Gender, Media Use and

The gender of a child has been found to have a critical influence on media preferences and uses, in conjunction with age, class, and ethnicity. Some researchers even argue that gender differences in media consumption are so substantial that boys and girls can be said to inhabit different cultural worlds.

The development of gender segregation is evident from as young as 2 to 3 years of age, when boys and girls start to develop distinct interests and preferences, including those related to media. Preschool boys already demonstrate a strong preference for entertainment content in television, movies, books, and computer games of action, adventure, sports, superheroes, law enforcers, soldiers, and the like. They move away from preschool educational television programs that present a calmer, nonviolent environment at a much earlier age than girls do, and throughout the elementary school years they maintain a strong preference for action-oriented cartoons, programs, and movies.

Preschool girls, on the other hand, prefer calmer programs that center around characters and relationships, including fairy-tale princesses, performers (dancers, models, singers), animated animals, and the like, and they enjoy preschool educational programs for a much longer period of time. They tend to continue to shy away from violence, horror, and action-adventure content throughout the elementary school years and to react fearfully to violent content in all media forms. Instead, they prefer realistic genres that dwell more on relationships, family situations, and romance, such as teen dramatic series, soap operas, and emotion-filled movies (known by their nickname, “chick-flicks”).

As they move toward adolescence, boys and girls continue to develop tastes that are strongly reinforced by traditional upbringing practices and the cultures in which they are immersed. Boys are preoccupied with downloading computer games that focus on narratives of competition and achievement, surfing pornography sites on the Web, and listening to music genres such as hard rock, heavy metal, and fringe. Girls, on the other hand, spend more time and energy communicating on the Internet with friends and strangers, searching for information on their favorite celebrities and programs, and listening to pop music.

Both boys and girls seem to be attracted to what is accepted in their culture as gender-appropriate technologies, contents, behaviors, and role models. However, most media offer a much wider diversity and quantity of male characters as role models and cater more to boys' tastes. Broadcasters and producers of other media texts for children prefer to target boys, rather than girls or mixed audiences, for three reasons: First, they assume that boys control viewing habits in the home, as they are more likely to “control the remote-control” and to assert their tastes. Second, producers generally believe that girls will watch boys' programs, play boys' computer games, or go to boys' movies, but not vice versa, as Western culture is more tolerant of girls who are “tomboys” than of boys who are perceived as feminized. Finally, they argue that boys are more susceptible to persuasive messages of commercials for program-related toys and products and spend more money purchasing [Page 362]them. The marketing potential of children and youth culture is thus directly tied into children's media uses and preferences.

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