Children's media skew gender

CHILDREN'S MEDIA SKEW GENDER
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Geena Davis, Actress]
[Commentary] In 2005-06, the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communication conducted the most comprehensive analysis of children's movies and TV programming ever done. Analyzing the 101 top-grossing G-rated movies released from 1990 through 2004, USC's research reveals that there are three male characters for every one female. Children's TV does better on gender balance: Shows rated TVY (for children under 7) and TVY7 (for children 7+) have a male/female ratio of roughly 2-1, while TVG (for all ages) is nearly 1-1. It is troubling, though, that the imbalance is greatest in shows for the youngest viewers. In films and TV for children, male characters are half as likely as females to be parents or married, and much more likely to be violent and dumb; those disparities are even greater for male characters of color. As for females in G-rated movies, about a third are either entertainers or royalty (compared with the 0.1% of the American women who are entertainers; the USA has no royalty). Kids learn their value by seeing themselves reflected in the culture. If their reflection is visible and common, they can say, "I must count. I see myself." But what message are we sending children with so few female characters? Or when male relationships and female accomplishments are devalued? We're teaching them that girls and women are less valuable, while options for boys and girls are determined primarily by gender. This message damages girls and boys.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070502/opthree_02.art.htm