Developmental Issues - Assignment Example

From birth, children learn a lot from their surrounding. Their environmental factors also influence their lives. They do not adopt or construct any behavior biologically, but rather do so culturally. The culture makes a child label things as right or wrong, normal or abnormal. One of the most important lessons that young children learn is the gender roles and their qualities. These are taught through different mediums, intentionally or unintentionally. The mediums can be their parents, community, and culture or through the media to which they are exposed.

The researchers have debated a lot on this matter and they have proven that a vital source for gender role stereotyping is television and it is the most powerful medium. Children learn very quickly from television and set great standards for children behavior, beliefs and policies (Witt, 2000).  Gender role stereotyping is the “socially and culturally define prescriptions and beliefs about the behavior and emotions of men and women (Signorielli, 1991)”. Actions are thought of as masculine or feminine and the actions that are associated with males are resistant to any change.

“Researchers agree that children establish sex-roles very early in life and that television contribute a lot in creating gender-role expectations (Witt, 2000)”. . The physical appearance and jobs assigned to the character are often based on the traditional stereotyping. Females are never seen as the heroes or the min character of the cartoon. They are mostly in the supporting roles. The females are shown as well dressed, pretty, and delicate and problem creators, while the males are shown as powerful, successful and problem solvers.

There are many examples of gender stereotyping and violence in the cartoons for example, superman, Spiderman, Scooby doo, Flintstones, teenage mutant ninja turtles etc (Schmuckler,1998). I watched different cartoons and television shows that portray gender roles. It was evident in almost every television show, but the one that I feel had very clear examples for this was Rugrats. It has three boys and two girls. “Angelica” is portrayed as reluctant, creates clashes and acts as the boss to all.

The boys are shown as the helpers, well wishers, fighting for everyone and handling the reluctant Angelica. And in the end of every episode, angelica is proved wrong and left out by all the other babies. In this cartoon, girls are shown as bossy, rude and over confident which is naturally not true. And the boys are shown as polite, friendly and loyal. This is not the only example; even Disney cartoons have gender role stereotyping be it Mickey Mouse, Donald duck, Cinderella or any other cartoon.

Most of them have very few female characters. For example; there are very less episodes in which Donald duck’s wife made an appearance. In Cinderella, women are shown as delicate, beautiful, hard working and caring. The prince is portrayed as strong, confident and loving. The relation of opposite genders is more a fantasy than reality. This makes children start