Gender Stereotypes In Children’s Cartoons: Introduction

Hi! My name is Luana Martins de Farias. A while ago, I had a fun discussion with my friends about the cartoons we watched as kids. We talked about the difference between the cartoons that I was exposed to as a kid in Brazil versus the ones my friends were exposed to here in the United States. We went down a list and talked about how much we loved each show, and how as kids we would pretend to be like the characters. This sparked curiosity in me as to how influential cartoons can be to little kids. That was how my whole idea of investigating the trend of gender norms and traditions passed on by children’s cartoons came to be.

I started research on this topic last year in my seminar project. Through my research I was able to reach a conclusion that there is a current problem in the cartoon industry that needs to be changed. However, I felt a lack of representation in my data points. Most research papers that I could find on this topic were fairly obsolete. This made me want to pursue some research of my own on the topic and the current situation of the industry.

I hope to be able to contribute and help close the existing gap of research in this area. I will be focusing on five different cartoons and watching several episodes. While doing that I will be coding actions performed by female characters. I hope to find a trend in the number of traditionally female assigned actions as the episodes of the cartoon progresses. This will allow me to analyze how much improvement there has been in the industry lately, if any at all. I am excited to see where my research leads me!