From: Michelle, Buscema
Email: R13Wolf@aol.com
Course: cd169 Motivation of Children and Adolescents in Educational Settings
College: San Jose State
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/cd169
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 23 May 1997
Time: 06:34:37
Remote Name: ww-tl02.proxy.aol.com
Television and the media are aspects of everyone’s lives that are literally impossible to separate one’s self from. Many children spend countess hours "zoning out" in front of "the boob tube," and are we really considering what they’re getting out of it? Have we really stopped to deliberate on how influential the television is as a motivator to our children? Using the correlating part of our group paper written by Ronnie Smith, and new reference material, the following takes an in depth look at the effect of the media on motivating children to form and conform to society’s traditional gender roles.
The fact that there are distinctly different and recognizable gender roles in today’s society in undeniable, but the factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic, that motivate people, namely children, to adopt the roles are variable. Because of its dominance in our modern world, the television has become a primary aspect of most children’s lives. The sheer amount of time spent and the types of messages children are taking in have transformed the television into more than just simply entertainment.
The media, as an extrinsic motivator, plays a major role in the development of children in the United States today. The influence of media, including television, radio, music, and videos, is present at every age level of children and adolescents. In the U.S., 99% of the homes have at least one television set, 80% have a VCR, and 50% of the children have a t.v. in their rooms(Lindholm 1997). Preschool-age children(age 2-5) spend an average of 28 hours per week in front of the TV set, school age children(age 6-11) about 23 hours per week, and adolescents spend an average of 23 hours per week watching television(but this number can vary anywhere between 0-10 hours per day, depending on the teen’s activities) and about 10 hours per week watching videos(Santrock 316). By the time a child is nine years old, music has become a powerful influence in their daily activities, and teens listen to music, on average, between 6-8 hours per day (Lindholm 1997). According to J.W. Santrock(1993), adolescents spend a third or more of their time engaged in some sort of mass media, either watching/listening directly or as a background activity. While involving themselves with such large amounts of mass media, children and adolescents are constantly receiving images about women, men, and gender roles. It has been suggested that media figures have taken over as a source for modeling, while real-life acquaintances are viewed less superior (Duck, 1990). Television, books, magazines, and newspapers are everywhere in abundance. Television today is the primary source of media (Graff, 1987). The influence is great and no aspect of the media so completely pervades our lives as does television. Beron (1993) says that the impact of television on the development of gender roles has been considered, and some popular programs have been reviewed, and suggests that television is promoting gender constancy and not necessarily modeling prosocial behavior (Beron, 1993). The actual content of most commercial television programming seems well designed to provide misinformation and to influence the development of attitudes and gender roles .
There is an expressed concern over discrepancies with empirical reality and the possible effects upon members of the audience (Birns, 1994). Baxter (1993) suggests that media plays an important role in socialization. This suggestion is strongly supported by social learning theorists, such as, Albert Bandura (1969), who take the position that much of learning which occurs during development is acquired through observation and imitation. Anyone who has taken time to watch children has noticed that they learn a great deal by watching the behavior of other people and then imitating them. Through observation and imitation, children can learn "chunks" of behavior all at once (Graff, 1987).
The media has attracted considerable attention in recent years because of alleged bias in its sex-role content (Birns, 1994). Some studies of television have generally fueled concerns that male and female characters are presented in traditionally stereotyped ways (Mazzela, 1992). Males are shown as masterful and dynamic, while females are shown as subordinate and nurturing. Although there have been some improvements in the past decade, there are still strong stereotyped gender roles portrayed in the media. While far from absent in television, news, and magazines, women are still viewed through the eyes of men; they are objectified, both sexually and in general (http://www.pomona.edu/REPRES/WOMEN/editornote.html, 1997). Women are typically younger, less skilled, dependent, and overly concerned with their physical appearance. Huston (1992) reports that, according to Feshbach, Dillman, and Jordan(1979), "The model female on television is a young adult, beautiful, dependent, helpless, passive, concerned with interpersonal relations, warm, and valued for her appearance rather than for her capabilities and competencies, personal and professional." . The media presents women as shallow and their goals and aspirations rarely reach beyond a clean house. In the following examples the image of women has been tarnished and weakened. They portray impossible body types, are emotionally and physically inferior and submissive to men. They are usually the ones cooking, cleaning, doing household tasks, or taking care of the children. They are usually portrayed as weak, hysterical, crying, and emotionally out of control. They are actresses behind aprons, and they show that if you use this particular product, your house will sparkle and shine, or your hair will be "how you’ve always dreamed." In cartoons women are submissive, and sometimes their entire role in the show is focused around their husband or significant other, like The Flinstones. Reports from 1988 indicate that the male-to-female ratio in adventure shows is 6 to 1, 2 to 1 in sitcoms, and 1 to 9 in commercial voice-overs (Huston 26). There is a distinct difference in roles portrayed by men. Men are most often the central characters; acting, being, doing, shooting, plotting, chasing, romancing, etc. While men are the ones taking action, women are the ones acted upon. Finally, male characters are most often shown alone, participating in stereotypical male behavior (aggressive, male toys only). And when boys and girls are shown together, it is usually the female crossing over, i.e. participating in a typically male activity, rather than vice versa. This sort of message is being sent to women and men almost universally. Women are expected to weigh nothing, to be beautiful, be agreeable to their husbands or other male figures in the family. In addition to all of this, the main purpose of women, which is prevalent in today’s television programming, is for viewing or sex. (http://badger.ac.brocku.ca/~ds94ar/thesis/lit.rev.html#gender_roles). This makes media a socialization tool and an extrinsic motivator on gender roles. Without something to model, we wouldn’t be who we are today. This is why it is extremely important for the media to portray gender roles as realistic and positive as possible; people seem to think that if the television, newspapers, and magazines, can do it, than so can they.
With all of these media examples of male and female behavior, it is almost inevitable that children will quickly and easily recognize traditional gender roles and utilize them in shaping themselves and their perspectives. So what can be done to stop, or at least lessen, the powerful motivator of traditional gender roles that we have created in the television?
First off, it is important to remember that not every single television program glorifies men and disempowers women. Many children’s shows, like Sesame Street and Barney, consciously portray both boys and girls in a variety of positive roles and activities. More recent sitcoms, like Roseanne and Clarissa, feature competent and successful females in prominent roles. Shows like these also serve as motivators for children to keep open minds concerning gender roles.
There are also other factors that help children to accept traditional gender roles, including family, educators, and peers. Parents and teachers often unintentionally promote traditional gender roles for the children and students, and a child’s peers only help to maintain these expectations. Changing overall gender roles is going to be a slow and tedious process, but it is achievable, even if only one child at a time. As parents and educators, we must stay aware of the stereotypes around us, that we see and that we perpetuate, if we expect our children to resist them.
In relation to the media, the essential thing to remember is that it is ever-present and very influential on almost all children and adolescents; our media is going to have some kind of consequential effect on viewers without fail, and we must control the amount of programs, the content of programs, the context, and perspective from which our children watch. A concerted effort, by the media, educators, and parents, is necessary to help monitor what our children see in the media and how it effects them. The media needs to put a little less importance on profit and a little more on the effects to children. Parents and educators need to make themselves heard, so that "good" programs become more profitable for TV to produce, and above all, parents need to be active in their children’s lives and television viewing, monitoring what/how much/when they watch, discussing these programs, and encouraging their children to keep other avenues open for entertainment and motivation, either extrinsic or intrinsic.
REFERENCE LIST
Bazter, L.A. & Kaplan, S.J. (1983). Context factors in the analysis of prosocial and antisocial behavior on prime time television. Journal of Broadcasting, 27, 25-36.
Beron, B. (1993). An Evaluation of Children’s Television. Indiana.
Duck, J.M. (1990). Children’s ideals: The roles of real-life versus media figures. Austrailian Journal of Psychology, 42, 19-29.
Graff, H.J. (1987). Growing Up in America. Detriot, MI: Wayne UniversityPress
http://www.pomona.edu/REPRES/WOMEN/editornote.html.
http://badger.ac.brocku.ca/~ds94ar/thesis/lit.rev.html#gender_roles.
http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FA/lgender.html
Huston, A.C. et al (1992). Big world, small screen:The role of television in American society. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Pres. 10-34.
Lindholm, Kathryn. Lecture. CD162-Development of Children and Adolescents in a Multi-Cultural Society. San Jose State. April 1997.
Mazzella, C., Durkin, K., Cerini, E. & Buralli, P. (1992). Sex role stereotyping in Australia television advertisements. Sex Roles, 26, 243-259.
Santrock, J.W. (1993) Adoelescence: An introduction (Fifth edition). Madison, Wisconsin: Brown & Benchmark.