Heroes, Heroines, and Everything in Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes in Children's Entertainment Media

by CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (Contributor), Christopher J. Olson (Editor), Brian L. MacAuley (Contributor)

Current characters in children's media illustrate a growing trend of representations that challenge or subvert traditional notions of gender and sexuality. From films to picture books to animated television series, children's media around the world has consistently depicted stereotypically traditional sex roles and heterosexual relationships as the normal way that people act and engage with one another.

Heroes, Heroines, and Everything in Between: Challenging Gender and Sexuality Stereotypes in Children's Entertainment Media examines how this media ecology now includes a presence for nonheteronormative genders and sexualities. It considers representations of such identities in various media products (e.g. comic books, television shows, animated films, films, children's literature) meant for children (e.g. toddlers to teenagers). Contributors seek to identify and understand characterizations that go beyond these traditional understandings of gender and sexuality. By doing so, they explore these nontraditional representations and consider what they say about the current state of children's media, popular culture, and global acceptance of these gender identities and sexualities.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published September 20, 2017

About the author

CarrieLynn D. Reinhard is also known as CarrieLynn. Reinhard.

CarrieLynn D. Reinhard is an Associate Professor in Communication Arts and Sciences at Dominican University where she teaches digital communication technologies, media production, and research methods. She received her Ph.D. in Communication from Ohio State University under the tutelage of Brenda Dervin, and she was a post-doctoral research fellow at Roskilde University in Denmark. She misses the pickled herring of Denmark, as well as the lovely streets of Copenhagen.

Her research focuses on fan, audience and reception studies and new methodologies for their study. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on this topic, as well as other topics regarding digital media studies. She has upcoming work on the problems with contemporary fandom and fan communities, and hopes one day to produce a documentary exploring the similarities between pop culture fans and religious practitioners.

She hosts The Pop Culture Lens podcast with Christopher J. Olson, and together they are developing a new research approach to professional wrestling studies. A new convert to professional wrestling, she likes the Chicago federation AAW and the WWE developmental program NXT more than WWE, but she will always chant for Zayn, Bayley and Balor wherever they are.

Reviews

[Aria · Rating 4 out of 5]

My friend received an ARC of this, so of course I read it, too. Fascinating. Full of up-to-date info., and a definite book to recommend to people interested in children's media, gender studies, social representation, etc.

[Michaela · Rating 5 out of 5]

---- Disclosure: I received this book for free from Goodreads. ----

This was a great book. I was surprised at what I found interesting once I was in it. Inevitably the sections I thought I'd enjoy most were seconded to those I didn't initially think I would find so interesting, so that was something.

If this is a topic you have interest in, then I think there will be something in here for you. Some bits are studies with full details of statistical analyses and methodologies, while other offerings are easier to consume pieces, written in a more straight-forward manner for the layperson. Regardless, there is relevant information to be gleaned from each, even if you don't go in for chi-squares and whatnot. (Just skip that bit and move on to the conclusions for those sections if the stats area reads like gobbledy-gook to you. No worries.)

I will pass this book on to some younger adults I know that have become fascinated w/ socio-cultural ideas of identity, and correspondingly, representation and acceptance in the public eye. Personally, I think this is something younger generations are more aware of, and that can't be anything but good for future generations. It will benefit them to have work like this available to reference.

My friend read this ARC after I finished it, and posted in her review that this is a good work for use by those interested in, "children's media, gender studies, social representation, etc.," & I agree w/ her assessment.

I want to thank the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC. I thoroughly enjoyed it.