Making Men of Steel: Superhero Exposure and the Development of Hegemonic Masculinity in Children

Coyne, Sarah M.; Shawcroft, Jane; Linder, Jennifer Ruh; Graver, Haley; Siufanua, Matthew; Holmgren, Hailey G.

doi:10.1007/s11199-022-01293-2

Cited by 14 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Another limitation is that most studies with adults focus on short-term effects of a single exposure, even with the popularity of superheroes among this demographic (Statista Research Department, 2023b). Finally, the consistency of mixed results about negative or positive outcomes related to this media genre (Coyne et al, 2022) highlights the need for further investigation.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 96%

Superhero media, aggression, and prosocialness: Relations in adults and gender's moderating role

Santos,

Pimentel,

Mariano

2023

Aggressive Behavior

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The present study aimed to observe the relationships between superhero media exposure, aggression, and prosocialness in adults. We also investigated gender's moderating role. A total of 700 Brazilians participated in the study (age mean = 25.77, SD = 8.63, SE = 0.32, 57% men). Results showed a positive relation between superhero media exposure, prosocialness (r = .18), and all aggression factors (physical: r = .13; verbal: r = .08; aggressive emotions: r = .16). Aggressive emotions mediated indirect effects of exposure (physical aggression: λ = 0.12, p < .01, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.05–0.21; verbal aggression: λ = 0.10, p < .01, 95% CI = 0.05–0.18). Finally, gender moderated the relationship between exposure and prosocialness (b = 0.13, t = 2.07, p = .03).

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Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 96%

Superhero media, aggression, and prosocialness: Relations in adults and gender's moderating role

Santos,

Pimentel,

Mariano

2023

Aggressive Behavior

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“…The results of study three in some ways also conflicted with social cognitive theory of gender development (Bussey and Bandura, 1999) and gender schema theory (Bem, 1981). However, it had recently been established that girls' endorsement of hegemonic masculinity seemed to be predicted by their levels of superhero media engagement, suggesting that such media is related to young girls' conceptualisations of gender (Coyne et al, 2022). Further, it was unclear as to why Marvel media did not predict boys' gendered behaviours despite masculinity being widely depicted in such narratives (as established by chapter 5).…”

Section: Structure Of This Thesismentioning

confidence: 64%

“…Taken together, these findings suggests that boys associate and emulate the masculine gender stereotyped behaviour associated with Marvel superheroes when they play as these characters (Coyne et al, 2021b) and that superhero narratives inform attitudes towards men and women more broadly (Coyne et al, 2022).…”

Section: Superhero Media and Children's Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…Moreover, although no studies have investigated the relationship between engagement with Star Wars and Marvel media specifically, Coyne et al, (2014) found that engagement with superhero media predicted masculine behaviour in pre-school aged boys in the US (but not girls) and higher levels of weapon play for both boys and girls. Additionally, superhero media exposure in early childhood has been related to the endorsement of a muscular body ideal (Coyne et al, 2022) likely due to the hypermasculine appearance of male superhero characters, consisting of muscular upper bodies and large shoulder to waist ratios (Burch & Johnsen, 2020). Further, when wearing superhero costumes, boys made more masculine-typed toy preferences and displayed less prosocial behaviour (Coyne et al, 2021b).…”

Section: Stereotypical Behaviourmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marvel and Star Wars characters remains unknown. However, engagement with superhero media seems to predict higher masculine behaviour in boys but not girls, (Coyne et al, 2014), and lower egalitarian attitudes towards men and women in both boys and girls (Coyne et al, 2022). Further, superhero media engagement predicted higher rates of children utilising toy weapons such as guns and swords in their play, or utilising objects as weapons, a concept referred to as weapon play (Coyne et al, 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the Gendered Behaviours Displayed by Influential Disney, Marvel and Star Wars Protagonists and Examining the Link Between Children’s Engagement with these Franchises and their Play Behaviour.

Clarke

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This thesis reports a programme of research that explored the gendered messages within influential Disney feature length animations, a Star Wars animated television series, and a Marvel animated television series. It also examined extent to which engagement with these franchises statistically predicted children’s gendered behaviour and weapon play. The first study of this thesis was a quantitative content analysis of thirty-nine Disney protagonists. The results showed that some of the ‘earliest’ female Disney protagonists were the most feminine analysed, although almost all were more feminine than masculine. The male Disney protagonists seemed to adhere to less stereotypes, and were, generally, more feminine than masculine overall. Study two investigated how gender was portrayed in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble and Star Wars Star Wars Rebels animated television series, utilising Thematic Analysis. This was important as the Walt Disney Corporation recently acquired these franchises. The results revealed that stereotypical masculinity was portrayed by the male protagonists within each series, however, the female protagonists in Star Wars Rebels seemed more genuinely valued than the female superhero in Marvel’s Avengers Assemble. The third study of this thesis utilised parent report methodology to investigate whether engagement with the Disney, Marvel and Star Wars franchises statistically predicted children’s level of gendered behaviour and weapon play, as well as whether parental mediation and exposure to television violence moderated any established relationships. The results indicted that although each franchise did predict gender stereotypical behaviour and weapon play, there were some unexpected gender differences in the relationships. It was concluded that the producers of Disney, Star Wars and Marvel media should be made aware of the relationship between the gendered messages within their content and children’s behaviour. Additionally, parents and children should be educated on this topic, with the aim to reduce the relationships that were found. Chapter seven summarises the results of each study and considers the implications of the current findings.

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Superheroes, Gender, and Masculinity

Shawcroft

2023

Encyclopedia of Heroism Studies

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Making Men of Steel: Superhero Exposure and the Development of Hegemonic Masculinity in Children

Cited by 14 publications

References 66 publications

Superhero media, aggression, and prosocialness: Relations in adults and gender's moderating role

Superhero media, aggression, and prosocialness: Relations in adults and gender's moderating role

Investigating the Gendered Behaviours Displayed by Influential Disney, Marvel and Star Wars Protagonists and Examining the Link Between Children’s Engagement with these Franchises and their Play Behaviour.

Superheroes, Gender, and Masculinity

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