California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has recently appointed actress Geena Davis to a state commission aiming to promote women’s equality.  Sweet!

According to Wikipedia:

In 2004, while watching children’s television programs and videos with her daughter, Davis noticed what she thought was an imbalance in the ratio of male to female characters. From that starting point, Davis went on to sponsor the largest research project ever undertaken on gender in children’s entertainment (resulting in 4 discrete studies, including one on children’s television) at the Annenberg School for Communication of University of Southern California. The study, directed by Dr. Stacy Smith, shows that there are nearly 3 males to every 1 female character in the nearly 400 G, PG, PG-13, and R-Rated movies the undergraduate team of Annenberg students coded.

In 2005, Davis teamed up with the non-profit group Dads and Daughters to launch a venture dedicated to balancing the number of male and female characters in children’s TV and movie programming.

It’s nice to see someone with power, and with a background in the entertainment/film industry no less, acknowledging that this is a problem worthy of attention and taking steps towards change.  Let’s hope that Geena is able to really get the ball rolling and that change starts to happen!

(Check out Alethea Joy’s post on research inspired by Ms. Davis.)

She’s one of the most recognizable cartoon vixens in America.  She’s not a female counterpart to a male star, like Minnie Mouse or Daisy Duck, and she’s not just somebody’s babelicious girlfriend, like Jessica Rabbit.  However, her status as a sex symbol is undeniable.  But who is Betty Boop really, and can she be seen as an early feminist icon, or nothing more than a black-and-white pinup?

Based on the 1920′s fun-loving flappers, Betty Boop debuted in 1930 as the partner to a little dog named Bimbo who was intended to compete directly with the famed Mickey Mouse.  Although she eventually became far more popular than her beau, she stared out with long, floppy ears, a doglike face, but the curvaceous body of a woman.  As Betty stole the center stage from Bimbo, she lost her doglike characteristics, although she maintained an awkward relationship with the canine Bimbo.  Eventually Bimbo faded from Betty’s films, though Betty was later overshadowed herself by another mutt, her own puppy Pudgy.

The 1930s animated shorts were intended for general (read: adult) audiences, not for children.  Betty’s shorts (no pun intended) were considered “sexy, tongue-in-cheek” romps.  The animators were typically in their late teens or early 20s, and enjoying the freedom that followed the end of prohibition.  Of course, it wasn’t long before the films drew the attention of outraged church groups and moral watchdogs.  Betty was forced to clean up her act (and lengthen her skirt), as seen in the short “Housecleaning Blues (1937).”  However, as narrated in the A&E Biography special Betty Boop: The Queen of Cartoons, this led to audiences perceiving Betty as “the homebody that cared more about her home than her body,” and the demise of her popularity.

But Betty was more than just a homebody…

After the jump Betty goes to work and runs for president!

It’s been more than six years since she went off the air, but Daria Morgendorffer might finally find her way back into our living rooms.  Daria on DVD?  Fingers crossed.

Daria was another one of those awesomely feminist-friendly shows that slipped past me the first time around (like Roseanne).  In my defense, I didn’t have MTV growing up.  However, Daria and I made acquaintance during my freshmen year of college, and quickly made up for lost time.

In Daria, I saw myself and my friends during high school.  I was Jane Lane to my best friend’s Daria, and the two of us were every bit as intelligent, creative, and disillusioned with high school as the cartoon characters.  Like Daria and Jane, we were more comfortable in honors classes and the art club than on the cheerleading squad or at the mall.  We were more excited about college than prom, and would rather spend a Friday night watching something like Sick Sad World than at a party.

In the age of TV on DVD, Daria fans have been waiting on the edge of our seats for MTV to release the show.  Because the show sampled so much 90′s pop music, it’s been a wrestling match to determine which of the orginal songs will/will not be included (a la Mission Hill), and this has consistently been the excuse for keeping us in limbo.  If the rumors are true, we could be enjoying Daria and her apathetic sarcasm once again in 2010.

Shoutouts to Jezebel, for convincing me that there at least might be some truth to the rumors.

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.

Click here for more analysis