The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media Releases New Findings: Males
Outnumber Females Almost 3 to 1 in Films
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Examining 15,000 individual
speaking characters across G-, PG-, PG-13, and R-rated films, research by Dr.
Stacy Smith of USC's Annenberg School for Communication in association with
the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media indicates that males outnumber
females roughly 3 (2.71) to 1 on the silver screen.
Dr. Smith and her team also examined 4000 female film characters and found
that two types of females often frequent film: the traditional and the
hypersexual. For example, females are over five times as likely as males to be
shown in alluring apparel and are roughly three times as likely as males
(10.6% vs. 3.4%) to be shown with an unrealistically "ideal" body.
Dr. Smith's research also reveals problematic portrayals in television aimed
at children. Females in kids' fare are almost four times as likely as males to
be shown in sexy attire (20.7% vs. 5.4%) and nearly twice as likely as males
to be shown with a small waist line (25.6% vs. 14.4%). Animated females in TV
for kids are more likely to be shown in sexually revealing attire than are
live action females (24.5% vs. 17.4%). Also, females in animated TV stories
for children are more likely to have small waists (36.9% vs. 6.9%) and have an
unrealistic body shape (22.7% vs. 1.2%) than are females in live action TV
stories for children. Though, females are not the only ones hypersexualized in
TV content for children. Animated males are more likely than live action males
to have a large chest (15.4% vs. 4.9%), small waist (18.4% vs. 4.3%), and an
unrealistically muscularized physique (12.5% vs. .5%).
This research was announced at a four-day international conference on gender
and children in media at the University of Southern California and hosted by
the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
Academy Award-winner Geena Davis, Sony Entertainment Co-Chair Amy Pascal,
Philanthropist Wallis Annenberg, ABC Entertainment President Stephen
McPherson, Brown Johnson President, Animation, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and
Family Group, and Tom Lynch were keynote speakers at an exclusive luncheon for
more than two hundred executives and producers.
The conference also featured workshops including 30 accomplished children's
media researchers from around the globe.
At an Open Forum, panelists discussed the link between media and public
health, the effects of American media in other countries, marketing products
to young people, and creating complex female characters for the children's
market. Among the day's participants included creators of shows at the Cartoon
Network, Disney, and DiC, as well as representatives from Mattel, TV Guide
Channel, and Variety. Linda Simensky, Senior Director of Children's
Programming for PBS, was the Open Forum's keynote speaker.
For more information please visit: http://www.thegeenadavisinstitute.org
SOURCE The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
Crystal Cook, of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media,
+1-213-627-3559, ccook@thegeenadavisinstitute.org
