Watch what your child is watching!
Published
Could TV be making your child prejudiced? Research from Hopster* into popular children’s TV programmes reveals that:
- Disabled people are poorly represented and some negative stereotypes persist – such as evil or threatening characters with disabilities.
- Working class families are badly under-represented, appearing in just nine per cent of episodes surveyed.
- Gender stereotypes are widespread. Female characters are objectified and in some cases undermined by male characters.
- No same-sex parent families were represented, and there was little evidence of LGBT+ representation, in any shows surveyed.
- Ethnic minorities were only included in around half of the content examined. Only six shows out of 50 had BAME characters as the ‘stars’ of the shows.
- Many additional negative stereotypes are also portrayed: from incapable single mothers to greedy/lazy overweight people and ‘nerds’ wearing glasses.
- Pre-schoolers are more likely to see negative cultural, social or gender stereotypes on streaming and subscription services than free-to-air channels.
- CBeebies has three of the top five most inclusive and representative shows.
Hopster is a play and learn app for the under-sixes. It can be downloaded free from the App Store and Google Play. For one monthly subscription with no tie-ins, Hopster subscribers get access to a large selection of kids’ TV shows, learning games, nursery rhymes and music. It’s available on a free seven-day trial and then available for as little as £3.47 per month.
