Overview of the Smurfette Principle

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In their pieces on the Smurfette principle, Pollitt and Ellis both discuss the idea that gender representations have intense effects on the children who absorb certain types of popular entertainment. Although we are hesitant to accept it, we are all influenced by the media in a very powerful way. Whether it be through TV shows, billboards, movies or the news. One thing that we commonly wonder about is if the adult female population is as influenced by the stereotyped gender roles present on TV or are we shaped at a young age and carry that perspective with us throughout our lives. This Smurfette principle has been around for almost two decades. It was introduced by Katha Pollitt and is unfortunately still present in our current 21st century.
In the society we live in, we are all looking for acceptance, whether we like to admit it or not. We turn to the media to see what other people are doing. The media plays a large role on the way we, a society as a whole, are influenced and think about responsibilities and roles of genders. As young children, we are still not sure of who we are and how we should act about certain topics. In order to ‘find ourselves,’ as young children, we look at things that are available to us. The television is found in every home and thus makes it one of the easiest ways for children to be influenced. This is not to say that the adult female population is not influenced as well. Adult females are seeking more information on how they should be as a person in order to be accepted in society as an acceptable woman.
Children in their adolescents years watch a great amount of TV each week and it is almost inevitable that they will start to be influenced by what they see on their television. They will see diffe...

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...ing our views, but as for children, TV is one of the key things that shape their minds.

Works Cited

Chandler, Daniel. “Television and Gender Roles.” Aberystwyth. University of Wales. Nov. 25 2006.

Hubka, David, Wendy Hovdestad, and Lil Tonmyr. "Child Maltreatment In Disney Animated Feature Films: 1937-2006." The Social Science Journal 46.3 (2009): 427-441. Print.

Lester, Paul Martin. Images that Injure. Westport: Prauger Publishers, 1996.
Pollit, Katha “The Smurfette Principle.” Great Writing: A reader for Writers. Weiner, Harvey and Nora S. Eisenberg. River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Pollitt, Katha. "Hers; The Smurfette Principle." The New York Times. The New York Times, 7 Apr. 1991. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. .

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