Exploring Children's Gender Identities & the Walt Disney Company
Authors
Kelsey Raynard
Abstract
Cultural constructions of masculinity and femininity in mass media impact the formation of gendered identities from an extremely young age. Representations of masculinity and femininity are explicitly and implicitly embodied in children's toys, books, movies, and various other products aimed at corralling young children into specific gender roles. One of the most influential producers and distributors of these gendered products is the Walt Disney Company, whose efforts aimed at a vast economic, social and cultural monopoly have impacted children and their formation of identity since its creation in 1923.
