NCJ Number
227057
Journal
Child Abust Review Volume: 18 Issue: 2 Dated: March-April 2009 Pages: 111-126
Date Published
April 2009
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This paper examined 47 Disney animated films shown in theaters (45 produced between 1937-2006 and 2 released in 2007) for portrayals of children's "unwanted contact" (contact with a child character's body that the character indicated they did not want) with malevolent or questionable strangers.
Abstract
The study identified depictions of unwanted personal contact with child and young-adolescent characters in six of the films. Four other films depicted strangers with hidden malevolence, promising reward to wary children and adolescents in exchange for their compliance. In addition to issues of sexism in the male treatment of adolescent girls, the findings raise issues about potential impacts on child audiences. The issues include whether unwanted contact and risky situations are appropriate content for viewing by children, given efforts to teach children sexual safety. Another issue is whether such incidents are useful in educating children about how to avoid and/or respond protectively to such situations. This analysis concludes that it is difficult for children to experience positive educational messages from the "unwanted contact" scenes identified. In four of the seven scenes, boy and adolescent male characters' protests and evident discomfort are portrayed as part of the humor. Only one character attempted to report the unwanted contact to an adult, and this was unsuccessful. In another scene, the victim apologizes to his former tormentor. The content contradicts sexual safety educational content about the rights of children to control who touches their bodies. Although the link between what children see in their entertainment media and what they do in real life is not simple or direct, evidence does suggest that films are potentially powerful educators of children, particularly with repeated viewing. This suggests the need for further analysis of media produced for and frequently viewed by children and adolescents. 29 references and appended listing of the films analyzed and their dates