Sexism on Sesame Street: Outdated Concepts in a "Progressive" Program.

Autor/in	Cathey-Calvert, Carolyn
Institution	KNOW, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA.
Titel	Sexism on Sesame Street: Outdated Concepts in a "Progressive" Program.
Quelle	, (15 Seiten)Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; Monographie
Schlagwörter	Childrens Television; Content Analysis; Educational Television; Research; Sex Bias; Sex Role; Sex Stereotypes; Television Research + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? 'Children''s broadcast; Children''s television'; Kindersendung; Inhaltsanalyse; Bildungsfernsehen; Schulfernsehen; Forschung; Geschlechterrolle
Abstract	Sesame Street programs are perpetuating the subjugated role of females by presenting a picture of male-dominated society while portraying females in roles of following, cleaning, mothering and imitating, and as being of limited intelligence, subservient and passive. Analysis of a randomly chosen Sesame Street program (#189) shows how the series perpetuates the stereotyped, subjugated role of the female. In the program only males do enjoyable or important things. They appear more than twice as often as females and dominate the audio track of the program. Further analysis reveals that males are shown to be interested in and capable of intelligent, intellectual thinking, problem-solving, logical reasoning, and decision-making. Women are portrayed as lacking information, concerned simply with the mechanics of mundane activities (in the kitchen) and not with abstractions. Inspection of dialogue illuminates instances of male competency/dominance and female insufficiency/subordination. Most objectionably, in one scene the female is portrayed as physically more weak than the male to whom she must desperately cling. The male is portrayed as calm, strong and unconcerned with the difficulty of the female while something more important occupies his mind. Concepts such as these are harmful to teach children. Sesame Street success in the non-stereotyped portrayal of minorities must be extended to their portrayals of women. (Author/RH)
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC