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Contribution to Book
“PAL Can Just be Themself” Children In The US Respond To Annedroids’ Genderless TV Character
Beyond The Stereotypes? Images Of Boys And Girls, And Their Consequences (2017)
  • Rebecca Hains, Salem State University
  • Sara L Beck
  • Colleen Russo Johnson
Abstract
The innovative Canadian children’s program Annedroids introduces viewers to “PAL,” a human-like android, whom a child scientist named Anne programmed to choose its own gender. Viewers witness PAL’s explorations of what girlhood or boyhood would mean, culminating in PAL’s series-finale decision to eschew a binary gender identity and “just be me”. While some research has examined counter-stereotypical characters’ influence on children’s thinking, the impact of characters actively constructing gender identities is unknown. To address this gap, we showed twenty-one children (ages 8 to 10) in the US selected Annedroids segments highlighting PAL’s gender exploration. We identified themes in their reactions to PAL’s characterization and tracked their reactions to PAL’s decision, measuring the flexibility of their attitudes about gender before and after viewing. We found that children who believed PAL should choose a gender (as opposed to those comfortable with PAL remaining ungendered) showed increased flexibility in thinking about gender after viewing the selected clips.
Publication Date
2017
Editor
Dafna Lemish, Maya Götz
Publisher
Nordicom
Citation Information
Rebecca Hains, Sara L Beck and Colleen Russo Johnson. "“PAL Can Just be Themself” Children In The US Respond To Annedroids’ Genderless TV Character" Beyond The Stereotypes? Images Of Boys And Girls, And Their Consequences (2017) p. 225 - 236
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/rebecca-hains/25/