To be angry about sexism on kids TV

[Antoniacaenis]

Feeling very sad that DD (3) has just told be that the pink pig on her plaster must be George and not Peppa because it's in an astronaut costume.😡.

I am angry about what has made her think like this and In part I think it's the TV she watches, nearly always CBeebies and I thought these were ok. But when I think about it - where are the strong characters in lead roles? I guess I'm thinking about the cartoons mainly. Where are the girl characters in Peter Rabbit, Mike the Knight, and even DDs favourite Octonauts? In supporting roles... the fun , active main characters are nearly always male. I was liking Go Jetters until I realised that the only female character ( out of 5) never does anything except drive the car and worry she is not good enough ( non of the other characters have confidence issues and need constant reassurance from the team.

When the main character is female we get Kate and bloody Mim Mim. I know there is the likes of Katie Morag to balance things a bit but AIBU to be getting angry about this subtle conditioning?

Can anyone tell me about any good fun cartoons on other channels that don't follow this crappy pattern?

I feel a bit ashamed as one of my dd loves MLP and I have never watched a full episode but always felt I ought to ban it really as ignorantly assumed it would be full of moronic silliness

Can't wait to watch MLP now!

You know, we need to watch ourselves with the assumption that pink and glitter is bad.

Aren't we falling prey to sexism when we assume that the things that appeal to boys are better than the things that appeal to girls? What makes dinosaurs, tractors, red and blue better than unicorns, castles, pink and purple? It's all personal preference really

Before DD was born I was outraged at the existence of pink lego, and saw it as an attempt to keep girls in their place: that only limited, permitted versions of these tech toys were suitable for girls.

But somehow 2 tech geeks managed to produce a daughter who gasped at pink shoes at 18 months, loves twirly dresses, is fascinated by her big cousin's makeup and perfume (I don't have any), asks for every pink glittery thing she sees... and has zero interest in the huge train set we got for her 2nd birthday.

I accept that it's largely cultural conditioning (I never understand how people can doubt an 18 month old's ability absorb cultural values, when they're talking !) but it's a genuine preference.

I now buy Frozen lego, pink construction sets and glittery mosaics - because that's what engages her in creating... and ultimately that's much more important than the colour scheme.

If MLP has positive values delivered in appealing, glittery packaging then I'm all for it!

Youtube gets watched a lot in this house, in order to get decent stuff.

Miffy
Maisy
Come Outside
Rosie and Jim
Meg and Mog

Agreed Nordicwannabe - treating pink and glittery as bad is falling into another trap. DS loves glittery things and have tried to avoid any tendency to steer him away from "girly" stuff. Especially as a lot of the shows aimed at girls seem to emphasise friendship etc.

Well done OP. We should all call this out more often and complain!

It's awful and it doesn't get better as they get older. We mention it in our house and point out whe it happens so DD and DS very aware of the blatant sexism in practically everything available to them.

My son loves my little pony which DD got him into and I've always thought frothy pink nonsense so glad there are so many positives about it!

Movies are same. Mainly main character is boy and female side kick or girl but with pet rather than boy side kick. Having only seen how to train dragon movies I was totally shocked to recently realise on getting the books that they were dominated by male only characters. First that a female turns up is book 3! And yet it's written by a woman!

I so thought this would have ended by now. Where are the male TV execs wanting to show good role models for their daughters? Why are female writers not having a main female character rather than sticking to male because 'that's all boys will read'? Well if that's all they're given they might but guess what? Mums buy books and DVDs etc. Waiting for my kids to get old enough for hunger games as counter to Star Wars! Just need a female equivalent of the ridiculously successful Harry Potter! Hermione might be clever but she's still only one to harry and Ron.

Waiting for my kids to get old enough for hunger games as counter to Star Wars!

Why do you need it to counter Star Wars? The leads of the last two Star Wars movies, Rey and Jyn Erso, have been female, The same for this year's movie as Rey is the central character of the trilogy. What I really loved about the last two movies is that lots of the very minor characters are female. When there is a big space battle and you see chatter between the various pilots, there are numerous women among the men. Women are just there, being important, living their lives, existing.

What about Doc McStuffins? Her Dad is a stay at home Dad, her Mom is a doctor. She fixes toys that are broken and relates it to real life for kids. For example when a blow up toy loses it's air, she relates it to getting an injection at the doctors, or when it's a hot day you have to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.

It's geared towards the younger generation, My Little Pony could have some scary parts for the younger children, but I do agree it's an awesome show.

Another show for the younger generation is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Although Mickey is the main character, Daisy and Minnie do have good parts and they do try to stray from typical roles, although it's not perfectly neutral, for example Minnie does own a store that sells Bows, but she always takes part in the driving cars and sports, etc.

Sheriff Callie's Wild West? A strong female lead. She's almost always the one coming to other people's rescue, she relies on her town being a community and helps people to solve their problems. She's kind and honest.

Although it's not educational, I like that in SpongeBob Squarepants Sandy Cheeks is a strong female role. She is the smartest character, stays true to herself and her roots, and also kicks butt with her Karate skills! This show is for older kids.

The Wild Thornberrys is another show for older kids. The main lead is a female who strays away from typically female things. She likes adventure and has a special ability to talk to animals. Her best friend is a monkey name Darwin and he enjoys a lot of the girly things that Eliza does not, such as dolls and dresses.

Craftsy - because that's only 2 out of 8 movies and though last two better they still haven't got the balance right as there still aren't a Range of female figures. Rogue 1 has female lead but not one other female character. Only one other woman has more than a few lines and a couple have one line. So men still dominate. That's not ok. My sons can play at being several characters - good and bad. My daughter one.

Oh ffs it's only a programme.

It's not 'only a programme', it's 90% of all programmes, books and films out there.

It's a much wider problem of course, what with the gender ratio of kids' TV presenters, the default calling any animal 'he' etc... My DCs pick this up too now because I always point it out and call animals 'she' 50% of the time. Hopefully the cycle is being broken in homes all over the country.

Ooh feminist bingo!
Can we have 'don't you people have real problems to worry about?'

There are a couple of episodes in peppa pig where George is really into space and Peppa isn't, hence the astronaut might be George.

I would say Daddy pig mostly comes across as a big silly and Mummy pig is in charge.

Small Son's favourite programmes atm are My Little Pony and that thing with the girl lead who changes into a super hero ladybird, 'Miraculous" I think? It does have a male character who turns into Cat Noir but he's ridiculously, camply animated presumably to be non-threatening. There are lots of strong girl lead characters if you look for them but they are often eclipsed by the all-explody male ones. (Gods I hate Mike the Knight and Tree-Fu Tom).

Sexism aside Tree-fu Tom really is shit isn't it?!

Snuggly Yes. It made me want to gouge my own eyes out with a melon-baller.

The new Mickey Mouse Racers is sadly quite atrocious, Daisy and Minnie are only interested in what they're wearing and new fucking shoes.

Mind, DS loves buying new shoes and clothes so he finds quite funny.

My DDs also love MLP, and I'll fairly happily watch it with them, though Pinkie Pie does my head in. (She has some surprising moments, I do have to admit.)

They've also just got into Wild Kratts. There are some good female characters there: Aviva the inventor and Koki, who is in charges of communications systems & research. Negatives are that it's the brothers who go out in the field having adventures, though I've not watched enough of it to know whether that's always the case. (In mitigation: the main characters are alter egos of the creators.)

If you're willing to get box sets snd go the DVD route (or god forbid, download older programmes), "Arthur" is great for strong and intelligent females. Same with "The Magic School Bus". A few others that I recall being happy with regarding female characters were Powerpuff Girls, Xena Warrior Princess (when she's a bit older!), Pippi Longstocking the Animated Series, Anne of Green Gables the Animated Series, and Madeline. A lot of girls also loved Kim Possible. They're all fairly 90s, but if you do the work, there are things out there! :)

Peppa Pig is great usually but I hate that stuff they do about pink being for girls! So a daddy can't wear a pink football shirt that his daughter accidentally dyed? My DH would!😡

As for Ben and Holly...WHERE are all the male fairies? Tarquin - who is pretty vile - is the ONLY boy fairy!! So sexist and possibly homophobic!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and says it's TV aimed at toddlers. ..I am pretty sure no toddler ever grew up and thought well I can't do that as I'm a girl based o. Cartoon character

Having just RTFT I take it back...peppa is NOT great!!

Agree about the programmes (never would have realised MLP would be OK for DD to watch!) but disagree about books. Quality children's literature tends to be pretty heavy on positive female role models and avoiding stereotyping I would say.