Women on CBeebies

CBeebies is not too bad compared to the other channels, but could do better. Hate hate hate Peter Rabbit, little mister action hero bunny surrounded by silly girls.

CBBC is much worse. The female presenters are passive and sensible while the men are allowed to be eccentric, ballsy or bonkers. Miss London used to be brilliant though, whatever happened to her?

Let's Play is great for subverting stereotypes....Rebecca has been a footballer, a Knight and a mechanic while Sid was a ballet dancer. I honestly don't think cbeebies is too bad compared to some of the books and dvds dd has (princess poppy, Angelina Ballerina....yeuccchhhh)

How do you feel about grotbags Rhianna? There's a troll man who needs to know.

You are irritated by the smiley characters on cbeebies OP? is this a wind up? There's enough doom and gloom in the world thank you very much! Only on mumsnet you read these threads.

Talking about the topic at hand does not prohibit conversational flexibility.

Grotbags was compulsive viewing. She embodied many of the aspects that the OP complains are lacking in Cbeeb's female characters. To be blunt she was fat, ugly and generally vile. However, I eagerly awaited the next episode in the hopes that tomorrow would be the day when she managed to kill Rod Hull and drown his stupid Emu in a cauldron of molten lead. Perhaps not the most healthy of preoccupations for a young TV viewer, but I expect much more satisfying to watch than the bland tripe that the OP refers to.

Unfortunately I suspect that a great chorus of angst and reactionary rage would follow any rehash of the format. Women = witch, women = evil, fat = evil, and so on... regardless of how much kids might look forward to watching Emu being beaten to death with a broomstick.

Maybe a re-worked format involving a clever woman (minus the witch outfit), but otherwise embodying most of Grotbag's characteristics being pitted against a man so annoying that watching him suffer is a pleasure might be possible.

I thought you preferred to talk about the topic at hand, which in this case is CBeebies.

Or do you think Grotbags should hop channels? Anything you think should change about her show for today's watchers?

I don't know if anyone's told you this but you can usually change the channel.

Grotbags was on ITV.

HTH.

Bring back Grotbags.

That's really interesting about Granny Island. She is very similar to my mum and her friends!

I may be a few years behind the times here but me too had a female doctor
One of the few who didn't make me swear at the screen

Granny Island is a fab character but she was going to be a man originally! Mhari Hedderwick was asked to change the grandparent's gender because the publisher didn't want picture of a young girl sitting on an old man's knee , she'd already done most of the illustrations by this point so changed the hair a bit and the name.

Granny Island, Katie Morag and her Mum are all fab characters. I like Jess from Minibeast Adventure too.

I agree that Melody is good...I also have a soft spot for Woolly and Tig as I think it too does a good job of showing an ordinary girl with all her fears and worries and how she overcomes them. I detest Zingzillas. I wouldn't let my children watch it as the girls are either pink and fluffy or mute!! Whereas the boys are cool and take the lead. I was also disappointed that they chose to have a male doctor and female nurse in Get Well Soon....what an opportunity that was to challenge stereotypes but nope!

Yy to let's play. Melody is good for displaying a fairly realistic daughter (even if mum is patient to the point of saintliness!)

Presenters - no. I agree as above- all the presents are smiley nicey types, male or female. The one that always got me was Wayballoo - the girls are both so insipid and pathetic! Drove me bonkers.

Ah "let's play" that's right garbanzo. Missed the last 2 posts for some reason

Being honest and being subjected to fucking obscene amounts a lot of Ceebeebes it's not something I have noticed. I agree they are all slim and pretty and that's not totally the case for the male hosts..all though mostly they are also nice looking.

I actually think the hosts are quite good at breaking gender roles, Nina and the Neurons (female scientist) Mr Maker (man doing crafts). I'm not so keen on Justin's house for the occasional drag performances... Female pirates, and what's the one where the two hosts take turns "play acting" something? So one week she might be a footballer and he'll be something else the next week?

All that said... the actual cartoons and children's programming is shocking. Full of lazy stereotypes, and basically zero educational value and you can tell they have put zero thought in to the scripts or the filming. It's pretty disappointing actually as It's the only thing I can turn on with out chromecasting where they aren't subjected to loads of evern worse advertising

ifyourhoppy I was convinced the parrot was Moriarty for a long time, even Google it. Imbd and Wikipedia insist they are not the same actor. I remain unconvinced!

spectacularly misses the point of this thread

I like Rebecca in 'Let's Play' though. I think they are very consciously un-sexist there and it is great - especially because it's sometimes a tiny bit surprising to me - to see a slender young woman doing a lot of the adventurous and physical jobs she takes on, with huge enthusiasm and confidence (within the bounds of the programme set up, that the main character never really knows what they're doing). It's a great advert for giving things a go.

I have noticed and been a bit irked by the quiet, passive characters of Topsy and Zebby on Raa Raa, whereas the boy animals are bolder, louder, more confident.

We love Sarah and Duck. She is something of a 'quiet, thoughtful girl' but the gender relations are mostly pretty good (except for the episode 'Stargazing' which I hate!) and it's a bit too odd to relate strongly to everyday life.

Btw, tangent but Alex is not short! I though he and Cat were tiny, then saw him standing next to Mr Bloom, who is tall and Alex was almost the same height. It's just that Andy is really very tall.

Some of it is really good, and I think they do a good job of representing a huge range of children, but I am a bit hmmm at some of the adults and the presenters.

Quick answer is yes, being smiley, nice and accommodating is what girls have long been trained to do and boys to expect.

It really discombobulates adults when a woman does not behave this way, especially in everyday casual social encounters, whereas men being grumpy, demanding, selfish or opinionated is not considered surprising, even if it isn't seen as desirable or pleasant.

So, in as far as CBeebies is part of everyday life and society, it's no surprise they perpetuate these norms. It is reasonable though to expect them, and all people paid to influence or look after children, to think about what assumptions, expectations and behaviours they are passing on.

CBeebies though, everyone is quite smiley. I wouldn't say Alex or Andy display strong personality traits, other than cheeriness. (I'm afraid Katie is the one presenter who grates on me - she seems somehow insincere to me, though also smug - which could well be a pejorative synonym for confident. Hmm).

Rosie of 'everything's Rosie' personifies your point. She is an archetypal 'nice big sister', always sensible, helpful and actively thinking about everyone else's needs - in a 'capable head girl' way. Will, the boy in that, is nice but thoughtless and a bit selfish. He often has to be prompted into niceness by Rosie. I think that is many people's idea / experience of normal M / F relations.