Rosina Lippi-Green's Argument

The goal of the following paper is to provide a mapping of the argument of Rosina Lippi-Green in her article “Teaching Children How to Discriminate: What We Learn From the Big Bad Wolf.” In order to demonstrate this argument I will be doing the following. First I will present what are in my opinion the main claims of the article. I will then define clearly any terms that will be needed to understand this argument mapping as they are presented as well. I will present the forms of evidence the author used to justify her claims. I will then demonstrate how the claims are related and how they contribute to the author’s main argument, which will be stated below. Finally I will demonstrate how the main claims made by the author all connect to two

Lippi-Green utilizes empirical evidence to demonstrate gender inequality portrayals in these films: of the 371 characters analyzed, only just over 30% were female. When female characters were involved in a storyline they were portrayed as mothers or princesses who rarely leave the confines of their homes. If they had a job Lippi-Green reports females were depicted as “waitresses, nurses, nannies or housekeepers. Men…are doctors, waiters, advisors to kings, thieves…detectives and pilots” (118). Lippi-Green argues this forms associations about gender roles in children’s minds. In the case of sexuality, Lippi-Green observed a trend of lovers- always male and female pairs- speaking “mainstream varieties of US or British English” (121). This occurred even when the characters would not be speaking English logically. The only exceptions to this rule occurred in The Aristocats and Lady and the Tramp- the male character speaks a lower “working class” dialect and has to prove himself to the female. Female love interests only spoke in MUSE, even though only one out of seven would have logically. This creates an association in a child viewers mind that to be seen as sexually attractive, one must be in unrealistic physical condition and also sound like a American or British citizen who is white middle