Internalizing Gendered Identities: Children’s Conversations about Cartoon Characters

Saman Afzal

doi:10.33195/jll.v5iii.335

Abstract

In today’s digital world, children spend most of their time watching and enjoying cartoons on smart devices. We, therefore, argue that cartoons leave an impact on the identity of children. This research explores how children accumulate gender stereotypes using Bandura’s social learning theory (1977) and identification with media characters’ theory by Cohen (2001). The study investigates how children of 3rd to 5th grade construct identity under the influence of popular cartoon characters. Based on the child-centered methodology, including controlled conversation patterns with children from ten private schools of Islamabad, this study gives children a voice in exploring their gendered identities. Findings suggest that boys are inclined to save and rescue, show power, desire knighthood, and admire the stout and muscular body of male cartoon characters while girls are fascinated by submissiveness and politeness, beauty, and the ideal physique of female characters. The findings, further, suggest that boys follow the stereotypes; however, in certain instances, girls try to break the traditional stereotypes and express their desire to be independent and powerful. Hence, children in the form of these traits internalize gender stereotypes. This study is significant as it sheds light on how this popular medium inculcates gendered stereotypes in children’s minds shapes their personas and how much they value them.

Highlights

Children traditionally undergo learning abstract ideas like gender roles, the conception of good and bad, lifestyle, and particular behaviour through fantasy (Fischer, 2010)
This section discusses these themes in further detail by using a theory of identification with media characters (Cohen, 2001) to see the impact of cartoon characters on children’s personalities and how they internalize gender stereotypes under this influence
The boy identifies and empathizes with Batman. He responds that he starts to feel sad when Batman is beaten up by another person such as: Teacher: What do you feel when Batman is beaten up by another person? Boy 1: Sad! And when he shows power, I feel super happy! The boy here seems to empathize with the cartoon characters which means that he is indulged in an identification process

Summary

Introduction

Children traditionally undergo learning abstract ideas like gender roles, the conception of good and bad, lifestyle, and particular behaviour through fantasy (Fischer, 2010). They often have difficulty differentiating fantasy from reality. Susceptible to the portrayals of characters on television, especially with the aid of cartoons; and it occurs between the age of two to eleven (Eick, 1998) They are influenced by peers, parents, individuals, and the media, Katz and Boswell (1986) argued that both peers and media are more effective than parents in a child’s gender development. It might force children to internalize gender stereotypes from cartoons

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Conclusion