Research Update 3

I am leaning towards stereotypes in younger children’s shows. I find it interesting that stereotypes are being put into kids minds at a very young age. It is almost sad that because of modern shows children don’t have the opportunity to form their own view of the world if they are watching these shows. Most of the shows have positive stereotypes, but this article goes into depth about how female characters are always portrayed as the homemaker or mother like person. This is not a correct description of women’s role in society in 2011. I think I’m going to try and find more on gender-role stereotyping in children’s television. Here is my annotated bibliography for this article

Abels, Lori, & Powell, Kimberly A. (2002). “Sex-role Stereotypes in TV Programs Aimed at the Preschool Audience: an Analysis of Teletubbies and Barney & Friends.” Women & Language, 25(2), Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?hid=110&sid=5b651c7b-6a65-4274-a746-4d1c77a16c0e%40sessionmgr115&vid=5&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=6865090

Powell and Abels claim that because television shows contain sex-role stereotypes, children are engendered and socialized early in life. They analyzed ten episodes each of the two popular children’s television shows: Teletubbies and Barney and Friends. While they discovered that both genders were represented equally in the shows, the female characters took on a more passive role in most activities. In addition, gender stereotypes were prevalent in the occupations and clothing of the characters. Females were also smaller and males were larger, unless their size was used for comical effect. These gender roles are being learned by children as young as one when their insights of gender are still being created. While sometimes the male roles are feminized, like Barney himself, female gender roles are confined to the caretaker and follower. This means that these shows are opening up changes in male gender-roles while they only enforce stereotypical gender-roles of women.