The main point
The article by Dr. Stacy Smith discusses gender stereotyping of women in roles assigned in films and television, with regards to children programs. The author expresses concern on the intentional misrepresentation of women as lesser members of the society who should be given minor roles in films and television.
The author is not happy with the continuous action of the society to paint a picture of women as inferior and mere objects sexual gratification. From the four studies by Dr. Stacy Smith, the author is unfortunate that despite the fact that population of men and women is equal, the womenfolk, the society is not really to accept this equality in assigning roles, even when a female actor is more efficient.
The surprise
The most surprising thing is that women are portrayed in films that are meant for children as passive objects of hyper sexuality despite taking up the same portion of the population as their male counterparts. From the four studies, the findings reveal that female in the film industry as treated in the same way; lesser beings who are only suitable for smaller or support roles.
Apparently, there is a very open imbalance in the number of single speaking women personalities as compared to the number of males assigned the same role. Apparently, very few female actions have managed to break the glass ceiling phenomenon. The Glass Ceiling Phenomenon refers to the invisible forces that make it very difficult for women to be given leading roles in the films industry in general, despite having outstanding achievements and qualifications.
Regardless of the existence of different channels of countering this misrepresentation, the phenomenon is still operational and continues to bar women from getting the leading actor role in films targeting children. Despite existence of many agencies promoting equality and equity among the male and female actors, the number of women to men occupying the leading role in films is within the ratio of 1:3, despite having similar or even higher qualifications.
Gender imbalance enables the author to articulate her ideas in the article to summarize gender orientation and eliminate the egotistic nature of most human beings. This balanced state of mind is known to warrant that wholesome creativity and facts important for individual functionality.
What is confusing?
The self regulating society offers a facilitated explanation for common support on gender imbalance as a fundamental ruler of perception on doctrines of its members in the films targeting children. The author is intrinsic on the above idea and is consistent in exploring possible reasons behind specific antagonist and protagonist inclination of different characters.
Based on this argument, it is clear that unfulfilled desires stop proactive thought arrangement that is often responsible for aligning beliefs to realities of life, especially when the point of disagreement is of gender nature. Gender understanding of life varies from different backgrounds. Gender disparity between males and females are connected by a delicate balance between societal inclination and nature.
The author is of the opinion that only an androgynous mind could be fully creative in thoughts, as it allows freedom of the mind of any restriction or inhibition that gender stereotypes laid upon the development of a unique personality which could express itself freely. In her view, androgyny is not the absence of gender but rather gender unconsciousness.