Gender Blindness on Turkish Children’s Televisions - Tripodos 50 (2021) - research article

Aug 27, 2026

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Gender blindness in Turkey’s children’s television is analyzed through the representation of masculinity and femininity in animated local productions. Using Stuart Hall’s framework of representation as meaning construction, the study examines discourse and narrative mechanisms conveyed through characters, spatial and visual presentation, behavioral traits, and the frequency and proportions of male versus female appearances. Animations aired in 2020 on Minika GO and Minika Cocuk are analyzed, concluding that male and female characters are depicted unequally across the investigated themes, producing gender blindness.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Gender and Media

Gender Blindness on Turkish Children’s Televisions

Representation and discourse analysis

Method and scope (Minika GO, Minika Cocuk)

Findings on unequal depiction

Tripodos, number 50 | 2021 | 57-73 ISSN: 1138-3305 Received: 29/01/21 Accepted: 17/05/21 Gender Blindness on Turkish Children’s Televisions Zeynep Gultekin-Akcay Sivas Cumhuriyet University (Turkey) | The representation of the dominant | guided the study. The representations | | --- | --- | | gender-based discourse on television | are conveyed to the audience through | | inevitably affects children’s perceptions | the narration of the story in the ani- | | of masculinity and femininity. Gender | mations, the plots of the story, the | | blindness, the embodiment of gender | presentation of male and female char- | | hierarchy in which gender differenc- | acters, the use of space and images. In | | es are exaggerated and attributed | the cartoons, the frequency of female | | to natural differences between men | and male characters appearing on the | | and women, is inevitably used in the | screen, the physical appearance of the | | media, especially in children’s broad- | characters, their behavioral character- | | casting. This study aims to reveal the | istics, and the spatial presentation in | | gender blindness in children’s television | the stories were searched. As a result, | | on Turkey’s only thematic children’s tel- | it is possible to say that male and fe- | | evision stations Minika GO and Mini- | male characters are depicted unequally | | ka Cocuk’, focusing on all local pro- | in all the themes studied in animations | | ductions aired in 2020. Stuart Hall’s conceptualization of representation | resulting in gender blindness. | | debates and text analysis expressed | Keywords: gender blindness, children’s | | as constructing the meaning world of | television, local animations, Minika | | relationships and collective culture, | GO, Minika Cocuk (Kids) . | C hildren’s television has developed as an exclusive domain for over sixty years in the most of the Western countries (Jaggi, 2015: 123) . In Turkey, the first examples of television programs for children have begun with Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) in late 1960s. As of this date, children’s programs, which were found on television themselves with various contents in every period, were separated themselves as thematic television in the 1990s. Thereafter, private broadcasting has started in Turkey, both overseas and local channels were rapidly coming into the children’s broadcasting sphere. [Doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2021.50p57-73](Doi.org/10.51698/tripodos.2021.50p57-73) 58 TRIPODOS 2021 | 50 ZEYNEP GULTEKIN-AKCAY From the moment that children’s programs and television appeared in Turkey, they were broadcasting that was molded with dominant ideologies with the pre-acceptance of ‘protecting children’.1 Although the quantitative diversity of programs in different genres from animation to serial, news to competition has rapidly increased, paradoxically the same momentum has not been achieved in quality diversity. Programs on many channels have become increasingly similar. One of the things that make up this analogy is gender codes and related gender blindness (Livingstone, 2007) . This research focuses on the representation of gender blindness in domestic children’s channels in domestic animation production in Turkey. As stated by Stuart Hall (2017: 25), representation is to produce meaning for concepts through language in the mind. The representation of men and women on television constructs the meaning world of people belonging to the ‘real world’, relationships and collective culture. Gender blindness in children’s televisions leads to the creation of common meaning maps and their internalization without being noticed. Therefore, the symbolic meanings in the television narrative are at the very center of social life (Hall, 2017: 41) and therefore it becomes a necessity to be examined. Representations are conveyed to the audience through subjects in animations, characters, and use of space and images. Based on this, the research focus

FAQs

What does the study investigate regarding Turkish children’s televisions?

It investigates how gender blindness is represented in domestic children’s animated productions by examining how meaning about masculinity and femininity is constructed and communicated to audiences.

Which theoretical approach guides the analysis?

The study uses Stuart Hall’s conceptualization of representation, treating television images and narratives as tools that produce meaning through language and cultural codes.

How were the animations selected for analysis?

All domestic animations aired in 2020 from the channels Minika GO and Minika Cocuk were analyzed.

What is the main conclusion about gender depiction?

Male and female characters are depicted unequally across the themes studied, leading to gender blindness through unnoticed internalization of the depicted meanings.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Oliver