Cartoons and Gender Roles
What are gender roles? Gender roles are stereotypes of what society feels menand women should and should not do. As people get older, they grow and many learngender roles are not necessarily correct. In children they do not have this knowledge. they learn from what they see, and they watch many hours of television. Television is a key factor in stereotyping gender roles. Most people realize thatcommercials and maybe even adult television shows have some gender roles. Who wouldthink that the shows children love the most have the most stereotyping in their scripts.
Young children are easilyaffected by what they see and hear. Parents should raise their children, not the television industry. Childrenshould grow up thinking they can do whatever they set their mind to do, and no televisionproducer should tell them differently. Also, where men are portrayed as strong, braveheroes, women are weak, and do not play a big role in the show. Does this mean cartoons should be banned?No, but it is time for parents to stand up, and talk to their children. Times are changing, and the cartoons should too. One example would be Jessica Rabbit fromRoger Rabbit. Men in cartoons are usually seen as doctors, warriors, police officers, theheroes of the show. This may even cause young boys toact tough, even though may not want to, but they think they have to. In cartoons men are perceived also as being very aggressive, which isa stereotype that all men should have to be that way. The American PsychologicalAssociation states that male cartoon character ratios to female is four to one. Television shows geared to a young audience shouldnot promote children to act a certain way. Are cartoons really that bad for children? No one really has the answer to thatquestion. Parents should informtheir children that cartoons are not real, and whatever stereotypes are given let them knowthey are untrue. Hudak says "cartoons are the kiddie version of what's portrayed on adult dramas at night.
Common topics in this essay:
Dr Hudak,
Gender Roles,
Psychological Association,
Roger Rabbit,
gender roles,
roles gender roles,
parents children watch,
gender roles gender,
parents children,
children watch,
roles gender,
|