Past and Present separation in Education

Posted by Marie Ingram

In the past children have always been separated in schools, wether it be because of gender of of race. Because of the Jim Crow Laws schools across America were “separate but equal.” However, the schools were not equal, and it was not until Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 were these laws reversed and children of different races went to the same school. Even though there was race ‘equality’ there has long been gender inequality in schools and it wasn’t until the implementation of Title IX in 1972 that it was required by law that male and female students had the same opportunities in school. There now is technically equality for everyone, no matter what race or gender. However today, schools are leaning towards separating the genders again over issues of young boys not concentrating during class time.
In a Washington Post article, “More Schools Trying Separation of the Sexes,” the opening paragraphs illustrate the differences between the boys and the girls. The girls sit nicely in circle and read poems out loud, and the boys, in a different classroom, sat in every direction and portraying them as animals, “One classmate did a backbend over his chair as he read. Another crawled on the floor.”
The article states that more schools are moving towards single-sex education because of the popular view that boys and girls are hard-wired to learn differently and would be more successful in a classroom where their needs could be met more efficiently. The No Child Left Behind Law cites gender separation as one tool to improve learning. In 2006 the Federal Government gave schools more flexibility to have gender separation as long as the education was equal (hmm where have we heard that before?) The article states that feminist groups are arguing against gender separation, saying that separation will perpetuate damaging stereotypes.

Chandler, Michael and Marie Gold. Washington Post. “More Schools Trying Separation of the Sexes.” 15 June 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061401869.html

Literature Review--Katy Davis

The Production of Meaning through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney’s Cinderella
By Lori Baker-Sperry

If you were to view all the movies and story books that children are exposed to, you would inevitably find that many behaviors and roles are strictly gendered. These stereotypical views of how a female or male should act impacts children to the point that many start mimicking these specific roles in society. Ultimately, they start to accept gendered expectations as truth that they all must follow.
In this article, Baker-Sperry discusses a study that was given out to a group of elementary children during their reading session. They went to the group to discuss Cinderella. All the girls got excited, while many of the boys brushed it off and didn’t have much to say about it for fear of being labeled feminine. Many of the boys argued that they didn’t care for the story much and that any boy that showed a slight interest in it was highly frowned upon. Simply put, Cinderella is labeled a chick flick.
The children were asked to describe the looks and personalities of Cinderella and the stepmother. Many of the Children described Cinderella as beautiful. One girl even admitted that she wanted to be just like Cinderella because she was able to attract her prince charming. Even at the tender age of six, children see that beauty is to be desired and that the only way to attract a mate and get what you want is having irresistibly good looks.
Next, the stepmother was brought into the conversation. Not one good thing was said about her. Nobody really knew what to say besides the fact that she was mean, old and lacked beauty. You can’t help but notice that none of the so called “ugly” stepsister’s got the attention of the prince…only Cinderella’s looks grabbed the Prince’s attention.
The children were also asked about who would most likely change the diapers when Cinderella and the Prince had babies. Would the prince do it? They all yelled out all at once….”NO!” The children considered changing a diaper to be a woman’s job and that the men didn’t have to worry about getting close to a stinky diaper.
Ultimately, this article described how Cinderella has definitely changed how children view gender roles and practices. Girls have gained a sense of what their duties are (cleaning and changing diapers) and that our society emphasizes beauty to get what you want.

Baker-Sperry, Lori. "The Production of Meaning Through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney's Cinderella." Sex Roles, 56.11/12 (2007): 717-727.

Work and Family: How does the (Gender) Balance Change as Children Grow?
By Lyn Craig and Pooja Sawrikar

Many families grow up in a household where the mother stays home and takes care of the children while the father is out in the world bringing home the bacon. But, in some cases you have both the mother and father who both go to work and the house if left…with all that housework to do! In this article, it describes how even though both a father and mother may be working outside the house, the mother is usually the one to continue to do twice as much household work than men. Not only that, but women are more likely to go in and out of the workforce because they have to keep adjusting their hours for when duty calls for them to be at home with their young children. Looking at how children are raised in these kinds of environments you can’t help but wonder if they think that the women’s place must always be at home and even when they do have a job…they come home to do more work. What’s also quite interesting in this article is that older children ages 11-14 strongly agree that their working fathers seem to care more about being successful in their careers then they do about meeting the needs of their kids.

Craig, Lyn, and Pooja Sawrikar. "Work and Family: How Does the (Gender) Balance Change as Children Grow?." Gender, Work & Organization, 16.6 (2009): 684-709.

‘You’d Be Good at That’: Gender Patterns in Parent-Child Talk about Courses
By Harriet Tenenbaum

When children reach secondary school they are faced with the daunting task of having to choose classes. Many of these children end up getting advice from their parents which inevitably hinders their development in other fields of study. In a study that was conducted, they found that when children were advised from their parents about what courses to take they found that most of the parents chose gender-stereotyped courses. This meant that boys were encouraged to take math and science classes, whereas girls were advised to take reading and English courses. Many of the parents believed that science is more difficult for girls than it is for boys. But, in reality girls do mark higher in math and this usually goes unnoticed. What is even more astonishing is that when most girls enter into the university they are more than likely to stop taking science and math altogether. Children need to be encouraged to take a variety of courses. Never should a child be discouraged to take a class because it’s been labeled for a girl or a boy. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never come across a class labeled…MATH 100 BOYS ONLY!!!

Tenenbaum, Harriet. "'You'd Be Good at That': Gender Patterns in Parent-Child Talk About Courses." Social Development, 18.2 (2009): 447-463.

Children’s Perceptions of Aggressive and Gender-Specific Content in Toy Commercials
By Lori J. Klinger, James A. Hamilton, and Peggy J. Cantrell

Flip through the commercials on television and you are bound to find a pattern. You can tell what ads are directed for girls and which ones are for boys. In this article, they conducted a study on this and found that commercials are indeed gender stereotyped and behaviors are reinforced through these ads. The boys in the ads came off as more aggressive and were placed in settings outside of the house, whereas the girls were indoors playing with dolls. But, what was most fascinating about this article was when they asked a group of children about what toys they wished to play with more 74% of the children wanted to play with the boy toys, whereas 33% wanted to play with the girl toys. Ultimately, not all girls and all boys wish to play with their gender specific toy and they should be encouraged to play with a variety of toys…no matter who the ad is directing it to.

Klinger, Lori, James Hamilton, and Peggy Cantrell. "Children's Perceptions of Aggressive and Gender--specific Content in Toy Commercials." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 29.1 (2001): 11-20.

Ready to Make Nice: Parental Socialization of Young Son’s and Daughters’ Prosocial Behaviors With Peers
By Paul D Hastings, Kelly E. McShane, Richard Parker and Farriola Ladha

Parents play a huge role on the lives of children and how they view the world. In this article it discusses how parenting styles socialize children’s behaviors into becoming a girl or boy. Ever since we were babies we have been taught what is male and what is female. They describe in the article that even by toddlerhood we are able to distinguish masculine and feminine characteristics and that we start to identify our own gender by the time we are in preschool. In addition, girls are encouraged to be compassionate and nurturing while boys are encouraged to be more assertive.

Hastings, Paul, Kelly McShane, Richard Parker, and Farriola Ladha. "Ready to Make Nice: Parental Socialization of Young Sons' and Daughters' Prosocial Behaviors with Peers." Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168.2 (2007): 177-200.

‘Parenting’ Or ‘Mothering’? The case of modern childcare magazines
By Jane Sunderland

Look for the parenting magazine section at the store and try to find a magazine directed towards fathers. Any luck? Ya, didn’t think so…
In this article, it describes how many fathers are left out of the loop when it comes parenting magazines and that fathers have been brushed aside as being a sidekick. There are four times as many books on motherhood than there is on fatherhood and if a father is included he’s usually just that guy in the corner “helping out.” Basically, fatherhood is not being fully addressed which can have deadly effects on how children in fact view fatherhood. The article describes how the Mother has been given the title as “main parent,” whereas the father is the “part-time parent.”

Sunderland, Jane. "'Parenting' or `mothering'? the Case of Modern Childcare Magazines." Discourse & Society, 17.4 (2006): 503-527.


Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Academic Self-Concept and Self-Reported Depressed Mood in School Children.
By Derek H. Berg and Don A. Klinger

In this article, they describe how we have stereotypical ideas of what is considered male or female courses. The most predominate idea is that math is for boys and reading is for girls. With this idea we have come to the conclusion that when girls and boys do poorly in their so called “gender specific course” they ultimately become extremely depressed. The depression occurs because these are classes that they are supposed to have an innate skill for and come to find out…they don’t. In addition, they discuss the relationship between PE and its adverse effects it has on boys who are not athletic. Considering boys in society are supposed to be the aggressive and outgoing type it’s no wonder that many find that their self-esteem plummets and depression occurs when they don’t find themselves meeting that high athletic ability. Overall, this article is telling us that nobody is born with gendered skills and that placing such an idea in the minds of children is hurting them greatly.

Berg, Derek, and Don Klinger. "Gender Differences in the Relationship Between Academic Self-Concept and Self-Reported Depressed Mood in School Children." Sex Roles, 61.7/8 (2009): 501-509.

Gender-linked Differences in the Toys, Television Shows, Computer Games, and Outdoor Activities of 5- to 13- year-old Children
By Isabelle D. Cherney and Kamala London

This article discussed the idea that boys and girls had a preference for toys that were generally stereotyped for their own gender. The boys preferred trucks, guns, bikes and action figures that encouraged exploration and aggression. On the other hand, girls preferred baby dolls, tea sets, make-up and of course, Barbie. What they found to be most interesting is the fact girls are less strictly gender-typed when it came to toys. Boys were restricted to their gender stereotyped toys because of the pressure from parents only allowing them to have gender specific toys. A boy wanting to play with a Barbie, playing with make-up and tea sets would be highly frowned upon and even their sexuality would be questioned. There is considered far less pressure for girls to stick to their gender specific toys so they can go back and forth between playing with trucks and Barbie’s. It is highly unlikely that their sexuality would even be questioned.

Cherney, Isabelle, and Kamala London. "Gender-linked Differences in the Toys, Television Shows, Computer Games, and Outdoor Activities of 5- to 13-year-old Children." Sex Roles, 54.9/10 (2006): 717-726.


A Content Analysis Of Gender Differences In Children’s Advertising
By Lois J. Smith

This article describes how certain advertisements are gendered and that you can easily distinguish which ones are directed for a girl or a boy. A study found that children aged 2 through 11 were exposed to more than 20,000 television advertisements a year and that many images that children are being shown to are ones that show girls and boys in their traditional roles. 70% of the time girls were seen in ads at home playing with their toys. Boys were usually most of the time outside the home engaged in sports or other aggressive behaviors. None of the ads portrayed any of the boys as being caring, sharing or nurturing. What this ultimately translates to is that if a boy is caught displaying any of these you would be considered feminine. Ads have tremendous influence on how children perceive the world and what is considered to be feminine or masculine.

Smith, Lois. "A Content Analysis of Gender Differences in Children's Advertising." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 38.3 (1994): 323-337.

Family Patterns of Gender Role Attitudes
By Jaime L Marks, Chun Bun Lam and Susan M McHale

Gender role attitudes can be learned from a variety of sources, but have such a huge impact that you might say they play the biggest role. Parents encourage children to engage in certain activities that might be gender specific and even behaviors are either encouraged or frowned upon. An example was that fathers reacted more negatively towards sons crying than daughters. It’s as if crying is viewed as showing weakness and therefore not masculine. To show that children do watch and engage in roles of parents is when sons viewed their fathers doing what would be considered “feminine housework.” As the son got older, he engaged in the same housework as well.

Marks, Jaime, Chun Lam, and Susan McHale. "Family Patterns of Gender Role Attitudes." Sex Roles, 61.3/4 (2009): 221-234.

Children’s Beliefs About Violating Gender Norms: Boys Shouldn’t Look Like Girls, and Girls Shouldn’t Act Like Boys
By Judieth E. Owen Blakemore

Children that ranged from ages 3-11 were interviewed about what they believed to be the norms for how boys and girls should act. The boys were viewed more negatively if they had LOOKED feminine. The children believed that it wouldn’t be acceptable if a boy were to have any type of feminine hair style or clothing. Girls on the other hand were able to get away with having masculine hairstyles and clothing. But that didn’t mean that girls didn’t get away unscathed. Girls were viewed more negatively if they PLAYED masculine, such as being loud, rough and aggressive. On the other hand, if a boy were to play gently and quietly it was considered okay.

Owen Blakemore, Judith. "Children's Belief About Violating Gender Norms: Boys Shouldn't Look Like Girls, and Girls Shouldn't Act Like Boys." Sex Roles, 48.9/10 (2003): 411-419.

Gender In American Public Schools: Thinking Institutionally
Elisabeth Hansot and David Tyack

Public Schools play an important part in how children are socialized and gendered. Children come together to learn certain gender roles and expectations from teachers as well as from other peers. Schools have traditionally helped children with the transition of gender relationships. In the past classes have helped reinforce certain behaviors and skills needed for certain genders. For example, home economics was taught. Back in the day classes like these were introduced to help girls become “model wives and mothers.”

Hansot, Elisabeth, and David Tyack. "Gender in American Public Schools: Thinking Institutionally." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society, 13.4 (1988): 741-760.

Preschoolers’ Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toys and their Parents’ Beliefs About Genderized Behaviors: Miscommunication, Mixed Messages, or Hidden Truths?
By Nancy K. Freeman

A study was conducted with 3- and 5- year old children asking them to identify boy and girl toys. The 3 year olds separated the toys and found that 92% of their responses showed gender typical stereotypes. When the 5 year olds accomplished such an assignment the toys were even more stereotypically separated than the 3 year olds. Seems that the older a child gets the more they identify what is considered feminine or masculine. This article also discussed the idea that children should not be limited to only gender specific toys. If boys are interested in playing with dolls and girls with trucks they should be encouraged to do so. There is no harm in a boy showing signs of being nurturing and a girl being adventurous.

Freeman, Nancy. "Preschoolers' Perceptions of Gender Appropriate Toys and Their Parents' Beliefs About Genderized Behaviors: Miscommunication, Mixed Messages, or Hidden Truths?." Early Childhood Education Journal, 34.5 (2007): 357-366.

The Impact of Parenting Experience on Gender Stereotyped Toy Play of Children
By Eileen Wood, Serge Desmarais, and Sara Gugula

In this study parents were to sort toys into gender categories and label them as either feminine, neutral or masculine. None of the toys that were considered traditionally masculine were ever labeled as feminine. The baby doll, soft doll and house were all labeled as feminine and the truck and tools were labeled masculine. Neutral items included the phone and kitchen. They also conducted a study in which the parents of the children were set up in a room and played toys with the children. Fathers were found to be less flexible in allowing boys to play with traditional girl toys. Boys are found being constrained to only their gender specific toys, whereas girls have more flexibility in playing with a variety of toys including boy toys.

Wood, Eileen, Serge Desmarais, and Sara Gugula. "The Impact of Parenting Experience on Gender Stereotyped Toy Play of Children." Sex Roles, 47.1/2 (2002): 39-49.

Gendered Voices in Children’s Television Advertising
By Fern L. Johnson and Karren Young

This article pin points the differences between a girl ad or a boy ad. Ads for boys emphasize action, competition and destruction, whereas girl ads emphasize nurturing and feelings. Commercial ads for girls contain more fades and dissolves giving it a more fantasy and dream like appeal to their products. In ads where the item being advertized can be regarded as gender neutral the girl is usually off in the background and the boy is given the most speaking lines. If the girl were to have more speaking lines then the product would most likely be labeled as feminine and most boys will not buy a product that is directed for a girl but, a girl will have no problem buying a product if it was ever directed for boys.

Johnson, Fern, and Karren Young. "Gendered Voices in Children's Television Advertising." Critical Studies in Media Communication, 19.4 (2002): 461-480.

Gender Roles and Stereotypes in Youth Sports

Posted by: Vanessa Diaz

Carefully examine the two group photos. Is there anything peculiar about these photos? At first glance, the photos may appear to depict traditional American youth engaging in two of the great American pastimes; however, upon closer examination one may note a particular imbalance.



The above photos are taken from two popular American youth sports films. The first photo is a scene from the movie “The Bad News Bears”, a family comedy released in 1976. The second photo is taken from the 1994 children’s sports film “Little Giants”. Although a generation apart, these two films carry on a tradition of minimalizing the importance of female contributions to sports in American society. In a bigger context, these sorts of films, perhaps inadvertently, enculturate youth with the idea that girls in sports are not equal to boys, and perhaps by extension, the idea that women are not equal to men. Let us examine 5 popular youth sports films from the last 30 years with the purpose of analyzing the importance of young females, as compared to young males, within the context of each film. Our purpose will be to judge if the films do or do not (whether purposefully or inadvertently) reinforce negative gender stereotypes.



Let us begin with an American classic: The 1976 film “The Bad News Bears”. In brief, this is a baseball film about a bunch of underdog misfit kids, led by an unfit coach, who against all odds earn respectability, if not a championship. The film does go to some lengths to give credit to the female sports figure. The lone female Amanda Whurlitzer, played by Tatem O’Neil, is the team’s only skilled pitcher and with her contribution, she helps the Bear’s go from last place to second place. However, the mother of Amanda (who is never actually seen in the film, but is in fact mentioned) rejects her daughter’s desire to play baseball for fear that it is strictly a boy’s endeavor. As a result, Amanda is immediately placed outside the bounds of social norms. In other words, by disapproving of her daughter’s interest in baseball, the mother is not only strengthening, but in fact, reinforcing gender stereotypes.



Moving along, we arrive at the 1992 hockey film “The Mighty Ducks”. In sum, this movie is about a young man, who because of his personal irresponsibilities, is court-ordered to serve community service by coaching a peewee hockey team consisting of a group of incompetent youths. This film focuses on a hockey team made up of a diverse number of boys and girls. Unlike “The Bad News Bears”, there are no male characters in this film that are openly prejudiced towards their female counterparts. In fact, the girls are equally accepted by their male teammates and even play a significant role in their team’s success. However, what you may or may not have noticed is that this film illustrates a distinct gender ratio bias: the team is made up of 11 boys and only 2 girls. The girl’s overall contributions to the team cannot be denied; however, their sheer lack of numbers has a tendency to minimalize their importance to the team in comparison to that of their male counterparts.



Next in line is the 1993 children’s baseball film “The Sandlot”. This film revolves around a young group of boys who fall into misadventure and find commonality through their passion for the game. Completely absent from the landscape of this film is any female participation in the athletic experience. In fact, it’s made explicitly clear that a girl’s presence in the all boy’s fraternity would be considered something of a joke. This is exemplified by one of the film’s most famous lines: “You play ball like a girl!” This line is uttered during a heated taunt exchange between the boys of the sandlot and their neighborhood rivals. This insult clearly suggests the sentiment that girls do not belong on the same field with boys. Could watching a film like this possibly influence young boys to think the same way, thereby reinforcing the idea of feminine inferiority?

I have attached a short clip from the movie “The Sandlot”. Click below to see a short scene from the movie, which includes the famous line “You Play Ball Like A Girl!”





Another popular youth sports film is the 1994 football movie “Little Giants”. This film is about two small-town peewee football teams who compete for the coveted role of town champion. The main character, Becky O’Shea (also known as “Icebox”), tries out for the peewee football team that is coached by her uncle, and despite being one of the best players during tryouts, is rejected from participation specifically because she is a girl. In addition to this, Becky later decides to quit football in favor of cheerleading in order to earn the affection of a young boy whom she fears sees her as a tomboy. These circumstances seem to suggest that if girl crosses over into male-dominated arenas, she automatically abandons her femininity and appeal altogether.



The final film that I will be discussing is the 2006 soccer film “She’s The Man”. This film revolves around a young girl who is passionate about the game of soccer. After receiving the news that her school has cut the girls’ soccer team, Viola Hastings, played by Amanda Bynes, decides to try out for the boy’s team, but is immediately rejected by her coach because as he states, “Everybody knows girls aren’t as fast, or strong, or athletic as girls.” As a result, Viola chooses to impersonate her brother and try out for a rival school’s boys’ team, not only to play the game she loves, but to prove that girls are fully capable, and therefore, just as athletic as boys. This film creates a conflict between male and female gender roles. Viola seems to inhabit two separate worlds: the girl’s world and the boy’s world, debutante and soccer player. Rather than challenging gender stereotypes, this film seems to imply that males and females are at opposite ends of a clearly defined spectrum, leaving no room for gender crossing.

Children are taught from a very early age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society. In a society that is filled with gender stereotypes and gender biases, children inevitably adopt gender roles which are not always fair to both sexes. As children grow, they are exposed to many factors which influence their attitudes and behaviors toward gender roles. These are generally learned first from the parents and are further reinforced by other elements in their environment, such as school, friends, the media, and even sports. Through all these socialization agents, children learn about gender stereotypes and gender biases.

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

New developments in advertising regulations

Posted by Marie Ingram

The post titled, "Toy commercials Through the Years", addressed the issue of gendered toys and commercials continuing to encourage gender stereotypes, but what about the toy industries that make the toys and buy commercial time during children's T.V shows?

CommercialFreeChildhood.org reports that companies spend about $17 billion annually marketing to children, a staggering increase from the $100 million spent in 1983.They also report that children ages 2-11 see more than 25,000 advertisements a year on TV alone, a figure that does not include product placement. They are also targeted with advertising on the Internet, cell phones, mp3 players, video games, school buses, and in school.

In June 2009, the Toy Industry Association held the 35th Annual General Meeting of the International Council of Toy Industries in Munich, Germany. Representatives of 21 national toy trade associations gathered to discuss advertising on the Internet. TIA members recognized that international and national NGOs are going to increasingly focus on the industry’s advertising on the Internet. It is unregulated at this point in time. Mr. Irwin, a director on the TIA board said, “In a world of emerging technologies, we are looking to create more comprehensive guidelines for communicating via the Internet. We want to make sure that any guidelines that are established are robust and fair. And we want to ensure that we act responsibly as an industry and that the government regulators recognize our efforts and do not feel a need to regulate the industry as a whole.” (ToyAssociation.org, "TIA Board Recieves Plan Addressing the Issue of Communication and Marketing to Children").

They want to look like they are helping regulate their industry because they do not want to have their advertising cut back, presumably because their ad campaigns on the Internet are working well.

The problem with advertising to children is that until the age of 8, they cannot distinguish an advertisement from the show they are watching and do not understand the persuasiveness in commercials (commercialfreechildhood.org).

Commercials have such an impact on children, that this Christmas season parents are begging toy companies to cut back on advertising because they cannot afford to buy their children everything they are asking for this year (CBSnews.com, “Parents to Toy makers: Cut the Ads”).

The toy industry does not want their ads limited like they have been on the television. There have been attempts in the past to regulate commercials during children's T.V shows. In 1988 President Reagan vetoed a bill that would limit advertising during children’s programs. The President said the bill violates the freedom of expression stated in the Constitution. The Senate passed the bill on a voice vote after the House approved it on a 328-78 vote.The FCC had said the marketplace will regulate itself (Chicago Tribune, “Regan Vetoes Bill Regulating Kids’ T.V”).

In 1990 however, the Children’s Televisions Act was signed into law, which states that advertisements during children’s programing had to be limited to 12 minutes an hour and improve the quality of the programming. This year the FCC has been urged to reevaluate the law because of new technologies that have emerged since (Examiner.com, “Children’s Television Act of 1990 Undergoes Review by the FCC”).

The TIA want to get a head start creating guidelines for themselves before the government steps in to do it for them.

Toy commercials through the years

Posted by Marie Ingram

When walking through a toy store, ever notice that there is distinctively a ‘girl’ isle and a ‘boy’ isle? The girl isle is bright pink and contains toys such as, mommy and baby, barbie, fashion, and cooking. The boy isle is full of fighting toys, toy guns, cars and dinosaurs. Advertising for these toys is just as bad. Whether on the T.V or in newspapers, girls are shown playing with ‘home making’ toys and boys are shown playing with ‘construction/destruction’ toys. Here are a few T.V ads from the past to the present, and as you can see not much has changed over the years.

This is a link to Barbie's first Dream House from 1962. (Mattel blocked the 'embed' option).

http://www.youtube.com/user/MattelShop#p/u/25/fHSnKxO9u7c

Here is a video of Barbie's most recent Dream House

These two videos are basically the same. Even forty years later only girls are shown playing with a doll house. And today, the house is exploding with bright pink. This screams 'only girls can play with this!'

Here is a commercial I put in the category "mommy and baby" from the early 80's. (The embed option is blocked).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPVVYLonKg

And here is a recent commercial from the "mommy and baby" category.

Girls are influenced from a very early to play mommy and baby games. This seems natural as women are the sex who produce children. However, what is interesting is that boys are never shown in these type of commercials. Being a good dad is a very important characteristic and it seems that society neglects this side of human nature. Boys are not raised with the idea that one day they will be a father to a child. Boys should be encouraged to play with baby dolls so they have a chance to show their caring nature. It is not only girls who are caring, boys are too and as we see in the next set of commercials boys are strongly encouraged to show their aggressive side instead.

Here is a 1960's G.I Joe commercial. It shows young boys aggressively playing soldier; it is a huge contrast to the girl commercials.

And here is a 1990's commercial of G.I Joe featuring Sergeant Slaughter.

Both commercials are very aggressive and show that children are being influenced by fighting toys over the generations, compounding the idea that boys should be aggressive and hide their soft, caring nature.

An ad I saw in the latest Toys R Us ad in the weekend newspaper, shows a young boy shooting a Nerf rapid fire gun.

The way he is holding the gun looks like he could easily be holding a real weapon. And girls are NEVER shown playing with these types of toys.

In the article, "Content analysis of gender difference in children's advertising" by Louis J. Smith (1995), he wrote that in a study of Saturday morning commercials, Doolittle and Pepper (1975) found that 84% of single-gender ads were male-only. The ads that used only female models were for girl-oriented products such as dolls. Verna's (1975) analysis of children's advertisements found that female-dominant ads constituted less than one seventh of all ads, while male-dominant ads constituted over one half of all ads. In a more recent study, Macklin and Kolbe (1984) still found almost three times as many male- as female-oriented advertisements aimed at children". Boys like to do what they see boys doing on the T.V, and girls want to be like the girls they see on the T.V.

Toys play a big part in gendering children. Girls are brought up to be home makers. They are taught to care for the baby, cook and look after the house from a very early age through the toys they are influenced to play with.

Boys are not encouraged not to play these games (the post below addresses this issue).

As the commercials illustrate, time has not changed the ideas of adults. The adults who make the toys and produce the commercials have not changed their point of view and obviously still believe that women belong in the home.

Issue: Parents reactions to boys playing with dolls

Posted by Marie Ingram

When a little boy shows interest in little girls toys, like Barbie for example, the tendency is for parents to react negatively. They usually take away the doll and replace it with a truck or some other 'boy' toy and make an issue that Barbie is for girls. Parents have a fear that their son might become homosexual or too feminine. That fear runs so deep that they do not allow their son to play with dolls. Barbie is a very sexual doll. She is a fully developed woman based on a sex toy from Germany. It is interesting how parents see this fully breasted, curvy doll as too feminine for their boy to play with; if anything they should be worried about her sex appeal. Parents see their son playing with a doll and freak out. Most of the time a boy's interest in dolls is temporary, a phase, and they soon move on to something else. However parents are scared that it is not just a phase and repeatedly make an issue out of it.
Members of our group work with children regularly and have noticed that boys love to play pretend with baby dolls and strollers just as much as girls do. We speculated that perhaps boys, as well as girls, have 'maternal' caring instincts, however our homophobic society repeatedly drives it out of them.
Take our poll at the bottom of the page and let us know what you think!