Sex-Related Comparisons: Theory 161more acceptable if it takes place in the con-
text of retaining traditional feminine roles.
As noted in Chapter 3, we are more accept-
ing of stereotype incongruent behavior if it
takes place in the context of a person uphold-
ing other aspects of the stereotype. Children’s
books may portray a woman as a physician but
also show her as a nurturant parent. Examine
portrayals of gender roles in children’s books
on your own in Do Gender 5.4.Television. Television is also a source of
information about gender roles. There seems
to be a relation between watching televi-
sion and holding stereotypical beliefs about
gender roles. A study of Latino adolescents
found that those who were less acculturated
into the United States watched more tele-
vision, and watching more television was
associated with more traditional gender-
role attitudes (Rivadeneyra & Ward, 2005).
Viewing reality dating programs (RDPs) has
been associated with more traditional atti-
tudes toward women and men—in particu-
lar, greater sexual double standards, viewing
women and men in opposition to one an-
other while dating, viewing men as driven by
sex, and viewing dating as a game between
men and women (Zurbriggen & Morgan,Historically, one problem with children’s
books is that females were not represented to
the extent that males were. More recent stud-
ies seem to suggest that females and males are
equally likely to be represented as main char-
acters, but that they are still depicted in differ-
ent roles. In a review of 83 “Notable Books”
designated as outstanding by the American Li-
brary Association (Gooden & Gooden, 2001),
males had more diverse roles than females,
female characters held traditional roles, and
male characters were seldom depicted as
nurturant, as having domestic roles, or as in-
teracting with children—and never depicted
performing household chores! Similar find-
ings appeared in a more recent study of chil-
dren’s coloring books. Males were portrayed in
more active roles than females, and gender-ste-
reotyped behavior was common (Fitzpatrick &
McPherson, 2010). That is, 58% of female char-
acters were depicted in traditional roles, such as
cooking or caring for infants, and 44% of male
characters were depicted in traditional roles,
such as car racing or driving heavy equipment.
Cross-sex behavior was extremely rare (6% of
female characters, 3% of male characters).
Even among children’s books that are
designated nonsexist, traditional roles for
women persist. In one study, the content of
children’s books that had been identified as
sexist or nonsexist by researchers was exam-
ined (Diekman & Murnen, 2004). Although
women were more likely to be portrayed as
having stereotypically masculine traits and in-
terests in the nonsexist compared to the sexist
books, there was no difference in the portrayal
of women as having stereotypically feminine
traits and interests. Thus the nonsexist books
seem to portray an image of women as hav-
ing masculine traits and interests but also re-
taining the traditionally feminine traits and
interests. This finding seems to suggest that
women’s entry into nontraditional roles isDO GENDER 5.4
How Are Females and
Males Portrayed in Children’s Books?Review 10 children’s storybooks. Record the
sex of all the characters and how the char-
acters are portrayed. What are they doing?
Are they good characters or bad characters?
What are their personality traits? How do
other characters react to them?M05_HELG0185_04_SE_C05.indd 161 6/21/11 8:03 AM