Princesses
This site links to an article that discusses hidden biases and stereotypes found in this popular present day children’s show.
Villains
These characters and shows are some examples of children’s media I have heard my students and other young children discuss and adore. In terms of the way females are perceived in many of the leading characters of children’s entertainment are stereotypical female attire such as dresses, the color pink, and long hair. The male characters are perceived as being strong, intelligent, and in high positions of power regardless of their age and appearance. The bad guys in children's entertainment are usually older than the protagonist do not attain “attractive characteristics” and are driven by revenge and jealousy of the leading protagonist or protagonist's family. These tropes secretly teach children the lessons of beauty, attractiveness, and youth is what it takes to be considered a good guy and the lesson that if someone is to wrong you the best way to cope and move on is seeking revenge until you are the one who others admire and the other person is the one seen in the negative light.
An incident that occurred once in my classroom regarding which gender goes in which bathroom was when one of my female students with short hair went into the bathroom labeled girls some students went up to me saying that she went into the wrong bathroom because they assumed she was a boy strictly based on her hair length. I found it a little challenging explaining she was a girl without getting into biological terms because looking at the labels on the bathroom doors the girl sign had a picture of a girl with two pigtails and a dress on while the boy was wearing pants, a shirt and had short hair. These perceptions of stereotypes of males, females, and girls and boys are seen everywhere even in our own classroom environments.
