Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us by Linda Christenson

In this article, Linda Christenson argues that children in today's society are strongly influenced by the stories, advertising, films and television shows they are exposed to. This begins in toddler hood and continues throughout their young lives.. She talks about the "secret education" and how children's views are manipulated by what they are exposed to. Her view is that children's are exposed to sexism, racism and ideas about what is important, not by their own experiences but by the stereotypes that they see on television or in children's stories. She identifies cartoons in particular as being the source of influence on young people because so many children watch them when they are very young.

Below is a link to an interesting article I found about gender stereotypes in kids shows.

https://www.refinery29.com/kids-shows-gender-roles-stereotypes

This article is called Why Gender Stereotypes in Kids Shows Are a REALLY Big Deal.

The author  Olivia Cambell, says that " Sexism is a risk factor for violence and stereo typed filled kids shows are a risk factor for developing sexist attitudes". She points out that while recently sexist behaviors are coming out everywhere, children's television is still full of these stereotypes.

Olivia Cambell quotes a Common Sense Media Report saying " Even television and video targeting infants and toddlers are full of gender stereo types." She feels that this is very dangerous because the strict belief in traditional gender roles is associated with domestic partner violence.

In Linda Christensen's article she uses the Disney classic Cinderella as an example. Cinderella did not change anything accept her appearance and shoes. She changed from rags into the beautiful gown to win the Prince. Also winning the Prince is seen as the goal of a happy and complete female. This is clearly a sexist message.

My classmate Amanda Fournier, wrote on her blog about this topic with some really well thought out insight. She asked the question, " Do you think Disney Movies are making progress in terms of including less stereotypes"?

http://amandafournier.blogspot.com/2018/10/disney-films-are-not-as-innocent-as-one.html 

This got me thinking about this question and I feel like the answer is yes, but more progress needs to be made.  The example that I thought of was Moana. She is also a princess, but is a young woman of color and does not even like to be called a princess. In Moana, the huge body building demi god she travels with is the one who is scared. She also has a realistic body that girls can identify with. She does not win over a prince with a ball gown, or even care about that. The theme of the movie is independence and self discovery. Moana is self reliant and smart. 

My question is similar to Amanda's. Do you think Disney is improving or are they just changing the stereotypes to new ones, that might be just as damaging?