Post: It's Time to Stare Down Stereotypes, Says Common Sense TV Editor
It's Time to Stare Down Stereotypes, Says Common Sense TV Editor
I've always been a TV lover, from my earliest days as a Sesame Street fan, through the years when I was glued to the screen after school watching reruns of Who's the Boss? and Magnum, P.I. (not to mention The Smurfs on Saturday mornings), and up to the present, when I set the TiVo for every new installment of Lost, Arrested Development, The Office, and 24.
But since I began my tenure as Common Sense Media's Senior Editor of Television just over a month ago -- when it officially became my job to watch TV (my mother is so proud...) -- I've really started looking at television with new eyes. And not just kids’ TV, either, because we all know that kids are watching a lot more than Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network.
As we've focused on ramping up our TV coverage (300+ reviews and counting), I've been chagrined to notice the relative lack of strong female protagonists and role models on television. The ones who grab the primetime spotlight tend to be of the catty, girl-feud-promoting Laguna Beach variety. Meanwhile, two of this spring's newest kid-targeted cartoons -- My Gym Partner's a Monkey and Kappa Mikey -- revolve around male heroes.
Just goes to show that parents need to keep talking to their kids about how girls and women are portrayed, both on TV or at the movies. Our Common Sense TV writers make a point of calling out any offensive or negative portrayals in their reviews, as well as celebrating the sensational stereotype-breaking stuff. Our writers also brainstorm discussion topics as part of the Common Sense Note, including questions that challenge families to talk about gender roles. For even more ideas, check out the questions below, courtesy of the See Jane program at Dads & Daughters, a national nonprofit advocacy organization.
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Date: March 29, 2006
I'm always confused by how people interprete female roles on TV...not so much how those roles are portrayed.
When shows like The Powerpuff Girls or Buffy the Vampire Slayer came on, I was thrilled to she female characters who could handle themselves in any situation.
Then came the responce to it. Parents screaming and yelling about the bad influences this show had on girls. Bad? These girls are doing the same thing characters do in boy shows I watched in the 80s?!? Now that girls are doing it, it's bad?
But when females are shown doing things girls are more likely to do it's considered stereotypical? Or patronizing?
What is it, exactly, that you really want to see girls doing on TV?