Sex Role Stereotypes

(Original Image Here)

In Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, the authors address a specific study in superheroes and gender stereotype. Specifically in It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Gender Stereotype!: Longitudinal Association Between Superhero Viewing and Gender Stereotyped Play, several authors conducted a study where preschool children from Western and Northwestern USA were exposed to superheroes in forms of media, stereotypical male-play, and weapon play.  This experiment was conducted twice, each one year apart, and as a result the mother’s of the preschoolers reported that boys were exposed to more stereotypical-male play and for girls they preferred more weapon play.  According to the article, the purpose of their research was based off of theory that “that behavioral outcomes, such as play, are vitally important for both exploring and rehearsing gender roles” (Bussey and Bandura 1999).  After conducting their research they noted the effects of gender stereotyping in the media. They determined that “the more television children watch, the more stereotypical they are in terms of gendered personality traits” (Frueh and McGhee 1975). It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a Gender Stereotype!: Longitudinal Association Between Superhero Viewing and Gender Stereotyped Play also expand on the social cognitive theory of gender development and understood “that superheroes would be more influential for boys than girls.” The article continues to elaborates on the play and gender roles, weapon play, parental mediation of media and concludes with the aims of study and hypotheses. The study showed that superhero media does contain very high amounts of gender stereotypes; there is no correlation whether these programs lead to an increase in male-stereotype play in preschool children.

             After reading this research, there are a couple of points made that I have agreed with. The first claim that I agree with is the claim that “this is no surprise given that females are often sexualized and misrepresented in many aspects of media” because not only are female superheroes over sexualized, every female seen on any form of social media are practically flawless. Another claim I support is that “Superheroes represent salient and powerful characters that are likely to grab children’s attention” because superheroes were meant for children; although they were drawn as if they were made for adults with the masculinity and femininity. This research of young children and stereotyped gender roles reinforces my beliefs on the unrealistic perfection of superhero body types and the effects they are having on today’s society.