Most TV monsters are male
If you would create a monster, would it be male or female? TV-programs popular with children, including those made for kids, have a close to gender parity among human characters (52.2% male compared to 47.6% women) but animals, anthropomorphized objects, and zombies or monsters are much more likely to be male, according to a study by Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.
The report concludes that creators of US TV shows popular with children, including those made for kids, are striving for parity when they’re thinking about character identity, but they’re slipping when identity is less salient — when the characters aren’t human.
66.5% of nonhuman characters are male compared to 33.1% who are female. “This suggests that unconscious bias may be playing a role in the disparity”, the report says.
Other findings:
- Among lead characters, 48.8% are women — about a 4-percentage-point increase from 2019 but still below 2018, when 52.0% of leads were women. Among notable supporting characters, 45.6% are women. Among supporting characters, 47.2% are women. Among minor characters, 39.5% are women.
- Male characters are more likely than female characters to be fat (6.3% compared with 1.7%).
- Female characters are more likely than male characters to be objectified (2.4% compared with 0.3%) and be shown in revealing clothing (9.6% compared with 4.2%)
- A higher percentage of male characters have jobs than female characters (34.9% compared with 25.4%).
- Among lead characters, 70.2% are people of colour — a sharp rise from 2019, when that share was 31.9%, and 2018, when that share was 26.1%. The increase in people of colour in leading roles is largely due to the inclusion of Spanish-language programming.
- Characters of colour are more likely than white characters to be in a committed relationship (21.5% compared with 9.8%), express romantic interests or intentions (43.0% compared with 16.4%), and be shown kissing (17.3% compared with 0.0%).
- Characters of colour are more likely than white characters to be shown as a leader (24.2% compared with 16.4%). •
- Among lead characters, 2.5% are ages 50 and older — a 1.5-point increase from 2019.
- Characters 50 and older are also almost twice as likely as characters under 50 to be shown as a leader (25.5% compared with 13.4%).
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