Educational Television: Missing the Mark on Morals (Final Piece)

When young, children internalize much of the world around them as they learn to become a person in society. Television programs for 2 to 5 year olds emphasize this aspect of childhood by featuring various lessons in each program: what is right and wrong, the consequences of lying, and how to share, as well as other basic knowledge like numbers or the alphabet. However, some underlying messages conveyed by these shows are more detrimental than beneficial to a child's social skills.
Television is so much more important than other media like books or movies because of its accessibility and abuse. Studies show that preschoolers spend an average of nearly 30 hours a week watching television, and start watching television from even 18 months old, making it a primary influence on the development of children.
Teresa Thompson in "Television Cartoons" suggests that in older cartoons female characters "needed to be rescued, caused trouble, talked less, worked in the home, and tended to fall in love at first sight." Consider the overt sexism in shows like "The Loony Tunes," where almost all characters are male and Bugs Bunny often dressed as a woman to distract Elmer Fudd; or "Animaniacs" who shout "Hellooooo, nurse!" to the woman in a white dress, cinched at the waist to show off her bodacious body; or worst of all Jessica Rabbit in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" clad in a backless red dress with a slit up the side revealing most of her legs and huge knockers: cartoons have come a long way in recognizing females as equals, but not long enough.
Sex roles differ in various ways in children's television: In the amount of appearances in either leading or supporting roles, in the way characters act, or in the traits of characters. Statistically, males are not only featured more in leading roles than females, but also in supporting roles throughout all of television, not only children's shows.
"The Wiggles," a music and dance based show, features four grown men, Greg, Jeff, Murray, and Anthony as they sing and dance in silly costumes expecting children at home to join in. The music videos often show young women, always clad in dresses and high heels, as background dancers for The Wiggles. The only female character with dialogue is the yellow and green dinosaur, Dorothy, who lives in a purple and pink house eating roses and dancing ballet. Although a wildly popular show, the lack of not only female equality but any female roles in "The Wiggles" leaves the impression of some concerning messages.
Another long-lasting and popular show, "Barney and Friends," also sends some troublesome messages, though not nearly as controversial as those of "The Wiggles." Although "Barney and Friends" features children of all races and sexes, the actions of respective genders are often stereotypical. Kimberly Powell exemplifies these instances in her essay, "Sex-Role Stereotypes in TV Programs": in one episode, women in a family keep a quilt that they pass down from generation to generation; in another, children name their favorite animal and boys say lions and bears while girls say teddy bears and kitties. Although not as obvious as the differences in sex-roles in "The Wiggles," these gender differences shown in everyday scenarios cause children to expect certain actions and responses from each sex.
A more modern show, "Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!" broadcast through Nick Jr. has gained popularity since its 2006 debut. Wubbzy, a yellow half-gerbil half-rectangle creature stars the show with his pals, Widget, Walden, and Daizy. Walden, the other male creature is a purple bear who, according to the catchy theme song, is "really, really smart!" He often finds solutions, sometimes even to problems created by other characters. In one episode, Widget, the female pink bunny who likes to fix things, fixed the engine of the train, but when the train went too fast and couldn't stop, Wubbzy pulls the pin to the trailing cars, allowing the other passengers to slow to a safe stop, and Walden reads the manual of the train while Widget sits helpless. Daizy, as suggested by her name, is a turquoise girly-girl puppy. She likes dressing up, sewing, and decorating. Once, when Daizy tries to tell Wubbzy that she can sing in his band, Wubbzy belittles her unintentionally by asking her first to decorate the stage and then to make the band costumes. Even in modern cartoons, males focus on problem solving and intelligence while females focus on flowers and decoration.
Finally, "Bob the Builder" stars Bob and his assistant Wendy. Although the secretary, Wendy is often more of the problem solver than Bob and actually shows herself to be more of a leader than her builder friend. Wendy is not only Bob's equal, but in many ways superior to him suggesting an equality between males and females. However, although equal in merit of personality traits, Bob is still the main character, and Wendy just his assistant, suggesting true inequality and prejudice.
Not only do these sex stereotypes leave a lasting influence on girls and how they should act when they are older, but they also influence boys and the way that they think they should interact with girls. Society cannot expect men to treat women with equality when television treats boys as superior to girls. Although television no longer exploits women like Jessica Rabbit, tones of sexism are still present and will continue having a negative effect on children.


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