Which CBeebies White Men Would You Sack To Make Room For Diversity?

[FoodUnit]

I'm fed up with the surplus white able-bodied men in children's programmes - especially those who really aren't all that. I mean Justin Fletcher and Chris from Show Me Show Me seem to have got in on talent - but Andy from Andy's Wild Adventures - what's the deal with him? Same for Mr Bloom and Alex. It would be really easy to replace these white men with more diverse presenters.

The same goes for cartoons like Mike the Knight- why don't they, just at the commissioning stage, have a process where they ask: Does this character actually NEED to be an able-bodied white male? If not, they could change them to somebody other than an ABWM. Wouldn't that be great?

So I'm just interested in knowing who else you think could be binned without any great loss in the name of diversity?

Why?

Hohlee, what's that got to do with anything? Do you reckon we are all Bored Housewives with nothing to do but whine?

Cos MN is full of Bored Housewives. In fact all the small number of women in the world are here. Fact.

FWIW I feel no compulsion to reveal what I DO to some random ruder on the internet.

No, I've been on mumsnet for ages so not trolling. Just all the reactions are about women following stereotypical rolls, are you all mechanics, adventurers etc? Or have some taken up the roll of housewife that isn't the best sports woman etc?

Not Mr Bloom!!!!!

It really doesn't matter what we do does it? The only thing that matters is that we are trying the bring up sons and daughters with equal access to every opportunity to do what they want. And the conditioning to do otherwise, for girls to take a secondary role, is still very much alive and well in the 21st century. So we still have a struggle on our hands.

I was just interested to see if we all practise what is preached. I have boys so maybe do not have the same interest as others do but my 2 seem equally happy to play fairies as they do pirates, they see both parents cooking, cleaning and both with a spanner in our hands. They both enjoy typically male things and female (both sporting sparkly blue toenails at the moment whilst running around sword fighting). I struggle to understand how a TV programme has more influence than examples set by us?

I fail to understand what our occupations have to do with our trying to limit our children's exposure to insidious subliminal messaging (pink, sparkly, manipulative behaviour etc). The very fact that we are here discussing this would seem to suggest that we are not downtrodden by the patriarchy, no?

And as a parent of boys you ought to have as much interest in them growing up with a sense of fairness as those of us with girls do.

I guess you could view it like that. I think you will find if you read the post properly that the boys have a very equal view on life. I think maybe the world is not as conspiring against your children as much as maybe is perceived.
I tend to lead by example, therefore that is why I asked about any roles you may take.

I think if you had girls you would view this rather differently.

I don't feel like I would, we would still be showing her the same as our boys. Maybe you should just limit the TV that is watched and educate them from life experiences? Surely then they would be able to view, what you percieve as a damaging programme, without being manipulated?

My little daughter no longer watches Cbeebies, so that's sorted. Other people's daughters might not have the option of doing something else. Should I just dump other people's kids in it just because they're not mine?

As far as I can see that is a failing on the other parents part then. I hope you find a solution to the problem that you percieve.

Did you mean that to sound quite that patronising?

I like Apney and teal. Lots of female/ genderless characters.
Hate zingzillas too

I really Luke tinga tales. Strong females there too

Yes I think this is a real problem with Cbeebies. Somewhere elsewhere compared it to Milkshake, where there are loads of really prominent, good girl characters - Peppa Pig, Iggam Oggum, The Little Princess, Holly, Fifi, Angelina Ballerina.. also the majority of presenters are female. Whereas on Cbeebies there is Rosie and Teal and all the other females are mum figures. (I really like Teal tho)

I think the problem I have with your approach, hohlee, is it's all a bit "I'm alright Jack".

The children of the people on this thread have parents who are aware of this issue and work to counteract it where possible. Every time a little girl on this thread says "at school the boys say girls aren't allowed to play football" they will get a parental response explaining that actually they can.

However not all parents are concerned about this stuff, and many agree with the attitudes. What about those children.

Plus peer pressure is very powerful. My DD1 didn't bother at all about pink or sparkles until she started nursery, aged 2, and after a couple of weeks she objected to a blue top on the basis that it was "for boys". And no matter how carefully I explained to her that all the colours are for everyone, she wasn't having it! 2 year olds are like that....

Now she will wear blue but thinks football is for boys.

And so it goes on.

So yes I think it does matter that the prevailing ideas about what boys and girls do, what they look like, what they care about etc are not reinforced in the television aimed at them. It's just a little part of a bigger picture which adds up and points girls in one direction and boys in another.

I am a tv producer. I trained as a scientist and make engineering based programmes. Not that it should make a difference what i do, as others rightly point out. I just want my daughter to see better role models. My intention is to get more female presenters in the type of tv I make but it's an uphill struggle to which the broadcasters pay lip service in public and do little proactive work behind the scenes.

I hate the gender stereotyping in kids tv.

For info: the controller of cbeebies is Kay Benbow and most BBC emails are first [email protected]

Benbow! Thank you. I thought it was wrong and couldn't work it out.

Also hohlee the underrepresentation of women on CBeebies isn't a perception, it is a fact. And there is no credible reason for it unless you think that the country's population consists of about 70:30 men:women. I am finding your posts quite rude with the implication that we are imagining it.

I only have sons btw.

God, I am so dense! I skimmed past the thread title thinking that the dance group Diversity were being given presenting roles in CBeebies and idly wondering why it was in the Feminism topic.

What irritates me is the way so many men on cbeebies are 'Mr'.

Mr Tumble, Mr Bloom, Mr Maker.

All the women are known by their first names. Except Aunty Mabel, which isn't the same anyway.

Even when the male character is silly it's sort of saying...

Men are to be respected, they are senior.
Women are your friends, they are junior (or equal, I suppose, to your two or three year old).

I think about Nina. She could have been Dr Nina, but no, just a Nina. Nothing important.