bratz. The cards also have the theme of the color pink for girls and blue for boys. The girl's cards have a lot of sparkles and pretty pictures whereas the boy's cards are covered in camo kind of illustrations and also have action figures on the covers. The children's clothes are separated into sections where there are labels for the boy's clothes and labels for the girl's clothes. The girl's clothing is all pretty and pink, it is covered in sparkles. Whereas boys clothing has camo patterns, blue colors, and pictures of action figures.
There is no divide in the consumption of this popular culture’s associated products in relation to gender, although the group previously consisted of four males, as well as many of the associated characters being male. This recently changed in 2012 when a female Wiggle was introduced, creating a more female-friendly show, which may appeal to young girls more so than before, therefore giving The Wiggles the opportunity to expand their market
There was a distinct division of the boys and girls toys by the representation of colors. The majority of the boy toys were mostly blue, green and red. This appeared to be resemble a more masculine side because the colors were of a “rugged” dark under tone. While
Despite being one of the most popular, if not most popular, animated movies of all-time, Toy Story offers a limited perspective when it comes to gender because of manhood acts, homosociality, and stereotypes. The manhood acts in the film suppress women at the same time as they support the hegemonic masculinity, which is the masculinity that actively attempts to suppress women and inferior masculinities (Bird pg. 129). When the male characters in the movie do this, it approves of this negative behavior that limits the voice of the female characters. Additionally, the lack of female characters causes the film to portray homosociality, which prevents young girls from seeing a variety of representations of women in the toys. Also, the stereotypes in the movie reduce women to second class citizens. Both male and female stereotypes in the movie support the hegemonic masculinity. Ultimately, the depiction of manhood acts, homosociality, and stereotypes in the film, Toy Story, actively support the hegemonic masculinity at the expense of other gender identities.
The toy section at Target had many clear differences in the toys for boys and the toys for girls. The types of toys that were out on the shelves were different, but also the way the toys were presented were different. Girls toys mainly consisted of stuffed animals, dress up clothes, babies and dolls including Bratz, Barbies and fairies. The primary colors of all these toys consisted of different shades of purple, pink, and white. There were bits of blue and yellow but it seemed that all the colors stood out and had a type of feminine aspect to them. Besides color, the girl’s toys were often soft and fuzzy or
At the end of the school day, she gets into the car with dad and he hands her a McDonald’s Happy Meal with a Cuties inside and finally the little girl smiles. As cute as the commercial is, the subliminal message of the two commercials are what concerns me. The boys are playing with cars and using intelligent math language and the little girl is worried about her pretty smile. However, the product in the two commercials are the same but the portrayals of the children in the commercials are vastly different. The commercials are examples of the types of gender-role stereotyping that occurs often in advertisement. Advertisements that push gender role stereotypes on young children should be banned from television. Television advertisement are among the leading ways children are exposed to stereotypes that causes misguided concepts and ideologies associated with sex or gender. Martin Eistend (2010) conducted a meta-analysis study which stated that, “gender stereotyping can lead to negative consequences that restrict life opportunities, particularly for
One of the many controversies we have today are based on the gender stereotype challenges that we must face when handling consumer trends. An example is the argument which is getting many consumers riled up. The newest Star Wars Movie: Star Wars The Force Awakens is putting out new merchandise for their movie. However, there is a lack of the main female character,Rey, in many of the Star Wars:
The second show I evaluated was a cartoon called Little Einsteins. This show features a group of four friends, two boys and two girls, who go on a different adventure in each episode, usually in pursuit of solving a specified problem. The problem in the first episode I watched was that one of the planet Saturn’s rings fell off and the group had to work together to try and return it back to space. This show, in my opinion, had very little gender stereotyping, even with careful analysis as well as no violence. A small aspect I did notice was that the two male characters were usually the ones to come up with problem solving and heroic ideas while the girls were the ones asking questions like “what are we supposed to do?” while more often scared in a problematic scenario. The physical appearances of the characters also varied and I don’t believe they were conforming to stereotypes, but instead, provided a range of personalities and physical appearances that all types of kids could identify with. Prosocial behavior is a big part of this show. This group of friends is constantly trying to solve problems that benefit others, while not receiving anything beneficial themselves. For example, when the friends decided to return Saturn’s lost ring back to
It only takes a second to attach a strong feeling or idea to a character in a movie, advertisement, or video game. Many characterization used are based on the assumed stereotypes, and are usually one-dimensional characters. Typically, these characterizations usually come from inherited family values, education, and the media. While stereotypes existed long before mass media, the media machine certainly helped to accelerate the cultural growth of all kinds of stereotypes. It is beyond this paper to answer why magazines employ these gender stereotypes, instead this research is designed to analyze
Few toys were aimed equally at both genders. Even board games, while intended for both sexes, usually seemed aimed more towards one gender or another. Both sections had a lot of gender- stereotypical toys. General ideas on girls’ and boys’ behaviors and interests were very prevalent in the toys intended for each gender. After really looking at the toys in both sections it is easy to understand why stereotypical ideas about both genders are so strong since these ideas are introduced at such a young
Gender construction is associated with society’s expectations of human beings based on their biological sex. Before humans are born, they are already classified as boys or girls through a sonogram. In Reading Lessons, An Introduction to Theory, Scott Carpenter explains that “gender has served as the primary human sorting feature since time immemorial” (89). In addition, children’s behaviors are developed from the fairy tales and characters from the cartoons that they watch. Boys are more likely to become superheroes while girls are encouraged to be pretty like Disney’s princess characters such as Snow White and Cinderella (Carpenter 92). Thus, girls are more focused on their physical appearance than boys. The different roles that actors and actresses play and the identification of men and women or boys and girls in movies, fairy tales, and the society influence people to expect what men and women should do and how they should live to get the ideal type for their gender roles.
My analysis of major themes and how the media participate in the construction of attitudes about gender and sexual orientation is predicated upon 16 articles drawn from three major news sources: Newsweek, The New York Times, and The Advocate. The articles were published in the months of January, February, and March. The selection of the articles was not random; I specifically chose articles whose titles and introductions were of particular interest. The three news sources, particularly the Times and The Advocate, published many articles related to LGBT issues—typically greater than a dozen for each weekly search—from which I selected only two per week. In sifting through the 16 articles, I identified three important
Media is a powerful agent in entertaining children. It also influences and teaches the youth of society the suitable and appropriate gender roles that they inevitably try to make sense of. The power of media is very influential especially in the minds of the youth. Disney movies target the youth and plant certain ideas and concepts about social culture into the vulnerable minds of children. Media uses gender to its advantage, just like Disney productions. Humorous caricatures reveal some harsh realities about the portrayal of Disney Princesses in many movies made by the Walt Disney Company. Disney mixes innocence with the ultimate form of fantasy to capture an audience. Predominantly, Disney helps highlight the gender roles by showing the
Throughout the world women are depicted to be oversexualized among forms of media such as video games and comic books. The idea of oversexualization towards female characters is that they have been often drawn and animated in hypersexual ways. Even going as far as viewing them as a sex object, their revealing body images are eye candy through the eyes of men. Hence women found in comic books and video games are frequently emphasized by their excessive physical appearances, objectification, portrayal, and character role.