What are gender roles? Gender roles are stereotypes of what society feels men
and women should and should not do. As people get older, they grow and many learn
gender 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 that
commercials and maybe even adult television shows have some gender roles. Who would
think that the shows children love the most have the most stereotyping in their scripts.
Cartoons have numerous forms of gender stereotyping. The American Psychological
Association states that male cartoon character ratios to female is four to one. That is
absurd, especially in the "new millenium". Also, where men are portrayed as strong, brave
heroes, women are weak, and do not play a big role in the show. Even though now
women do work in all work fields, in cartoon they usually portray nurses, house wives, or
just plain sex objects to the male characters. One example would be Jessica Rabbit from
Roger Rabbit. Men in cartoons are usually seen as doctors, warriors, police officers, the
heroes of the show. In cartoons men are perceived also as being very aggressive, which is
a stereotype that all men should have to be that way. This may even cause young boys to
act tough, even though may not want to, but they think they have to. Dr. Hudak says "
cartoons are the kiddie version of what's portrayed on adult dramas at night." Not many
parents let their young children watch the night time dramas, but millions of parents let
their children watch Saturday morning cartoons.
Are cartoons really that bad for children? No one really has the answer to that
question. Times are changing, and the cartoons should too. Young children are easily
affected by what they see and hear. T
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