For the past few years the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media  has been sponsoring research at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. A number of studies have been conducted all investigating the prevalence and portrayal of girls and women in media. The research has unearthed some interesting facts:

• In the highest-grossing 101 G-rated films from 1990 to 2005 fewer than one out of three (28%) of the speaking characters are female and 85.5% of all the characters are white.
• Of the top-grossing G, PG, PG-13, and R-rated movies from 1990 to 2006 73% of characters are male. In ratio form that’s 2.71:1. “Females were more than five times as likely as males to be shown in sexually revealing clothing.”
• Animated characters in G-rated films are more likely to be shown “in a thin and sexy light” than their live action counterparts.
• A qualitative analysis of 13 G-rated films determined that “appearance is heavily focused upon… however, the aspirations and heroic actions of certain [...] females should be commended.”
• In an assessment of TV shows directed at kids 11 and under it wa deduced that there are twice as many male characters as females. Animated shows are particularly skewed.
• TVG has the “healthiest” balance, however, females are “almost four times as likely as males to be shown in sexy attire” and “unrealistic figures are more likely to be seen on females than males.” However, both animated males and females have exaggerated physical features.

While not listed in the research summary, one of the most shocking facts unearthed by the academic investigation is that only 7% of the 101 G-rated movies studied were balanced (meaning a ratio of 1.49 males to 1 female or better.

7%. That’s it. Of course, think back to any G-rated movie you may have seen and the facts make sense.

A qualitative study by Granado & Smith learned that the portrayal of females is questionable when they do appear. Females appear as either Good Virgins or Queen Hags. The father figure is usually dominant but bumbling and the leading characters always have a vast number of male friends and few, if any, female peers. There’s also a desire for more, love at first sight and some sort of makeover.

It can become a sort of game to think of possible exceptions to this blatant stereotyping. It’s incredibly difficult.

I learned of this research while taking a class taught by Stacy Smith, director of these studies. She explained that the bright side of all this research is content creators don’t seem to notice they’re doing this. It’s not some evil attempt to “keep women in their place” or anything of the sort. Upon hearing the research they say “Wow, I had no idea.” Apparently a lot of the animators also mentioned they don’t know how else to draw female leads. Hmm…

I guess the true test will be whether anything changes. How many of the common themes will be seen in Disney’s new princess flick?

I hate to admit that my favorite movie producer, Pixar, is not immune to these statistics. In fact, thinking of their films, they might be among the worst perpetrators. There’s usually one or two token females and that’s it. At least in Ratatouille it was at least a little justified in that the lack of women is a (sadly) accurate reflection of the cooking world, but I would feel a lot better if they would use their animation/storytelling genius to tell the stories of women as well as men.

The last thing I found interesting is that children’s television is more balanced than films. They also tend to be less stereotyped. The themes certainly vary. It makes one wonder why the popularity of more naunced TV shows haven’t influenced the sexist nature of the film industry. Why do people find it so difficult to tell engaging stories about women? And why aren’t more people acknowledging this is even a problem. Because it is. And acceptance is the first step in changing it.