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Whether it’s The Simpsons, The Family Guy, or the show Two and a Half Men, 18-year-old Kevin Finn says he sees a pattern to the way males are portrayed on television.

“Every night on TV, you can turn to any channel and you can find one of these negative role models,” he says.

Kevin takes part in a pop culture course – as part of his American Studies program at the Galloway School in Atlanta.

And the pop culture, he says, is not treating American males well – portraying many of them as insensitive, beer-drinking morons.

On TV such depictions are played for laughs. But do boys become the men they see in sitcoms? Finn and his classmates in the pop culture class say some do.

“Everyone’s pulling stuff from what they see on TV and in the movies.” says 18-year-old Leo Rose, “and they’re using that to create their own personalities.”

”It is something that you start to establish in your self-concept – and that’s going to dictate a lot of your behavior,” says Tracy Talmadge, Ph.D., a psychologist.

Dr. Talmadge says some – but not all – adolescent boys will look at these males on TV as role models.

“Not that they necessarily will become stupid,” he says, “but they will strive to fulfill that identity – and whatever behaviors that may be. Whether that’s valuing education less, or valuing relationships or women less.”

Experts say parents should be aware how often their sons see these images – and perhaps limit their TV time, if they feel it’s excessive.

Also, it helps to explain that being un-educated and obnoxious is rarely funny in real life.

“I think what you do is, you talk to them about ‘this isn’t reality,’” says Dr. Talmadge. “If you act like that, you’re not going to get the girl, you’re not going to have the friends and so forth.”

16-year-old Vincent McFarlane agrees.

“Really, the first time I realized that’s not how guys were was when I tried to act like that guy was – being kind of obnoxious, kind of dumb,” he says. “I realized that people didn’t really like that. People weren’t attracted to that kind of thing.”

What We Need To Know

• A lot of young men are savvy enough to realize that the male characters they see in the media are created for humor, and shouldn’t be imitated. But parents can nurture that knowledge by watching shows with their child from a young age, and talking to kids about the stereotypes. (Allen Barksdale, teacher of popular culture – The Galloway School)
• The most important thing for a young man is to have positive male role models in real life. If they have a father or teacher who they admire who doesn’t represent these negative stereotypes, the child will likely use him as his role model – rather than some character on TV. (Tracy Talmadge, Ph.D.)
• The simple solution: If you feel your child is seeing too many negative behaviors on the shows they watch, take more control over what they watch, and when. (Tracey Talmadge, Ph.D.)

Resources

• Scholastic.com – Media Savvy Kids
• National Association of Elementary School Principals – How to Become Media Savvy
• PBS Kids – Get Media Smart

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