Individual Submission Summary
Share...

Direct link:

Activism in Entertainment: Gender and the Representation of Sociopolitical Issues in Television

Mon, August 12, 8:30 to 10:10am, Sheraton New York, Floor: Third Floor, Liberty 4

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between the gender diversity of entertainment television writers and the representation of sociopolitical issues relating to gender in content they produce. To address this, I ask two basic questions: first, how is the gender diversity of a television show related to its portrayal of sociopolitical issues relating to gender (gender issues)? Second, how is the gender of a writer related to the portrayal of sociopolitical issues that appear in the episodes he or she writes? To answer these questions, I use automated content analysis to code episode recaps from a sample of television shows for their coverage of gender issues. I then assemble show-level and writer-level panel data on the coverage of different gender issues within these episodes, in order to isolate effects at the level of the writer and the show. I find that while women write about more gender issues than their male counterparts, having higher proportions of women in a show’s writing staff does not increase that show’s coverage of social issues. To an extent, collaboration with female directors also increases coverage of social issues, but this effect is not found among male writers who collaborate with female directors. The only consistent factor that is associated with higher coverage of gender issues on a given show or for a given writer is the presence of a woman as the creator of the show. The results of this study reflect on the limits of diversity in content creation, showing that gender diversity among the creators of a show is by far the strongest tactic for increasing the representation of gender issues on that show.

Author