Gender Stereotypes In Sesame Street

In the research done on “Sex Roles, Pink or Blue: Environmental Gender Stereotypes in the First Two Years of Life,” by Andree Pomerleau, Daniel Bolduc, Gerard Malcuit, and Louise Cossette at the University of Montreal stated that the physical environment of girls and boys will have an impact on the development of specific abilities and activities in children. In the research, three age groups were investigated and given types and colors of toys and have determined that boys prefer sports and large and small vehicles while girls had more dolls and fictional characters. The research proves that boys are more active and aggressive than girls. The research shows that as early as 18 months of age, children are already predisposed by sex stereotypes by their parents.

Gender stereotypes affect children substantially. From the baby boy in blue with trucks and action figures to the baby girl in pink with dolls and princesses, these roles and generalizations affect children’s personalities while they are still developing. Those guiltiest of stereotyping in children’s media are Disney, Nintendo and other video-game companies, and reality television. These influences are expansive, and they reach past elementary-age kids to teenagers. Stereotypes negatively impact children of all ages through these forms of media, and parents need to be aware of this.

In a society filled with gender stereotypes, children often adopt gender roles as they move from childhood to adolescence because of the many factors that influence their views to the point they will deny certain roles because it does not fit the gender bias. During the early years, boys and girls will usually be drawn towards gender specific activities. Playing house for example, they little boy will imitate going to work, while the little girl will imitate cooking in the kitchen and playing with the baby doll. Gender stereotypes are embedded in our culture as a social identity giving “norms” to how gender is defined. This paper is going to discuss the child’s earliest exposure to gender roles in the home from clothing, toys and expectations to society’s role in gender bias on early childhood development.

Gender role expectations are inescapable in our society as we naturally tend to sort humans into categories, the easiest one being gender. Upon first meeting a person, most people automatically classify the other’s gender. With this classification come the inevitable gender role expectations. Even for those who consciously try their hardest not to cloud their perceptions of others based on “traditional” gender role expectations, it is almost impossible not to subconsciously succumb to these expectations that are ingrained in our minds virtually since the day we are born. These expectations often influence how one interacts with another. This is especially important when taking into consideration the effects that gender socialization of children through gendered toys, media, and parental affects child development.

Children television programs have been around for decades, designed to entertain and educate the targeted audience. These programs are extremely popular among children, typically last twenty to thirty minutes, are scheduled between the hours of 7:00 a.m. – 10: 00 p.m., and are aired daily on a weekly basis. The commercials that air in-between the breaks of each program are also marketed towards and specifically made for children. Even though the main purpose of children television programs is to entertain, inform, and educate, there are a variety of stereotypes that can be found within some of these children shows. Some of these stereotypes have to do with ethnicity and gender. After carefully watching and analyzing a few of these children

The gender based expectations are taught and the sometimes subtle, often overt lessons begin at a very young age. It starts with the color of the blanket a baby is wrapped up in, the toys bought for them to play with, and extends to the pretend play they engage in. So from the earliest ages of social awareness, society reinforces the ideals of masculine and feminine throughout life. Consequently, it is perfectly acceptable for a girl to put on a purple tutu and twirl about granting wishes to her stuffed animals, while it would be discouraged for a boy. He should be outside in the sandbox setting up his toy soldiers in a mock battle. In spite of the entrenched idea of gender, some mothers and fathers aspire to a more gender-neutral parenting style, that doesn’t restrict their child to specific societal ideals. However, the pressure to conform to the gender binary is ever-present and difficult to deconstruct. The boy that cries when he gets hit by a baseball is called a “sissy” and told to “man up” by his coach. The girl who tells her high school counselor, she wants to take auto

Living in 21st century United States, being a much more liberal and inclusive environment than prior decades, gender “roles” and their normalities are being severely questioned and challenged. Americans have defined and established gender stereotypes that have become a critical part of how we look at gender roles and create biases about each gender. Stereotypes assume people who 'belong ' to a group will appear, behave, look, speak or sound like others from that group. The values, norms, practices, behaviors and traditions associated with the group are shared by all members of the group. For example, gay men are promiscuous, women are maternal and men don 't show emotions. Stereotypes are often dismissive, negative, and they are sometimes

Sometimes, parents tend to raise their sons and daughters differently based on their genders. Joyce J. Endendijk et al. states that, “Parenting girls would be more likely to focus on, for example, affiliation and interpersonal closeness, whereas parenting boys would be more likely to focus on, for example, assertiveness and dominance, because these characteristics are important to succeed in their respective roles as homemaker or economic provider” (299-300). The way that children are parented is heavily influenced on the beliefs of the parents themselves, and the more stereotypical the parents are, the more likely they are to parent this way. It is shown that parents are more physical with boys than girls when it comes to controlling them. Some examples of these are “[...] grabbing, pushing, holding, physically redirecting, or spanking” (Kochanska, Barry, Stellern, & O’Bleness, qtd. in Endendijk et al. 300). In turn, this can increase the possibility of boys becoming aggressive later in life. A test is done in the Netherlands of households with two parents and children between the ages of 12 months and 3 and a half to see their gender socialization. 299 families of 156 boys and 133 girls were tested. At time 1, the children were an average of 3.01 years old, mothers were between the ages of 25 and 46, fathers were between the ages of 26 and 63, and the parents were together (Endendijk et al. 302-303). Participants were asked whether words such as “management” or “children” were more masculine or feminine to them. Words involving careers were rated as more masculine than feminine. They were also given a computer task with congruent blocks where participants had to “[...] sort career attributes to the male category and family attributes to the female category, and incongruent blocks in which participants have to sort career attributes to women

Although animated cartoons have long been associated with children’s entertainment, many cartoons suggest they are for adults as well. Ranging from character portrayal to perceived gender roles, cartoons such as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby Doo both reflect societal values from their time periods as well as perpetuate the developed stereotypes. Comparing the earliest popular cartoons to more recent productions, shows progress towards a less stereotypical character portrayal in regards to gender.

It is expected for boys to go outside, be loud, and play rough in the dirt. As for a girl, it is expected that she remains calm, quiet, and clean at all times. Femininity in girls is related to the father 's masculinity, and his approval of the mother as a role model, and his participation in feminine activities (Gender Roles and Gender Differences). As a result, predicted by cognitive social learning theory, parental characteristics influence as gender role models for their child to imitate (Bussey & Bandura, 1999). In this process parents model directly and indirectly towards their children.

Sex and the City is an HBO series that ran from 1998-2004 and produced two films in 2008 and 2010. The show was initially heralded as progression for the feminist movement when it started nearly 16 years ago. No other show at the time was led by four women, and Sarah Jessica Parker’s character, Carrie Bradshaw, was considered television’s first female “anti-hero”, according to an article in The New Yorker (Nussbaum, 2013). Although the characters’ personalities and development were complex, the writers of the show still managed to apply harmful female stereotypes to each of them.

While there is no apparent shortage of women in the media, for there are shows such as The View on ABC, and The Kelly File on Fox news, the key word is apparent. While women host these shows and others, the clear majority are co-hosted by a man, or hosted by men alone. While Kelly File ranks high within Fox News, The O’Reiley Factor and Hannity generally overshadow it. This does not mean that she never outscores them, because there are times when she does. And that speaks to the quality of her program. For by beating out established shows such as Hannity, or O’Reilly it shows that she is on the same level or perhaps higher than the men. Indeed, there is more than one show that usually has high rating, such as Outnumbered. A question that

Her toys may include, a baby doll, a kitchen, and a nurses outfit. These purchases imply appropriate behaviors of girls should be nurturing, homemakers, their success is acceptable at medial levels, and fall inline with appropriate behaviors. Kids television shows are often grouped and targeted towards either boys or girls. Advertising and packaging is also gender geared. Little boys are not depicted on commercials as playing with a baby doll, as little girls are not on commercials with a tool belt on and a hammer in their hand. Even when a parent is shopping on an internet site for toys, the option to filter these toys as girl toys and boy toys is given. This instills innate competition, or a clear division of what is appropriate for girls and what is considered appropriate for boys. “Through the process of gender socialization we learn which attitudes and behaviors are considered to be appropriate for girls and boys, men and women, in a particular society.” (Kendall 92).

Human behaviour is something that on a day to day basis is learned, being through our social interactions and relationships with others. In this essay I aim to identify the influence that the media and society depicts on the concept of gender roles and ideas which surround this topic. I will be exploring parental influences as well as the effects of primary socialisation of Television and toys, on children’s gender. Then to go on, in deeper detain to the way that the media creates and emphasises the gender divisions between male and female.

How women are perceived by others, and how women perceive themselves, impacts their leadership roles in the work place. Stereotypes and gender biases are themes women have been dealing with for centuries. How women are perceived by social medial and television have been influencing how they are treated by men, and how they view themselves when it comes to taking a leadership role in their organization. According to Omega Institute (2012), “The rapidly shifting landscape of new media and technology, including reality television and celebrity culture, continue to reinforce gender stereotypes” (p. 1). This leads to men still growing up viewing women as home makers versus bread winner. With more women entering leadership roles in the work place they lack the respect from men due to how these men have grown up to know the typical role of a man and woman. Men tend to feel belittled due to the gender stereotypes seen on television, and this leads to women struggling to succeed as a leader with the lack of support from their male counterparts. Lack of confidence with women in the workplace is also influenced and effected by how women are perceived in social media and television. According to Steele (2005), “Exposure to stereotypic commercials persuade women to avoid leadership roles” (p. 276). As young women grow up seeing the typical gender stereotypes they lack ambitions to break the mold and