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The smurfette Principle

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The smurfette Principle
The Smurfette Principle The Smurfette principle is a controversy on how TV shows and movies have all men/boys as characters with zero to one girl. A writer by the name Katha Pollitt writes an article in the New York Times talking about this principle. She defines her principle as, “…a group of male buddies will be accented by a lone female, stereotypically defined” (Pollitt). She uses her daughter to explain to us that there is just not enough shows for little girls to watch. She mentions how she remembers the princesses back in the day, like The Little Mermaid. Ariel, the main character, was bold and brave. Nowadays the girls that do appear in TV shows and movies are more like sidekicks and sometimes even act helpless. Pollitt believes writers should start putting in more girls into TV shows. Are kids influenced by sexism in Cartoons, or are they just kids and will watch anything that entertain them? I do agree, it would be nice to see more strong women in more movies and TV shows but kids are kids, they watch what makes them happy.
Most children do not care about which characters are boys and which are girls:
Young children can tell the difference between boys and girls, and will label people accordingly. However, these very young children still believe that gender can change and is not permanent. Children of this age also have trouble understanding that males and females have different body shapes, but also share characteristics. (Oswalt) Children just care about the TV show or Movie as a whole most of the time. Is it exciting? Does the show interest them in anyway? If they do pick up on gender in shows it is rare. Pollitt mentions she knows a little girl who was angry about finding out Big Bird’s gender: “I know one little girl who was so outraged and heartbroken when she realized that even Big Bird -- her last hope -- was a boy that she hasn 't watched the show since” (Pollitt). In all reality this most likely does not happen much, unless a child is


Cited: Barrientos, Tanya. “A Rude Welcome for Abby, New Girl on ‘Sesame Street’.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. 30 Aug. 2006. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. Oswalt, Angela. "Early Childhood Gender Identity and Sexuality." Betty Hardwick Center. Centersite, 1995. Web. 16 Oct. 2013 “Person of the Week: Abby Cadabby.” ABC News. 18 Aug. 2006. Web. 1 Oct 2013. Pollitt, Katha. “The Smurfette Principle.” From Inquiry to Academic Writing. 2nd ed. Eds. Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Boston: Bedford/St Martin‘s. 2012. 544-7. Print. RANDOMTHTS4ALL. "Gender Stereotyping in Childrens Television." HubPages. N.p., 9 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013 Sarkeesian, Anita. “# 3 The Smurfette Principle (Tropes vs. Women).”Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 21 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.
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