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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think that Cbeebies is sexist

140 replies

noonki · 26/07/2008 21:08

I have 3 DS's and get so annoyed at the portrayal of girls and women on Cbeebies.
The main things that rile me are

No. 1 - the token girls (upsa-daisy from In the Night Garden and Wendy in Bob the Builder for example)

No. 2 - The overload of leading males (Fireman sam, tommy zoom, bob the buider, pingu, sportacus, tellytubbies and the list can go on and on)

No. 3 - the amount of pink and frillyness worn by the girls (eg - The tweenies, upsadaisy, etc)

There are a few exceptions but only a few - check out the Cbeebies character page and just do a quick comparision...

does anyone else agree or am just feeling lost in my house of boys?

OP posts:

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 21:57

I would survive ... on the basis that we have a DVD player ...saved!

OP posts:

theinsider · 26/07/2008 21:59

Thank [insert deity of choice] for DVD players.

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 22:00

Missmollymoo, I can't belive you don't think they pick on things from telly

they pick up songs, they pick up games, they pick up words and ideas and therefore surely they pick up on gender roles,

OP posts:

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:01

"I just think they pick up so much from tv that I should be arsed,". sorry but pmsl. Do you really think that three year olds have the capasity to realize that fireman sam is a man and to wonder why there aren't more women in the job? Or to wonder why there are more men than women in certain jobs?

what colour is the sky in your world?

theinsider · 26/07/2008 22:02

oh dear...

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 22:02

I don't think they wonder about it and think they just accept it as fact,

OP posts:

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:03

but maybe we should turn the tables and ask why there aren't more male primary school teachers represented on cbeebies? Miss Huley is a female - it is sexist surely to represent people in the roles they usually fill the most? therefore there should be more male childcarers/primary school teachers, no?

fishie · 26/07/2008 22:03

there was a mn live chat with the person (man) who is responsible for this, have a look. i think he said that they were trying to get boys to watch (they had deserted?) hence a lot of new programming a few years ago.

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:07

and let's be honest here.

roles that are generally interesting to children are, generally, filled by men.

firefighters, building, lorry driving, space....

generally I don't imagine you could make very good programmes about flower arrangers or shop assistants. (although penny pocket and suzie Sweet seem to do alright, and Penny pocket fills an additional pc role in that she is in a wheelchair). And even the roles that women do at a higher level, ie in business/IT etc really wouldn't make for very interesting programming.

theinsider · 26/07/2008 22:07

The chap on Me Too is a male primary school teacher.

booge · 26/07/2008 22:09

I can't believe that so many of you don't believe gender stereotyping has an effect even at an early age. Why do so many girls just want pink, because that is what is what the marketing people want them to want. If 3 year olds didn't pick up ideas from TV there would be no ads on Nick Jr and the like. I'd never paid much attention but the op is right most of the main characters are male.

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:10

and do you honestly think that children are going to get to the stage in their lives when they make their career choices and think, "well, wendy in bob the builder was a female builder, therefore I can't see why I couldn't do that?" they're more likely to think "did I really used to watch that shite?"

theinsider · 26/07/2008 22:10

Also, if there is a gender bias towards males (and I don't want to get into whether there is, no offence, but don't care that much!) then that is probably good thing. Girls don't need role models so much, it's boys who are are lacking fathers etc and therefore need it from the TV, hence more male presenters.

If anyone disagrees please don't have a go, just a thought.

FluffyMummy123 · 26/07/2008 22:11

Message withdrawn

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 22:12

god i feel like we have stepped back into the fifties

OP posts:

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 22:13

icod - i don't watch that much tbh, but it was on the website that I noticed it (Cbeebies character page)

OP posts:

Shitehawk · 26/07/2008 22:13

You are your child's biggest role model, not what they see on the television.

If the television is so influential to your children, you are not being selective enough.

Pisha · 26/07/2008 22:14

Don't really have an opinion on this either way tbh but wannabe its not that they will sit down and analyze what they see, if they did that would be much simpler, its that what they see on a regular basis seeps into their subconscious and becomes what they consider to be the norm and as you rightly say 3yos don't have the ability to question what they see, they just accept it whether its from tv, books, family, friends wherever.

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:15

agreed.

Ultimately if you don't approve of what they're being exposed to, there's this thing called the off switch. It's a remarkable invention, it allows you to stop watching the programme of the moment at the touch of a button.

missmollymoo · 26/07/2008 22:16

i think most girls want to dress in pink cos mum has likely put them in girlie colours from birth.

Again, it's simple. If you think your kids are able to pick up what you consider to be negative aspects of tele just TURN IT OFF and DON'T LET THEM WATCH IT.

PS. I never suggested kids don't pick up anything from tele, but i'm sure they don't have the capacity to contemplate why there are not an equal amount of females and males in the main jobs!

Original poster

noonki · 26/07/2008 22:18

I agree with you shitehawk,

and as I have said I am a bit of a tightarse with the amount I let them watch

but I do think it has an influence

OP posts:

wannaBe · 26/07/2008 22:18

but pisha does it really matter? I mean really?

Who cares if 3 year olds like fireman sam or thomas the tank or bob the builder. As they grow up they learn from the world around them as much as they do from the media they're exposed to, so as much as they will learn that trains and diggers and steamrollers can't really talk, they will also come to realize that other things are not the same in rl as portrayed on television.

missmollymoo · 26/07/2008 22:19

wannabe, you are funny.

Shitehawk · 26/07/2008 22:22

It has an influence on people who are aware of what sexism is, and how it affects people.

Children aren't. My daughter certainly didn't get the impression from CBeebies that there was any job that girls can't do; at the age of three she wanted to be a crane driver who drove a train at the weekends and moonlighted as a fireman. And in her spare time she would be a ballerina.

Children don't see things as we do. It's only once they are older that they realise girls and boys are sometimes treated differently. And when they do, you can address that with them.

Remotew · 26/07/2008 22:23

Just typical isn't it. The girls are only there for the love interest. It's a pattern I'm afraid.

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