Running head: GENDER STEREOTYPING IN T.V.

Gender Stereotyping in T.V.

Sarah Finney
Salt Lake Community College

GENDER STEREOTYPING IN T.V.

Gender Stereotyping in T.V.

This paper is to reveal the gender stereotyping that occurs in childrens television shows
and how it may affect them in the future. For this assignment I watched several hours of
childrens T.V. shows on Netflix, as I watched it I recorded information about the characters and
what was going on in the story. As I was watching it on Netflix there were no commercials to
record, although commercials are one of the biggest markets that succumb to gender
stereotyping.

Gender stereotyping is the generalization of the differences between genders, the roles of
the different genders, and specifics attributes to the genders. Although there are positive and

negative stereotypes these can be very harmful to both sexes. Examples of gender stereotyping
are that women are supposed to be shy, delicate and submissive. While men are supposed to be
strong, dominant and confident. These are negative because it forces men and women to think
women are less than men, and that men who show any weakness are inferior, not really men.

First of all before I get into specifics, one of the things I noticed consistently through the
programs is that the male to female ratio is very proportionate. On average there tends to be
more male characters than female characters. Although this is not always true, the majority of
shows still feature an overwhelming amount of men to women.

GENDER STEREOTYPING IN T.V.

The first show I watched was Scooby Doo, Scooby Doo has approximately 35
reoccurring male characters and only 12 reoccurring female characters. In Scooby Doo our main
characters are; Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo. All episodes of Scooby Doo
usually follow a standard plot line. In every episode Daphne gets kidnapped and needs Fred to
save her. This portrays women as stupid, weak and needy. Not only is that but Daphne also
portrayed as money grubbing and self-centered, only caring about her appearance. On the other
end of the spectrum we have Velma. Although Velma is portrayed as the smart one, she gets little
credit for solving the mysteries. She is also portrayed as the less desirable one compared to
Daphne. Which shows that smart girls, are ugly or plain and that dumb girls get the hot guy.
Implying that you either get to be beautiful, or smart but that you cant be both. Of course all of
the women are portrayed with extremely tiny waists, long legs and short skirts.

The next show I watched was Dexters laboratory, in Dexters laboratory we have
Dexter, Dee Dee, Mom and Dad. The first thing I noticed is that Dexters Mom plays the
stereotypical stay at home mom. She is very naggy, and is obsessed with cleaning. Meanwhile
Dexters dad is portrayed as a stereotypical white-collar worker. With the children we have
Dexter, who is portrayed as a boy genius always being bothered by his annoying sister Dee Dee,
who is portrayed as extremely dumb, girly and obsessed with feminine things. Dexter is shown

GENDER STEREOTYPING IN T.V.

to despise Dee Dee and her friends. He calls them "stupid" and "exceptionally annoying
females" although yes we are females, using the phrase females instead of women, or in this
case girls, is incredibly demeaning. Its almost like referring to an animal rather than an equal
human being.

Last we have the fairly odd parents, in this show the baby sitter Vicky, is portrayed as
evil and cruel. However when she has a boyfriend she becomes considerably more pleasant.
Therefore her vindictiveness is because she is single and lonely. She obsesses over a male pop
star, at one point she even kidnaps him and holds him hostage. Forcing him to marry her,
however when she finds out he is in debt, she no longer wishes to marry him. This shows women
as vindictive, manipulative, gold diggers. This isnt the only case of the obsessive stereotype,
Vickys younger sister Tootie also has an extreme, irrational obsession with Timmy. Tootie is
portrayed as nerdy, smart and ugly, most of the boys avoid her. She is also extremely is nice and
is constantly walked all over by everyone. Lastly there is Trixie, the popular girl who everyone
is obsessed with. She is always portrayed in very feminine clothing and is obsessed with her
being the prettiest girl in existence. She is also extremely rich and rude to everyone. She feels
like she needs to hide her true self, in order to stay popular.

In conclusion I think childrens media has a huge part in gender stereotyping. It

encourages boys to be violet and not show feelings. While tells girls they need to be pretty, dumb
or submissive. The media conditions children to believe these stereotypes from a very young age.

GENDER STEREOTYPING IN T.V.

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References

Gender Stereotyping Effects On Children. (2013). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from
http://www.boldsky.com/pregnancy-parenting/toddler/2013/gender-sterotyping-effects-children034542.html
Children: The Early Impact of Stereotypes. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2016, from
http://www.stereotypethreat.org/index.php/stereotypes/17-children-and-stereotype-threat