Anonymous Coward User ID: 22694714 Canada 06/07/2013 03:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Children’s media use cuddly animals to reinforce ‘racist’ and ‘socially dominant norms,’ researcher says Parents who read their kids stories about happy, human-like animals like Franklin the Turtle or Arthur at bedtime are exposing their kids to racism, materialism, homophobia and patriarchal norms, according to a paper presented at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. Most animals portrayed in children’s books, songs and on clothing send a bad message, according to academics Nora Timmerman and Julia Ostertag: That animals only exist for human use, that humans are better than animals, that animals don’t have their own stories to tell, that it’s fine to “demean” them by cooing over their cuteness. Perhaps worst of all, they say, animals are anthropomorphized to reinforce “socially dominant norms” like nuclear families and gender stereotypes. [ link to www.nationalpost.com] |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 1237400 United States 06/07/2013 11:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Re: Children’s media use cuddly animals to reinforce ‘racist’ and ‘socially dominant norms,’ researcher says |