Achieving Gender Identity In Good Luck Charlie

Society is controversial when it comes to gender. Children learn gender roles through TV shows because most of them have gender roles that are expected by society. For example, in Good Luck Charlie they recently had a controversial episode in which they had same-sex mothers of a young girl. Many elementary children probably saw this episode and parents may have not liked the scene because children this young do not know that there are people or couples of the same-gender and they might not want to explain to their children the same-sex relationships from today’s society. On the other hand, this show was made because “the characters were meant to reflect today’s world, as many viewers are young children with same-sex parents” (McAfee). Now, children learned through a TV show about same-gender like they learned the gender role of a male or female or just how they learn gender representation through clothing or the color of their clothing. Children learn gender
identity, which is a child’s ability to label his or her own gender correctly and to identify other people as men or women, boy or girls. Gender roles is used as traits and behaviors that are considered stereotypical of females and males. Cultural stereotypes of males and females are broad expectations of behavior (Rathus). Due to stereotypical actions based on gender from society expectations, boys and girls become limited only to their own gender, not allowing them to explore different roles.
In Good Luck Charlie, the main characters are Amy and Bob Duncan as the parents.
PJ, Teddy, Gabe, Charlie and Toby Duncan as the children, ages from one to eighteen years of old. The episode that was watched with an eight year old named Ashley was about Teddy trying to get into Yale University. Gabe and PJ tried to hide from their parents that PJ was living in the tree house because he was evicted from his apartment for not paying rent. Plus, Charlie having a friend that had two mothers instead of one. This Disney Channel show is supposed to be for children from ages seven to thirteen. It might have impact many children and parents who watch the show on television. However, Disney Channel tried to make a difference and it was “developed to be relevant to kids and families around the world and to reflect themes of diversity and inclusiveness” (McAfee). Disney tried to show children what today’s society is in the real world and maybe many parents had to explain to their little ones about same-sex
couples. Furthermore, Amy as the mother takes femininity as an everyday style, she works, cooks, cleans, and tries to be involve in her children’s lives. In contrast, Bob, the man of the house works and does the fixing of the house when it needs repairs. Which shows children mom works and does all house chores for everyone because she has too, and it shows them that dad always works and is there for them to fix anything from the house because he’s tough. Teddy, feminine enough to show she is the smart girl that makes mom and dad proud. Showing little girls how to be nice and beautiful all the time, but also being smart so parents could be proud of the “girl of the house”. PJ and Gabe are the bad boys that always get in trouble for doing childish things, lying and not behaving like there sisters. Showing children that boys will always misbehave and be bad not matter the punishment they get from their parents. Charlie always with a braid or nice hair combed with cute little dresses or nice outfits. Children learn that Charlie as the baby gets what she wants most of the time. There are videos recorded from Teddy to Charlie at the end of each episode, and this show children that older siblings do not want their little siblings to do the same mistakes or misbehaviors. Or, they can be memories passed on to the little siblings and showing how united a family can be although they are a lot of siblings living together. Good Luck Charlie was watched with an eight year old, Ashley talked about episode nineteen were there are two mothers of the same-gender. Before watching all the episode she thought that dad does everything mom say because dad is scared of the mom. Which is more on a Hispanic culture because she might see this often. She thought, Amy always has to be right about what she says. Gabe is mean, though and bad. PJ is slow and dumb. Teddy is smart and likes parties, she is daddy’s little girl. Charlie does not like Toby the baby brother because she wants to be the only baby. Regarding the same-gender couple, Ashley thought having two moms was a little weird. It was weird to her “because you don’t know if one is the real mom or the stepmom”. She thought Taylor’s friends might make fun of her “because no one has two moms they only have moms and stepmoms”. While watching the episode she realize something and said “Oh! They are a couple!” Now that she knew, they were not a mom and a stepmom, and they were a couple she thought it was really weird and disgusting. He thought this because “they are two women and it’s wrong”. She thought when others children’s watched the show they could start doing that too (going with a same-gender person). She thought Taylor could be like her two moms when she grew older because “she sees her moms are both girls”. Gender is learned early in life. Children learn it through life, experience, television (movies and shows), friends, toys and parents. Elementary children learn their role by watching favorite TV shows. So, why can’t a boy play with a doll or be dressed in a shirt with flowers? Modestly because society and the child’s parents would not accept this. Parents without knowing divide their children into gender difference before they are born. Parents demonstrate gender-role even before they are born by decorating the nursery according to the gender they are expecting. Children grow knowing there are differences between male and female because that is how television demonstrate them since they are small. For example, Bob the Builder for boys and Dora for girls. There are people in society that dislike children playing with an opposite gender because they believe that can turn them homosexual. That is why there are gendered expectations that are transmitted to children through socialization. Parents attempt to socialize their children in a nonsexist society, but without knowing they divide them into each gender. Even though newborns are essentially the same at birth society still respond to newborns differently on the basis of sex-gender. Of course boys and girls show physical differences, but as a young child, they generally have the same mentality when it comes to play. However, society defines “appropriate” gender roles, which eliminate cross-gender play. The gender unfairness is inherent in our culture and society does it by accident, without even realizing it. Gender differences of girls and boys state the roles and behaviors that each gender should take into their adult life from what they learned in early childhood. Works Cited
McAfee, Tierney. Hollywood Life. 27 January 2014. 4 4 2014. .
Rathus, Spencer. "HDEV." Rathus, Spencer. HDEV. Wadsworth, n.d. 169-171.