Portrayals of Gender in Children's Television

Posted by Jessica Lowerre

Introduction

People learn how to become members of their society during their childhood. In America a child will spend about twenty eight hours a week, or four hours a day, watching television (Herr 2007). Television, therefore, is a powerful force in shaping the behavior of our children.When a child watches how his or her favorite television characters behave they are learning how to behave themselves. The images that they are shown are gendered. I will be discussing a few television showed that aired on school day afternoons and weekend mornings. Although I had a great time watching these shows, I was surprised by the portrayals of gender that I saw. Current gender stereotypes were strongly reinforced by some shows and mildly by others.

Sesame Street November 11th 12pm

I have to say that I love Sesame street. Although it is for small children the characters are lovable and funny for all ages. It consists of a lot of different segments woven around a central story. Current celebrities sometimes come on the show and teach about shapes and words. The gender differences portrayed in this show are present but not to the extent of some shows.

The central story in this episode was about a sleepover. The fairy puppet named Abby was sleeping over at Big Bird's house. A human couple were going to go dancing but got held up at Big Bird's because he and Abby needed help. The wife insisted on staying and helping the two get to bed. Once everyone was tucked in and ready for bed it started to rain. Big Bird could sleep in the rain but Abby could not and did not want to go home. The wife insisted on having Big Bird and Abby sleep at their house. The husband kept saying things like "I wish we would go dancing like we planned!" but went along with his wife anyway. Once at their house the man's wish was granted and a dance floor appeared in the living room. Big Bird and Abby watched as the couple danced ballroom style. Later in the show we rejoined the couple while they were dancing. A knock at the door turned out to be a puppet shaped like the letter D. The puppet had long lashes and a woman's voice and was obviously supposed to be female. She wanted to join the dancing and the man, woman, and D danced together. A little later a male number 13 puppet showed up and danced with only the woman. At the end of the show the woman thanked D and calls her "dashing." The man thanked 13 but did not compliment him. This segment portrayed women as nurturing, and men as sticklers for plans. I think it is interesting that the couple invited the female D into a threesome dance while the number 13 just danced with the lady. Female/female contact is acceptable while male/male is not.

Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures is a claymation segment of Ernie's dreams. In this episode Bert and Ernie had to stop a beaver from chewing down the rainforest. The Beaver was an opera singer and was chopping trees to make an opera house for "the diva" his female opera singer girlfriend. He felt bad for chopping down birds homes and so he stopped. He convinced the diva that she could sing to the whole forest while standing on her balcony. She is unhappy about this at first but warms up to it. The female beaver portrays women as hard to please and high maintenance. The male beaver portrays men as having little care for the results of their actions, but still hard working.

Murry has a little lamb is a segment where a monster follows his little lamb friend to school. The little lamb is a female, wears a pink bow, and only speaks Spanish. She is named Ovejita, which means "sheep." Murry, a large orange character, guesses where they are going from his little lamb's clues given in Spanish. Once they get to school Murry asks all the teachers and students about what they do while Ovejita does every activity well. Ovejita, the female character, is always great at every activity from art to karate. Murry, however, always plays the part of the beginner and learns what one would on the first day of class. A very gender balanced segment, it is one of my favorites.

Elmo's World is the most annoying part of Sesame Street. But it is only his awful voice and constant 3rd person speaking pattern that bother me. He was specifically created to entertain the younger viewers. This episode he was talking about sleep. His fish Dorothy asked, "How do you sleep?" Note that Dorothy is just a fish in the bowl that Elmo understands and talks to, just like playing pretend with a stuffed animal. The children who answer the question address Dorothy directly saying into the fishbowl, "Hi Dorothy! I sleep like this." The first child to answer was a little girl in pink. She climbed into her pink bed, in her pink room, covered up with her pink sheets, and cuddled with her pink bear. The next kids to answer were brothers. Their pajamas did not match like the little pink girl's. Their bunk bed was blue but the room was still pink. Elmo turns on the sleep channel and watched an animated clip about the girl who loved to sleep. Again the room and pajamas were pink. Making everything pink to signify that it is girly is extremely common and Sesame Street, surprisingly, keeps up this trend. Boys do not own a color scheme like girls do.

The gender differences portrayed in Sesame street are not that extreme but are still there. Most activities that they portray on this show are gender neutral or are shown being done by both boys and girls. In Murry has a little lamb, for example, they went to a gymnastics class where both boys and girls were practicing. I still feel like this is a great show to let children watch.

Hanna Montana Tuesday December 1st 3pm

I had seen this show a couple times before watching it for analysis. I have to say this opened my eyes to how sexist this show is. The plot is that the famous rock star Hanna Montana has a secret identity named Mylie Cyrus. Mylie has to keep her identity as Hanna Montana a secret in order to live a normal life with her family and friends.

In this episode Mylie wants to get the new Zphone, even though she just got a new phone a few months ago. She has spent all of her money on shopping and her dad wont buy her the new phone. While she is angry a paparazzi photographer takes her picture and says he will use the money from selling it to get the new Zphone. To avoid being the only one without the new phone Mylie decides to have her friend take an embarrassing picture of "Hanna" so they can sell it and get the phone. After selling the picture they realize that "Hanna" was wearing Mylie's "Mylie" necklace and now everyone will find out that "Hanna" is Mylie, so they have to get the picture back. The tabloid editor will only trade them the picture for a more embarrassing picture of The Rock, who is in town. Mylie and her friend go to The Rock's hotel and trick him into keeping his eyes closed while they make him up with fake nails, make up, a wig and earrings. They take a picture and run. The Rock shouts, "Can't you people ever give me a break?" Mylie feels bad and goes back to say sorry. The Rock makes her and her friend take the nails and make up off. He tells them that there will always be new things and it is better to be a person you are proud to be rather than the person with all the stuff. Mylie gives him the memory card from her camera. The Rock holds the Tabloid editior upside down so he will give the "Hanna" picture back.

Although Mylie learned a valuable lesson in the end, for most of the episode she was acting greedy and materialistic. She was willing to take complete advantage of The Rock's trust to get a phone. The Rock, a man by the way, had to tell her what was right. As a teenage girl she seems old enough to know this lesson. Notice too that Mylie's dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, told her she didn't need the phone in the beginning but she didn't listen. So in this show girls are materialistic as evidenced by Mylie herself and the other girls with Zphones making fun of Mylie.

It is true that feminizing a man is the best way to insult him. By putting make-up on The Rock the creators of this show were reinforcing the idea that men who are feminine are funny, and one should laugh at them. While he had the make-up on The Rock was making jokes like "Aren't I glowing" etc. These were jokes that reinforced these stereo types even further.

Phineas and Ferb Tuesday December 1st 3:30pm

When I was younger I would watch a show called "Dexter's Laboratory." Phineas and Ferb have a lot in common with that show. It is funny to see that even cartoon plots get recycled. The plot of Phineas and Ferb is that it is summer time and these two brothers have nothing to do. So they build highly scientific machines in the backyard for fun. Their sister always sees what they are doing and tries to get them in trouble but the parents do not pay any attention.

In the opening sequence they show the boys on their adventures after the opening song plays the sister shouts, "Mo-om! Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence!" Open on the family at the dinner table. The older sister is trying to convince her parents that Phineas and Ferb built an elevator to the moon. Even though her brothers back her up the parents call the girl grumpy and say that the boys have a big imagination. The boys go to bed and the sister overhears her parents talking about the new traffic camera in the neighborhood. She thinks that there might be evidence of her brother's doings on the tape so she steals it. She pops the cd into her computer and finds clips of her brother's lunar elevator and several other inventions. The boys hear her and come in to see what the noise is about. They get excited about showing their mom the clips but she wanted to stay in bed and says she'll watch it in the morning. Meanwhile, their pet platypus is a secret agent and has to get the cd in order to destroy the evidence of his secret agent activities that were captured on the camera. He uses a 20 foot tall robot to steal the cd. Everyone wants it back and the siblings use a rocket strapped to a bike to catch up with the robot. The robot machine gets caught on a bridge and they get the cd back only to have it stolen again by the platypus in a costume.

In the second half of this episode The boys decide to build the biggest Bowling ball ever and enter it in the fair that evening. The sister is asked to watch her brothers. Lamenting over a dating issue she shouts, "I am having a teenage crisis!" Her room is pink and her outfit is pink and white. A pink poster hangs on her wall that reads "Me Myself and I <3.">The sister sees the ball and decides to drive it to her parents. She daydreams their reaction:

Mom: "You were right all along!"
Dad: "Here is my credit card. You have permission to ruin us financially"
Boyfriend: "That is so cool! You busted your brothers! Will you marry me?"

She steals the ball and drives it away. Her brothers and their friends give chase. She is hit by a car and rolls into the sewer and subway system. The friends all keep her moving until they get to the fair. The boys win the prize for biggest bowling ball and biggest pin ball game. The sister gets launched out of the ball and lands in the Ferris wheel with her date. She gets scared of the height and he says, "It's ok, I gotcha."

The brothers, Phineas and Ferb, are geniuses. They treat their talent as a matter of course. Saying that they built an elevator to the moon is as meaningful as saying that they had built a sand castle. This portrays boys as having an innate skill for math, science, and engineering. The sister, however, is portrayed as whiny, materialistic, boy crazy, and vindictive.

iCarly Nickelodeon Tuesday December 1st 3:30pm

It seems like iCarly is Nickelodeon's response to Hanna Montana as it stars a pretty, sarcastic teenager who's character is famous. Carly has a website where she posts skits etc. starring herself and her best friend Sam(antha) and Freddy. She lives with her older brother, Spencer, and no parents.

In the opening scene Spencer is fencing with a Robot while Carly is cooking for their cousins who are coming to visit. Samantha shows up and they go upstairs to film an iCarly episode. In the episode Sam spits watermelon seeds at some balloons and pops them...yeah...that is it. Sam complains that she needs to read a book but has never read one before. Freddy bets Sam that she wont be able to do it and the loser will have to do the yuge (rhymes with luge). The girls go shopping to Glitter Gloss and Build a Bra. Freddy gets invited but decides to go fencing with Spencer after fencing is described as, "Just a bunch of guys with swords, swinging them around and fighting! Your basic dude fun..." Freddy turns out to be pretty good at fencing and Spencer gets him into a fight with a mean cool guy for Friday night. The next day at the apartment Carly is still cooking. The cousins cannot eat meat, lactose, sugar, sodium, fat, or gluten so the food is gross. Sam is there to read because her house is too loud. The boys head for the door with their fencing stuff. Carly wants her brother to stay for the visiting cousins. They ignore Carly and run. Carly is left alone with the weird cousins. When Spencer and Freddy finally get back the cousins are just leaving. Carly is mad and forbids Spencer from fencing anymore and makes him clean the kitchen. Carly goes upstairs and finds Sam getting her feet rubbed by a random guy while she is reading. He was paid to read to her but she started reading herself so he got put on feet duty. Freddy comes over to practice with Spencer and makes fun of him when he says he is not allowed to. Freddy slices Spencer's banana in half in a highly suggestive show of superior skill. They get into a fencing fight and Carly brings Freddy's mom over. She stops the fighting and sends Freddy home for a tick bath. Carly realises that she did a disservice to her friend and convinces the mom to let Freddy fight in the match. It turns out that they have a family history of fencing. During the match the opponent fouls Freddy and his enraged mother gets up and defeats him and his two henchmen. Back at the apartment Sam proves that she read the book so Freddy gets the yuge. He sticks the sink hose down his pants and Sam turns it on making it look like he pissed himself. Adorable

In Phineas and Ferb the parents were chumps but they were at least present. In this show the parents are totally missing. Carly, the younger sister, acts like the mother. She cooks for visiting relatives and disciplines her older brother. She is a little mommy in a weird situation.

The boys are portrayed as being totally obsessed with sports. Even though Spencer is not good at fencing he continues to practice with Freddy. With a mixture of teasing and support the two form a friendship around the sport. It reminds me of a discussion we had in class where it was stated that men bond through activities. It is also interesting that Freddy has an innate ability to fence.

Arthur KLCS PBS Kids Go Tuesday December 1st 3pm

Arthur is a show about a family of anthropomorphic aardvarks. The world they inhabit is a human one. There are cars, kids go to school, people sleep in beds etc. Arthur is the older brother he has a younger sister, baby sister, mom, and dad.

In the opening the old family car has broken down. The mechanic says that it is too far gone to fix. They decide to sell the car and buy a used one. Each family member daydreams about what new car to get. The little sister wants a huge camper with a hut tub. She thinks of Arthur chauffeuring her around and bringing her juice at stop lights. Mom imagines a sports car with only two seats. In her daydream the family asks for a ride but she leaves them in the dust. Dad imagines an off road vehicle able to take bumpy roads without spilling anything in the back. Arthur imagines sneaking into the junk yard to get the old car back but the junk yard man crushes it into a square. They go to the used car lot. They know the salesman, a smooth talking hippo. He compliments Arthur on staying in shape for soccer and gives candy to the little girl. The family decides to only get a car that everyone likes. Arthur turns every car down. They go home empty handed. The mechanic offers to pick the old car up and sell it for scrap. He will pay 200 dollars. Arthur and his friend call the Car Talk radio show on NPR (this is a real show, I recommend it). The hosts of the show help Arthur diagnose the problem and Arthur saves the car.

Again the little girl is dressed in pink like most of the other animated girls in these shows. She is also portrayed as self centered, materialistic (the camper fantasy) and easily won over with candy. The family is a traditional family. The father makes most of the decisions and the mother or daughter are always tending to the baby. Arthur, the oldest boy, has a lot of control over family decisions and is praised for his athleticism even when he is not playing.

Conclusion

There are a lot of reasons to have children, but when one gets right down to it they will find that the biggest reason is a wish to leave a bit of oneself behind on this earth. Raising a child to be moral, respectful, and intelligent is difficult, but it is being complicated further by television. The depictions of male and female gender roles are at the very least apparent, and at most abhorrent.

The milder shows, Sesame Street and Arthur, depict families that work together. They also promote manners, doing crafts, and asking questions. The genders are most often portrayed as being equal. Both of these shows were on PBS and were aimed towards smaller children. I am more willing to say that their cleaner content was due to the demographic rather than PBS philosophy.

Once the children grow up a little they get introduced to characters like Mylie Cyrus, the sister in Phineas and Ferb, and Spencer from iCarly. These characters are extremes of gender stereotypes from girls that over spend to guys that choose sports over family time.

Once one is aware of the gender roles that these shows depict, the idea of showing them to children may become distasteful. The problem arises from the ubiquity of these programs. The stars are on cereal boxes. The toys are in the stores. Other children talk about them at school. Television has become one of the main vehicles of indoctrination in our society. If one doesn't like the things portrayed there, they may have to move away to escape it.

References Cited

Herr, Norman
2007 http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html