December 18, 2024, Durham, NC – iRT Research Scientist Dr. Tracy Scull co-authored a chapter in the recently released Handbook of Children and Screens entitled “Representations of Gender and Sexuality in Youth Media.” Dr. Scull co-authored the chapter with colleagues from research institutions from across the world, including Drs. Jennifer Stevens Aubrey, Megan K. Maas, Sophia Choukas-Bradley, Meenakshi Gigi Durham, Johanna M. F. van Oosten, and L. Monique Ward.
About the Chapter
Children start developing strong concepts of gender identity and gender roles early in life, and they often explore ideas related to sexuality and sexual roles during adolescence. During these developmental stages, young people usually look to many sources to learn more about gender and sexuality, including their parents, peers, and schools. Because most children and adolescents spend a lot of time consuming media, media also become a significant source of information for them about gender and sexuality. Entertainment media, in particular, provide young people with examples of how romantic relationships may look, how sex may unfold, and how people may act on their thoughts and feelings related to sex and relationships.
The tendency for children and adolescents to turn to media to learn more about gender and sexuality raises many concerns about how media, especially media targeting young people, represent gender and sexuality. Certain representations of gender and sexuality in media, especially when consumed consistently, could have significant impacts on the young people that consume them. For example, if movies that young people watch consistently portray characters participating only or primarily in traditional gender roles or heteronormative relationships, young people could begin to form limiting beliefs about how they can explore their own identities or create relationships.
The chapter in the Handbook of Children and Screens aims to explore current representations of gender and sexuality in media that are created for or are popular amongst young people. The chapter discusses important conclusions from a review of recent content analyses of gender and sexuality portrayals in youth media. For example, the review showed that men and boys are portrayed more often than characters of other genders in media. In addition, female characters are depicted caring about their appearance more often than males. LGBTQ+ sexual relationships were rarely represented, and entertainment media often conveyed a message that sex is risky for girls while an obsession with sex is a sign of masculinity in boys.
To read more important conclusions related to the representation of gender and sexuality in youth media, visit https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-69362-5_45.