Comic Strips, Gender Stereotypes in

It has been argued that comic strips represent a short-hand version of reality and most reflect the collective American subconscious. This art form is faithfully read by hundreds of millions of readers each week, regardless of age, sex, class, or race. Thus, it is not surprising that researchers have repeatedly turned to comic strips in an attempt to discern trends in culture. This research by and large has concluded that comic strips generally perpetuate, rather than challenge, gender stereotypes. The media play an important role in the formation of gender identity among children and adolescents, so their exposure to gender stereotypes is of significance in understanding identity development.

Beginning in 1974, research on gender representation in comic strips indicated that traditional sex-role stereotypes predominated in the comics. Ten years later, a replication of the earlier study demonstrated that females continued to appear less frequently and to remain in the home more often than males. They also were likely to be portrayed in stereotypical roles, engaging in child-care and home-centered activities. A similar study published at about that same time concurred; men were represented far out of proportion to their true ratio, and women were represented far less than their true proportion of the population. In comic strips, female characters were much less likely to work outside the home than women in real life. Men were rarely shown involved in child care or the home. This builds on research that indicates that single men are presented as autonomous and in control of their lives, but married men become meek and defenseless against their wives.

Other research conducted in the mid-1980s uncovered the “double burden” of the working woman in comics. This line of research compared traditional and modern comic households, finding that, although the appearance of husbands exceeded that of wives in traditional comics, the opposite was true in modern comics. Husbands and wives in modern comics were more equally represented in indoor settings versus outdoor ones, whereas traditional comics showed [Page 196]men outside and women inside. Surprisingly, modern working women spent more time on household tasks and child care than did traditional wives. None of the cartoons showed a husband cleaning, doing dishes, preparing meals, or doing laundry. Men did, however, do yard work and home maintenance. Working women were portrayed negatively, spending less time with their spouses, being “hard,” controlling, critical, and castrating toward males, and experiencing much stress. The working woman was in other ways portrayed as superwoman, doing it all. Regardless of whether the woman works, she is primarily responsible for household tasks and childcare and can expect little help from the husband. The home lives of families without working moms are portrayed as happier; when the mom works, home life is disrupted.

Another line of research has focused more particularly on the representation of fatherhood in comic strips. This work has emphasized the degree to which fathers, as compared with mothers, have been portrayed as incompetent, nurturant, or supportive, and the degree to which mothers, as compared with fathers, are mocked or made fun of in comic strips. Such inquiry is based on the assumption that the level of incompetence portrayed can be used as a barometer of social trends. Early research in this area examined Saturday Evening Post cartoons published between 1922 and 1978, finding that fathers were likely to be portrayed as incompetent until the 1970s, when portrayals improved. Building on this study, follow-up research broke down various eras more specifically. This study found that fathers were depicted as less competent during the 1920s, but the disparity between males and females in terms of incompetence decreased in the 1930s and even more in the early 1940s. Looking at comic strips on Mother's Day and Father's Day, research indicated that an improved image of fatherhood appeared in the 1980s and continued into the 1990s but not at the expense of the presentation of women. This study also found that fathers in the 1960s were more likely than in the past to be portrayed as supportive and nurturant but also were more likely to be mocked. Discrepancies between males and females in terms of warmth decreased from the 1950s to the 1960s not because men became more nurturant but because women became less so.

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