Synonyms

Gender; Identity; Young People; Superheroe

Definitions

Child/ren

Although accounts vary on what constitutes a “child,” the consensus appears to highlight that children are a group of individuals who, from birth, are treated in paternalistic ways until they have physically and psychologically developed (usually legally perceived as 18 in much of the Western world) and can, therefore, be considered personally responsible for their actions and cognitions (Bowman and Spencer 2007). For this entry, a child will be considered an individual under the age of 12, given research has found that, in terms of media literacy, it is not until 11–12 that a child can identify the persuasive intent in media messages (Carter et al. 2011).

Gender

Increasingly, contemporary Western society acknowledges that gender is a social construct that is intersectional, performed, and culturally informed (Dallacqua et al. 2021) as opposed to biologically determined. However, this entry focuses on the dominant representations of gender as binary (boy/girl) and one-dimensional, which dominate mainstream media content.

Introduction

Heroes are a ubiquitous part of childhood (Dallacqua et al. 2021). Children can find heroic qualities in their peers, family members (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002; Holub et al. 2008), and in famous people such as sports players, politicians, and musicians (Holub et al. 2008; Power and Smith 2017). Accordingly, heroic characters can, and do, exist beyond their genesis texts and domestic spaces – children are exposed to heroes at schools, on the shelves at shopping centers, in the playground, and at theme parks (Coyne et al. 2022). Yet, it is the mediated depictions of fictional hero and superhero characters that offer concentrated and idealistic representations of heroic beings that are most understood by children as filling the “hero” role.

Heroic narratives and licensed merchandise are present in all aspects of children’s lives, often advocating the ideology of good overcoming evil, damsels in distress, and moral righteousness. From nursery rhymes and fairy tales (for example, Jack and the Beanstalk and Peter Pan), cartoons (for example, Paw Patrol, Dora the Explorer, and PJ Masks), novels and films (for example, Harry Potter and Matilda), to comics and toys (for example, Spiderman, Batman, and Action Man), the mediated hero archetype is a constant in the narratives told to children. Children can immerse themselves in the merchandise of their beloved characters, wearing officially licensed clothing, staying “healthy” with branded vitamins and snacks, and sleeping in beds adorned with their favorite characters (Wohlwend 2018).

For children, heroes offer elements of fantasy and adventure, romance, comedy, and horror. It is no surprise then that currently, there is a larger fan base for heroes across various media offerings than ever before (Dallacqua and Low 2021). Although heroes can have universal appeal that transcends the age, ethnicity, class, sex, and gender identifiers of audiences (Dallacqua and Low 2021), the limited portrayals of characters and events that the genre recycles continue to have gender implications that can affect a key target audience: children.

Heroes as Cultural Texts

Media present children with an infinite range of cultural ideologies (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002) and can act as a site of identification for audiences, offering life lessons, and messages about how to make sense of the world and their place within it (Erikson 1980). As media texts reflect personal, societal, and cultural values, the type of heroes that are promoted provides insights into the values of the society in which they are enjoyed (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002). In other words, at a stage where children are engaged in identity formation, the media, alongside peers and family, are proffering constructions of gender roles that can, as Tobin et al. (2010) suggest, make children as young as three divide the social world into two categories: male and female. These media representations aid in children forming expectations of their gender and in becoming aligned with a gender classification; they initiate a gender investigation to navigate information about their own gender and its distinctions with the “opposite” gender (Hamlin et al. 2014).

Among the plethora of mediated gendered representations available for children to consume, hero texts are rich sites for exploring and understanding gender (Dallacqua et al. 2021) that perpetuate gender stereotypes and have potency because children view heroes as social partners (Gola, et al. 2013). It is suggested that children look to heroes to ascertain what is socially acceptable behavior for boys and girls (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002). Furthermore, repetitive exposure to hero narratives can have a socializing effect that can shape the worldview of children and distort their understandings of social reality (Alehy and Hahn 2020).

Through heroes, children are gaining knowledge about the roles they might, or ought to, play (Holub et al. 2008). They may even attribute a relationship to fictional characters in a similar way to that of their peers and use the events and narratives of mediated heroes to inform their real-life interactions and experiences (Bell 2017). Anderson and Cavallaro (2002) suggest that children’s play, specifically superhero play, helps solidify the mediated messages and therefore is a useful tool for measuring the impact of heroes on children. For example, Dyson (1994) observed that girls were often excluded from superhero play, and when included performed stereotypical roles, such as victims, damsels, or helpers. Originally powerful female roles from X-Men even became powerless in the boy’s reimagining.

Media, and in particular children’s heroes, are increasingly scrutinized for the influence they have on children’s identities. The media’s capacity to influence the expectations, attitudes, and actions of young people, especially during a crucial period of forming gender roles (Kahlenberg and Hein 2010) can restrict individuals (Dinella et al. 2023), to male or female. Boys have been found to gravitate toward male heroes, subsuming certain male characteristics into their self-concepts, but the same gendered observations are not always seen in girls (Holub et al. 2008). Girls too, use media messages to develop understandings of their gender, but do not always embrace superheroes in the same ways as their male counterparts perhaps due to heroes being nominally gendered male, the lack of strong female role models available, a generalized societal acceptance of females engaging with media with male protagonists or deemed “for boys,” and the resistance toward boys engaging in media with female protagonists or deemed “for girls.”

The prioritizing of heroes that are congruent with an individual’s gender becomes problematic when representations of heroes are gendered in stereotypical and limited ways – children who are not represented in the media may have reduced chances to choose appropriate role models (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002). For example, Sava et al. (2014) contests that the culture of mainstream comic superheroes is still dominated by straight white men who author and illustrate the majority of works, that, in turn, focus on straight white male leads. This is problematic when considering social comparison theory which proposes that children compare themselves to media images as a means of understanding their value and worth (Festinger 1954; Goethals 1986) and can, accordingly, view media representations as a source of inspiration or a point of dissatisfaction for children (Brubaker et al. 2022).

Boys, Super(Heroes), and Identity

Children can use media (among other sources) to organize people into gender categories and these categories become a means for understanding how people should think, act, and feel. For boys, media content tends to perpetuate messages of agency, action, violence, and conflict (Azmi, et al. 2021; Heywood 2022), and nowhere is this more commonly articulated than in superhero media. As Coyne et al. (2022) describe them, superheroes typically possess hypermasculine characteristics that perpetuate the idea that to be male is to also be heroic – assertive and aggressive, fast and strong, powerful and leaders.

Hypermasculine superheroes tend to amplify and advantage masculinity while subordinating femininity (Dallacqua et al. 2021). Therefore, they communicate a strong message about what it means to “be a man” (Coyne et al. 2014) especially given that research has found young boys are actively targeted in superhero media (Azmi et al. 2021) and that superhero media continues to advocate for stories that privilege male protagonists (Heywood 2022). For example, Wohlwend (2011) describes Spiderman as a masculine identity text that trains boys to be competitive through narratives with an active male hero who defeats powerful opponents. Privileging of the male gender in superhero media is evident in research from the last decade which highlights that there is twice as many male superheroes than female superheroes (Dinella et al. 2017) and perhaps accounts for why research has found that boys exposed to superhero content more readily adhere to gender stereotypes in the short- and long-term (Coyne et al. 2014), and exhibit increased aggressive behavior in early childhood (Coyne et al. 2021).

Such understandings of superheroes’ physicality, power, and protective inclinations are particularly potent when the messages are cultivated and emphasized in marketing, costumes, and toys (Brown and Stone 2018; Wohlwend 2018). That is, much of the media content, and superhero content more specifically, delineated as being “for boys” is communicated in language that privileges conflict, destruction, and control (Heywood 2022), is packaged in dark colors, and is constructed as dynamic, active, and physical (Kahlenberg and Hein 2010). Clear messages of agency, power, and control are articulated that can shape the meanings interpreted by boys who observe, and then model such behavior, particularly in their superhero play (Coyne et al. 2014).

The superhero content consumed by boys can shape how they interact with different media texts, and often can lead to the cultivating and reinforcing of prescribed gender norms (Coyne et al. 2014). For example, advertising and programming can influence the imaginative play of young children because of their pervasive and immersive penetration of children’s spaces (Wohlwend 2018). Toys, as an example, afford children opportunities to “repeatedly rehearse” (Bussey and Bandura 1999, 695) the learned gender behavior which then becomes committed to memory. Gendered identities formed in media such as comics, cartoons, and movies are developed into toys for boys that carry cultural meanings about masculine identity. An action figure for boys, such as GI Joe, is an example of how a “doll” can be repurposed as a means of enforcing masculine ideals because, through hyper-commercialization (Stevens 2017). GI Joe was constructed across different media as a figure that had moving parts designed for fighting (Walsh 2005): a hero that boys could enact gender scripts around and emulate as part of their play (Stevens 2017). By enacting these gender scripts, boys can internalize stringent messages around gender, and over time, such strict adherence can produce conformity to stereotypes that make being male less malleable and open to interpretation (Coyne et al. 2014).

A prevailing concern around the media messages that enforce gendered understandings of heroes and superhero figures is that they can impact the readiness of boys to adhere to and police gender norms (Coyne et al. 2014). Not only do they learn what defines “being a man” but consistent exposure to superhero paraphernalia predisposes boys to embody strongly masculine gender stereotypes that are restrictive and inflexible (Coyne, et al. 2022) and in some cases, create unrealistic expectations around their bodies (Roberts et al. 2021). By prescribing gender expectations, media messages contribute to the societal pressures placed on boys from preschool years onwards to avoid exhibiting activities that challenge appropriate gender schema (Bell 2017). Such confinement is particularly problematic when it has been found that when boys are provided with chances to experiment with non-traditional dress-up, they find it easier, or are more open, to explore different interests and gender scripts (Coyne et al. 2021). That is, boys that are encouraged to explore gender schema and to engage with traditionally feminine costumes and characters can benefit by becoming more prosocial (Coyne et al. 2021) and blurring gender lines (Wohlwend 2011).

Girls, Super(Heroes), and Identity

Šramovά (2014) explains that stereotypes play a crucial role in shaping how society perceives reality, aiding individuals in orienting themselves, making judgments, forming concepts, and categorizing the world. This is particularly problematic for children and hero media because girls and women are underrepresented (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002) and stereotypically represented when they are included (see, for instance: Baker 2004; Smith and Cook 2008; Biddle 2017). Female characters are typically portrayed as victims (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002), the damsel in distress, evil, or as obstacles (Smith and Cook 2008). They are typically valued for the way they look; they dream of one-dimensional love, and their ambitions are short-sighted (Smith and Cook 2008).

Female heroes are often depicted as part of an ensemble of heroic characters (Baker 2004) and play a tokenist role – for example, Skye in Paw Patrol, Gi and Linka in Captain Planet, and Velma and Daphne in Scooby-Doo. In an ensemble cast, the female hero is often auxiliary – they support the actions of the male heroes, add feminine qualities to the team dynamic, and sometimes, depending on the age of the target audience, provide a romantic love interest for the male protagonists. Baker (2004) suggests that when female heroes are more likely to be part of a team than the leader or sole protagonist it can communicate that, in comparison to male heroes, heroines are less able to “save the world.”

Stories with a solo female hero protagonist are often perceived as being for a female audience rather than universally consumable. Unlike texts with a male protagonist that are deemed “for everyone,” texts with a female protagonist are almost exclusively watched by girls (see Biddle 2017). The assumption here is that for girls to be interested in (super)hero stories, they need to be feminized. Such a perception reinforces the idea that “boys” and “girls” have different interests and therefore need different types of toys, books, television programs, and stories to nurture those differences, while at the same time increasing the number of products brands can sell to children.

When a hero is a gendered female, they are often, in essence, a male character re-packaged in a feminine aesthetic within a gender-flipped narrative. Examples include Wonder Woman and Bat Girl, but is most potently exhibited in DC’s Superhero Girls. The inclusion of the word “girls” as a suffix to the word “Superhero” in the show’s title highlights that the default gender of a superhero is boy/male. The naming of female heroes as “heroines” rather than simply heroes highlights, again, a perceived “need” to acknowledge that the gender of the hero is distinct from the expected gender of a hero.

Female heroes must negotiate gender expectations and gender expression. If, as Baker (2004) writes, heroines are going to disrupt traditional stereotypes of females as passive, domestic, nurturing, and be more capable and tough, that is, represented more like a “male,” then emphasis should be placed on other traditionally feminine traits such as beauty and being emotionally vulnerable because of society’s perception that strong women are intimidating. While gender-flipped characters and narratives can be seen as a positive way of presenting “strong” female characters, when they uphold masculine traits as synonymous with desirable heroic qualities, it reinforces the idea that females should be seen as subservient, passive, and powerless.

The subservient nature of female characters materializes in their inability to compete against male heroes in paratexts. Female heroes, such as Skye from Paw Patrol, Black Widow, and Rey and Lelia from Star Wars (Scott 2017; Brown 2018), are often absent in the marketing and merchandising of hero stories. The implication is that the industry and audience value female characters less than male heroes, and by extension, those female fans are valued less than male fans. A lack of visibility of females in the marketing material, and public backlash to the re-presentation of women in heroic spaces traditionally occupied by male characters, reinforces the assumption that superheroes are not for girls.

In hero stories, female characters are typically positioned in opposition to a male hero as a villain or as a damsel in distress. When villains are gendered female, they often exhibit non-feminine and/or pariah feminine qualities – she is monstrous, deceitful, and aesthetically unattractive according to Western standards. When positioned as the damsel in distress (or princess), she is weak, fragile, and a victim who is conventionally attractive according to Western standards. Disney’s monopoly of the princess genre is captured through 11 official Disney princesses, who recycle strong and persistent messages about gender norms and expectations (Golden and Jacoby 2018) and perpetuate unrealistic and negative body standards (Brubaker et al. 2022). Although these messages are often limited and static (Golden and Jacoby 2018), Disney princesses have transcended their animated representations and become cultural icons representing childhood and an idealized concept of girlhood (Golden and Jacoby 2018). And, unlike the female characters mentioned thus far (ensemble member, lead character, and villain), the “damsel in distress”/ princess role is exclusively played by a female; that is, there is no male equivalent to the damsel in distress/princess archetype.

Smith and Cook (2008) explain that princesses can perform heroic acts – Ariel rescues Flounder from a shark, Mulan becomes a soldier, and Anna rescues her sister Elsa from the hands of Hans. Notably, though, in each of these cases, the heroic act is still presented within the framework of a princess who is depicted as fitting within the stereotypical norms, although Mulan’s character does fall closer to the boundaries of heroic narratives. Chute (2017) suggests that girls are becoming the new superheroes of the genre, with Smith and Cook (2008) proposing that the damsel in distress/princess character is no longer a popular choice for storytellers. A “new” female hero who challenges audience expectations is becoming more common. She embodies a thicker, softer body, but still with curves in the “right” places. She is strong, has agency, and exists within narratives that disrupt, without destroying, well-known plotlines. For example, Anna in Frozen contains the expected romantic interest with Hans, but this story arc is disrupted when Anna rejects Hans for his toxic ways and prioritizes her relationship with her sister Elsa instead. A second example is seen by Brave’s Merinda, an official Disney princess who is also a fiery-redheaded Scottish warrior who fights and has no love interest. When she officially became a Disney princess, she was re-designed to appear more mature, slimmer, and sexualized, but public backlash halted the redesign and her original appearance was kept.

Conclusion

Media communicates gender-stereotyped messages that influence how children see themselves and others (Ma’ayan 2012). However, this is problematic when repetitive messages perpetuate harmful stereotypes (Brubaker et al. 2022), and children learn these messages through repeated exposure (Coyne et al. 2016, 2021). Therefore, the ubiquitous presence of heroes in childhood and the consistent dissemination of gender stereotypes amplifies the need for academic inquiry into how children engage with (super)hero media.

Inclusive and progressive hero representations do exist, despite the (super)hero market traditionally being occupied by boys and men because traditional superheroes are about celebrating masculinity (Chute 2017) through limiting representations of gender and sexuality (Dallacqua et al. 2021). For instance, DC’s Kid Quick and The Aerie, and Marvel’s Psychic Twins Snowflake and Safespace are all non-binary. Disney’s short film Reflect addresses body positivity through “plus-sized” ballet dancer Bianca. Finally, The Eternals includes Marvel’s first gay couple and same-sex kiss. These representations are often met with public backlash for being “inappropriate” for children, “ruining” the genre, or for queerbaiting and not “getting-it-right.” However, as Dallacqua et al. (2021, 71) point out, there are comparatively less gender-diverse characters “to complicate the man/woman binary construct” that dominates the genre.

Subverting the influence of gender stereotypes is possible in hero media. While Smith and Cook (2008) recommend that media practitioners increase the visibility of female heroes and characters across media channels, Pike and Jennings (2005) highlight that emphasize should be placed on rectifying gender representation in advertisements for children, especially because cross-typed toys commercials – that is, a boy playing with a feminine toy or a girl playing with a masculine toy – disrupted the gendering of toys to children. Spinner et al. (2018) propose that the representation of counter-stereotypical gendered toy play may be more effective at challenging and developing children’s attitudes toward gender than the use of fictional characters, noting that exposure to non-traditional toy play in television commercials can increase gender flexible attitudes around toy play in children between 6 and 8 years old. Similarly, Dinella et al. (2023) suggest that the depiction of same-sex role models performing in less gendered ways are useful in changing girls’ own-sex schemas.

Admittedly, the influence of media messages around gendered superheroes can also be challenged by children who can act with agency (Wohlwend 2018). For example, scholars have found that pretend play allows children to extend, challenge, and disrupt, in addition, to reinforcing and performing the messages consumed in the media (Coyne et al. 2014; Golden and Jacoby 2018).

Furthermore, peers and siblings can influence children’s responses to gender messages (Mitra and Lewin-Jones 2011) and parents and teachers can intercept these messages (Anderson and Cavallaro 2002). When adults provide positive affirmations for children’s play, it reaffirms the child’s behavior, and they are more likely to recreate the modelled behavior because of the social reaction provided by the adults (Bussey and Bandura 1999). Golden and Jacoby (2018) suggest parents and teachers reevaluate the quantity and quality of media their children are exposed to, acknowledging the influence and impact these images can have on their children’s behavior and comprehension of gender. For example, Disney films can be used as opportunities to discuss the portrayal of bodies to encourage an awareness of healthy body attitudes and behaviors (Brubaker et al. 2022). Disney’s princesses can be used to generate discussions to nurture healthier, and more realistic understandings about gender and femininity (Golden and Jacoby 2018). In sum, the media can and do construct understandings of gender in their hero texts and these can be stereotypical and constraining, but there is the scope to challenge and undermine these messages by advocating for greater representation and educating youth about the appropriateness of certain (super)heroes.

In conclusion, while heroes in children’s media continue to perpetuate traditional gender norms and the gender binary despite, an increasing acceptance of gender as a construct by Western societies, more progressive portrayals of children’s heroes do exist (although often problematically) and are used more often than ever before. With the involvement of parents and educators in the co-viewing and processing of gender-stereotypical messages, children can have agency in how heroes influence their identity formation.