PennTags Feed for /tag/children

Internet Policy and Culture: Issues Concerning Protecting Children on the Internet

Thesis: Because first amendment protections and laws protecting Internet Service Providers impede a great deal of government regulation, the best way to ensure minors are protected from improper content online is to empower individuals, companies and organizations to take the intiative to self-regulate.

The Exposure of Youth to Unwanted Sexual Material on the Internet: A National Survey of Risk, Impact and Prevention

Citation: Mitchell, Kimberly et al. “The Exposure of Youth to Unwanted Sexual Material on the Internet: A National Survey of Risk, Impact and Prevention.” Youth and Society. Vol. 34 No. 3, March 2003: 330-358. Accessed 6 April 2009. .

The authors of the study gave a survey to 1,501 Internet-users between the ages of 10 and 17, asking them about their inadvertent exposure to sexually explicit content while online. The results found that 25 % of those polled unintentionally encountered sexually explicit material while on the Internet. The people who discovered sexual content tended to be heavy Internet users and were older teens. About one-fifth of those who accidentally viewed the content were embarrassed and very or extremely upset by it. The minors whose parents had put filtering software on their computers were 40 % less likely to have been exposed to unwanted sexual material. However, most parents did not install filtering softwares on computers. Other forms of parental control, such as restricting the amount time their children could spend on the Internet, did not reduce chance of exposure.

This study is significant to my paper for a few reasons. Firstly, the experiment established that children are inadvertently exposed to sexual content, and that this exposure can cause harm. Knowing that sexual material on the Internet is a problem establishes a greater need for remedies to the situation. Additionally, this study is important because it measures the effectiveness of different types of controls on preventing youth exposure to sexually explicit material in a relatively scientific manner. Since filtering was determined to be more effective than parental restrictions, yet was not perfect at preventing exposure to the content, perhaps resources should be devoted to improving filtering softwares and persuading parents to install filtering programs on their children’s computers. The authors noted that a problem with the study could be that adolescents who have filtering softwares on their computers happen to be more likely to use the web in ways that would shield them from exposure to sexual content, and not the other way around. If this is the case, perhaps the best way to protect minors from harmful content is to educate them better about smart Internet use.

Reno v. ACLU

Citation: Reno v. ACLU 117 S.Ct. 2329. 1997. Cornell Law School. 4 April 2009. <ttp://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/96-511.ZO.html>.

This source is a Supreme Court decision that curtailed the federal government's ability to prohibit that could be harmful for children. The laws in question were provisions of section 223 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that prohibit knowingly transmitting "indecent" and "patently offensive" material on the Web to minors. The Supreme Court ruled that these provisions were unconstitutional, and upheld the ruling of a lower court, because they violated the first and fifth amendments of the Constitution. The court believed the terms "indecent" and "patently offensive" were too broad, and could restrict content that is actually not harmful. Additionally, the provisions were struck down because the court felt there was no good way to specifically target and identify Internet users under the age of 18, making this law difficult to violate or enforce. The portions of the law that prohibited knowingly transmitting obscene materials and child pornography to minors were upheld, because obscene content warrants less free-speech protection than indecent content. In the decision, written by Justice Stevens and agreed to by a large majority of the justices, there was also an overview of the history of the Internet and an explanation as to why cases upholding government laws monitoring commercial interests to protect children did not apply to this case.

Reno v. ACLU relates to my paper because it is a court case imporatnt to the ongoing battle to determine how best to protect children from harmful content online. If free speech bars the government from protecting children from certain types of potentially harmful content, then government regulation is not going to be the only solution needed to help shield children. However, since the government can pass laws regulating obscenity and child pornography, this case does demonstrate that there is a place where government regulation could potentially be helpful and useful. Stevens' decision would support my thesis, because the difficulty he acknowledges in detecting the age of Internet users makes it difficult for any organization to properly filter content. In order for children to be protected from some content, there will need to be intrinsic motivation for indecent websites to self-regulate and to try not to reach children.

Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools and Minds

Citation: Thierer, Adam. "Parental Controls and Online Child Protection: A Survey of Tools and Minds." Version 3.1. Fall 2008. Progress & Freedom Foundation. 5 April 2009. <http://www.pff.org/parentalcontrols/Parental%20Controls%20&%20Online%20Child%20Protection%20[VERSION%203.1].pdf>

Thierer’s document covers a variety of aspects and issues relating to parental control of children’s media consumption. Different methods of controls are discussed, including informal rules implemented by parents, ratings systems, filtering and monitoring software, increased media literacy, self-regulation by companies and governmental regulation. Much of the document relates to media other than the Internet, but the Internet is discussed, particularly when describing different types of filtering programs and the Internet’s relationship to the problems with governmental regulation. Because no one method of parental controls is completely effective, Thierer concludes that parents take an interdisciplinary approach when regulating their children’s media content, and employ a combination of strategies. Educational and empowerment and informal strategies have the added bonus of being the least likely to restrict freedom of speech. There is also a discussion of how to protect children from sexual predators online. Age verification and extensive data monitoring are seen to be a poor remedies, while the right solution is determined to be “education, empowerment and enforcement.”

This article, much like some of the other documents, places an importance on efficacy and education as optimal ways to protect children from the dangers of the Internet. The focus of the ineffectiveness of other types of controls relates to questions concern those methods’ constitutionality which supports my theseis. The document is a particularly good source because it is very detailed and thoughrough in its analyses of the types of contols. This article also helps to better compare and contrast the views of Thierer and Palfrey, who co-authored another source. While they may have disagreed about reforming CDA 230, the two men both supported internal regulations by parents and community members and desires for non-governmental groups to come up with their own strategies concerning controlling content. Thierer is perhaps more skeptical of technology than Palfrey is, and he places more of an emphasis on educating and empowering parents and children about how to optimally use the Internet.

Rights and Responsibility: Protecting Children in a Web 2.0 World

Citation: Majoras, Deborah Platt. “Rights and Responsibility: Protecting Children in a Web 2.0 World.” Keynote Address at Family Online Safety Institute. 6 December 2007. Federal Trade Commission. 6 April 2009. http://ftc.gov/speeches/majoras/071206fosi.pdf.

This document is the copy of a speech made by the Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission describing methods used to protect children from dangers lurking online, including harmful content, cyber bullying, and privacy invasion. After describing the media use of children and some of the dangers they face online, Majoras summarizes the law enforcement efforts the FTC has taken to prevent exposure to harmful content. The laws the FTC works to enforce have provisions including requiring adult content to be notified as such in the e-mail tagline and preventing websites from asking children too much personal information. Majoras then describes the FTC’s push and efforts to educate and empower parents and children to stay safe. These efforts are viewed by the FTC as important because first amendment restrictions will prevent the government from being able to completely restrict dangerous content themselves. Marjoras also said that it is important for companies to self-regulate content. Majoras concludes by stating that a multidisciplinary approach is needed in solving this problem.

This article is important in the broader context of regulating Internet content for children, because the FTC is a major governmental organization involved in the issue. A governmental organization believing that education and self-regulation needs to supplement governmental regulation enhances the importance of education and self-regulation, which could be seen as an alternative to the government. This article gives good specifics about the role of the FTC in law-enforcement and education, and describes different features of education programs and self-regulating devices; those details could be useful for figuring out the absolute best way to determine how to protect children. Although this article was written by someone in the Bush administration, it is likely that the opinions of Obama’s FTC workers are not too different; protecting children from harmful content on the Internet is a bipartisan issue.

Children's Media Policy

Citation: Jordan, Amy. "Children's Media Policy." Children and Electronic Media. Volume 18 No. 1. Spring 2008. 235-355. Annenberg Public Policy Center. 5 April 2009. http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/18_10_Jordan.pdf.

Jordan’s article gives an overview of how media policy concerning children is developed and shaped, and what is and is not effective about it. The article begins by discussing how events and public opinion changes can motivate the government to enact policies protecting children, and how outside groups influence these policies. It outlines how the three branches of government work together to shape these policies, and what the role of the FCC and the FTC are in enforcing the laws. The article then describes motivations by media industries to self-regulate content, types of self-regulation, and how self-regulation and government regulation interact with each other. While a combination of legislation and self-regulation seems to be the inevitable and most logical way to regulate new media, according to Jordan, she thinks these actions are still largely ineffective; they are not enacted properly, little is known about media habits and production of material online is becoming increasingly decentralized.

While much of the article discusses policies relating to media other than the Internet, the article is useful as an overview of the formation process for children’s media policy, especially because it contains useful charts. The similarities and differences between the Internet and older forms of media are important to note in order to figure out what types of regulations used on other forms of media could and could not be applicable to the Internet. For example, ratings systems akin to the ones established for television shows and video games would likely not be a good way to regulate Internet content. So many websites are created on a regular basis that it would be impossible to assign ratings to all of them. This article supports my thesis because it describes issues relating to the regulation of Internet Service Providers. Jordan believes that the Internet cannot be fully regulated by the government because Congress and the courts treat ISPs like common carriers rather than media outlets. Perhaps it also provides a counterargument to my thesis, however, because the author does not think that self-regulation is necessarily effective.

On Protecting Children From Speech

Citation: Etzioni, Amitai. “On Protecting Children from Speech.” Chicago-Kent Law Review. 2004: 3-53. Google Scholar. 5 April 2009. http://lawreview.kentlaw.edu/articles/79-1/Etzioni.pdf

This article discusses and analyses the issues concerning children’s rights to free speech. According to the author, past court cases care more about how restricting access for children would inadvertently affect adults than they do about how there is a compelling state interest to protect children from harmful speech. To remedy this, Etzoini thinks Internet access for children and adults should become separate. Where it is not possible to make a separation, government regulation is needed, because voluntary measures, such as parents choosing to purchase filtering softwares, are generally ineffective. A review of research studies concludes children can be harmed by viewing objectionable media content, although this has been more definitely proven for violent content than for pornography. Etzoini also says that as children get older, they should have greater free speech rights, and should have their content restricted less.

The article provides a counterargument to some of the other documents published concerning how children can be protected from harmful content on the Internet. The Supreme Court cases concerning section 223 of the CDA and COPA were struck down in part because it was believed that there was truly no way for to restrict content for children without also inadvertently restricting it for adults. Etzioni, however, believes there may be ways to separate Internet access based on age. Additionally, this article differs from the arguments made by Thierer, because it favors governmental regulation of content over self-regulation. Etizoni’s reason for the ineffectiveness of voluntary regulation does however relate to a concept Thierer discusses – that of self efficacy. If people’s motivation to filter the Internet content of minors, self-regulation could potentially work. The problem right now is that efficacy is too low for people to want to take an initiative and regulate content.

Dialogue: the future of online obscenity and social networks

Citation: Thierer, Adam and John Palfrey. "Dialogue: the Future of Online Obscenity and Social Networks." 5 March 2009. Ars Technica. 1 April 2009. <http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/03/a-friendly-exchange-about-the-future-of-online-liability.ars/2>.

This source presents a discussion between Adam Thierer, Director of the Progress and Freedom Foundation's Center for Digital Media Freedom, and John Palfrey, Harvard law professor and Vice Dean, about the merits of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act and the role online service providers, including social networking websites, should play in protecting children from obscene content. Thierer has concerns about revisions to CDA 230; he does not think social networks should have extensive liability concerning objectionable material on their sites, and he thinks CDA 230 has been beneficial overall. However, Palfrey believes that ISPs and social networking websites should not be immune from tort lawsuits claiming harm from the carriers’ negligence. Instead, accusations should be allowed to be brought to court, where the plaintiffs will have to prove that the ISPs were in fact negligent. Palfrey believes that CDA 230 should be amended in such a way because it will encourage online service providers to make more of an effort to protect minors and develop more innovative ways of protection. He added, however, that most ISPs would not be found negligent by a court, and a multi-faceted approach must be taken to achieve the goal of protecting children on the Internet. Palfrey also acknowledges the merits of CDA 230, and said he would not want the goals of it to be drastically impeded.

The dialogue presented is a good analysis of the issues concerning child protection and CDA 230. The dialogue format enhances the analysis because it allows Palfrey to address the questions raised by a critic of his opinion. Palfrey’s approach to modifying CDA 230 strikes a balance between the competing goals of shielding minors from harmful content and promoting the development of ISPs. However, Palfrey is the first to admit that a change in the law would likely not make too much of a difference in increasing liability, especially among the larger ISPs who can afford to make some effort to protect children. What is perhaps the most important element of Palfrey’s argument is that he stated that there needs to be an increase in efficacy for children to become more protected online. Empowering people to protect children could achieve the same goal without having to navigate the complex legislative process.

Communications Decency Act of 1996: Section 230

Citation: "Communications Decency Act of 1996: Section 230" 1996. Cornell Law School. 4 April 2009. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/usc_sec_47_00000230----000-.html.

This source is a section of Congressional Legislation that plays an important role in regulating the filtering of online content, with some particulars relating to the filtering of such content to protect children. Titled “Protection for Private Blocking and Screening of Offensive Material,” Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996 guarantees Internet Service Providers (ISPs) a great deal of legal protection. The section of the law begins by describing the increasingly large role that the Internet was providing in people’s lives in 1996. Congress then establishes broad principles that guide its policy concerning the Internet. After that, Section 230 begins to lay out protections for ISPs, saying they are not the speakers or publishers of content provided to them by another service and guaranteeing civil protection for efforts made “in good faith” to filter obscene material. The law also requires ISPs to notify parents of parental control filtering programs that they can use to protect their children. Section 230 concludes by describing the previously mentioned provisions relationships to other laws and by defining terminology used in the document.

This document relates to my project because it has a large effect on the policy concerning the protection of children on the Internet. If ISPs are not considered the author of any of the works people can access through them, they have less of an incentive to develop effective filtering software. Section 230 of the CDA wants ISPs to act “in good faith” and try to restrict access to harmful material to children. However, the term “in good faith” is ambiguous and could be interpreted loosely. Despite the problems with the law when it comes to protecting children, it is understandable that Congress decided to take the approach of siding with the ISPs. In 1996, when the law was written, the Internet was a relatively new development, and many people still did not have access to it. As a result, the government wanted to prioritize helping ISPs, because it wanted the ISPs to expand and be able to give services to a greater number of people. Over a decade later, the online landscape has changed significantly, with the vast majority of people in the United States having Internet access. Perhaps Congress should now focus more on promoting the filtering of harmful content and less on supporting the legal and economic interests of the ISPs. This would likely to be tricky to do, because the ISPs would likely continue to lobby for their position and fight back, and too much government regulation could be seen as violating the Constitution.

Children's Media Policy

Citation: Jordan, Amy. "Children's Media Policy" Children and Electronic Media.Volume 18 No. 1. Spring 2008. pp 235-355. 5 April 2009. http://www.futureofchildren.org/usr_doc/18_10_Jordan.pdf.

While much of the article discusses policies relating to media other than the Internet, the article is useful as an overview of the formation process for children’s media policy, especially because it contains useful charts. The similarities and differences between the Internet and older forms of media are important to note in order to figure out what types of regulations used on other forms of media could and could not be applicable to the Internet. For example, ratings systems akin to the ones established for television shows and video games would likely not be a good way to regulate Internet content. So many websites are created on a regular basis that it would be impossible to assign ratings to all of them. This article supports my thesis because it describes issues relating to the regulation of Internet Service Providers. Perhaps it also provides a counterargument to my thesis, however, because the author does not think that self-regulation is necessarily effective.

Children's Internet Protection Act

Citation: "Children's Internet Protection Act." 2000. Internet Free Expression Alliance. 4 April 2009. <http://ifea.net/cipa.pdf>.

The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a law passed by Congress that encourages filtering the Internet to protect minors by giving schools and libraries financial incentives to do so. Throughout the text, the legislation defines terminology used in the remainder of the document. It states that schools and libraries cannot use federal funds to buy computers or aid Internet access unless they have policies and softwares in place designed to filter visuals on the Internet that contain obscenity, child pornography and material harmful to minors. There is also discussion of how the government plans to implement the law in schools and libraries and how groups can waive this requirement. An exception to the filtering rule is also provided; schools can disable filtering softwares for research purposes. The law concludes by discussing how schools and libraries need to document and enforce the policies outlined in CIPA, and what the legal ramifications for the schools and libraries are if they do not enforce the policies.

CIPA is relevant to my paper because it demonstrates how the government can constitutionally play a role in protecting children online and it shows governmental support for self-regulation. CIPA, unlike parts of the CDA and COPA, has been ruled to be Constitutional and not in violation of the first amendment, because Congress is providing incentives for schools and libraries to regulate content on their own computers, rather than requiring regulation. Congress seemed to take the Supreme Court’s ruling concerning the CDA into consideration when drafting CIPA, because the law allows filtering of obscene and pornographic material but not indecent material. Encouraging communities to enact regulations protecting children themselves is also a better strategy than governmental regulation because it allows communities to better apply their own standards regarding what is obscene and harmful to minors. The government’s established definitions of obscenity and harm to minors involve applying community standards, so this law does a good job of following past legislative precedents, giving the law even greater validity.

Ashcroft v. ACLU

Citation: Ashcroft v. ACLU 542 U.S. 656. 2004. Cornell Law School. 4 April 2009. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-218.ZS.html>.

This document is a Supreme Court decision that ruled the Child Online Protection Act (COPA) unconstitutional. COPA, a law passed by Congress, established a $50,000 fine and six months in prison for knowingly posting content online for commercial purposes that is harmful to minors. A person could avoid conviction for posting such content by making a concerted effort to have prevented minors from having access to the content. The justices ruled that COPA was unconstitutional because it restricted some speech protected by the first amendment of the US Constitution. The definition of content harmful to minors is broader than the definition of obscenity, which is the type of speech not protected by the first amendment. In the decision, Justice Kennedy also wrote that there were probably more effective alternatives to govermental regulation, such as encouraging parents to use filtering software. According to the majority opinion, the government is only allowed to restrict free speech as much as it is absolutely necessary to achieve its desired goal, and there was no proof that free-speech had to have been curtailed as much as it was in COPA in order to protect children.

Ashcroft v. ACLU is important because it helped to define the legal restrictions on governmental regulation of Internet content for purposes of protecting children. This case is similar to Reno v. ACLU in that laws were struck down on first amendment grounds because they restricted types of protected speech. Congress tried to fix the mistakes it made with the CDA by having COPA apply to material harmful to minors, rather than to indecent material. However, the Supreme Court still thought that content harmful to minors was too broad a terminology using a strict scrutiny approach to the law. The court case is also relevant to my paper because it explains how the government could legally help regulate Internet content. By suggesting Congress protect children from potentially threatening content by promoting use of filtering software, Kennedy is essentially laying out for Congress what he believes to be the most constitutionally acceptable method of governmental online content-regulation. Note that by promoting filtering, the government would be indirectly involved with regulation, implying the government cannot fix the problem of youth exposure to harmful content alone.

Agee, James. "Films." The Nation. 5 Jul. 1947. 23-25.

In this article, James Agee writes a review in high praise for Jean Vigo’s daring experimentation and messages of “Zéro de Conduite.” He begins by warning the reader to not watch Vigo’s film if he or she is affronted by experimentation in film and other mediums. He then mentions that the role of Vigo as artist is to simply open the spectator’s eyes a little bit wider. After a quick summary of the plot, Agee decides that full enjoyment of the film depends on the subjective perception of each viewer, and admits that he too shares many of Vigo’s “obsessions for liberty and against authority.” He then relates the ways in which Vigo’s film is a revolutionary expression, namely the lack of any sort of constructed “diagnosis and prescription,” which can be taken to mean linear plot line, as well as the “liberating force” of its whimsical, mischievous, childish humor and trickery. Agee eventually describes what he sees as Vigo’s “trick,” that being the ability to blur the distinctions between objective and subjective, reality and the fantastic, with technical style and innovation. He decides that all the “levels of reality” presented are equal in value, but interconnected, an aesthetic point of poetic perception. He makes a point of stating that he does not take Vigo’s tactics to be unconventional, but rather simply expanding the audience’s concept of film with different strategies. He reinforces the role of the audience as sympathetic to the rebellious boys, who are portrayed sentimentally as creative, wild, beautiful children, while the teachers are portrayed as grotesque caricatures of authority. The article ends as Agee mentions a few of his favorite scenes from the film, particularly the sacrilegious “slurred” motion parade of the boys out of the dormitories, which he likens to the newsreel shots of the liberation of Paris.
Although Agee may have been a biased reviewer, as he shared many of the same political instincts as Jean Vigo, his analysis of the film is nevertheless an excellent description of its subversive, anti-authoritarian tendencies. By pointing out the lack of a cohesively constructed plotline, with a problem and solution, Agee references Vigo’s truest subversive and anti-authoritarian act as not solely the content of the film, which is obviously anti-authority, but structure of the film itself. By producing a film that makes the audience feel uncomfortable about the differences between fantasy, the dreams of children, and the reality of the daily life of the school, Vigo takes an anarchist step towards questioning the basic nature of how we perceive our reality outside of the theater. Additionally, Agee deliberately mentions some of the film’s subversive content, particularly the whimsy of the students, as avowedly anti-establishment, since it is their childish humor and fancy that in fact does disrupt the alumni gathering at the end of the film, leaving the children victorious. Another specific example would be the boys’ parade out of their dormitories, a very anti-Catholic/anti-organized religion parody that subverted social and cultural norms, not just political ones. In general, Vigo's liberating portrayal of childhood instincts directly confronts the rigid, dummy establishment of teachers and adulthood.

Citation: Agee, James. "Films." The Nation. 5 Jul. 1947. 23-25.

unfortunately, I do not have the URL for where I accessed the article, but I do have a pdf copy if you would like me to send it.

Disney's Three Little Pigs and other Silly Symphonies: Experimentation and Transition

From 1929 to 1939, Walt Disney produced a series of 76 short animated films. "Three Little Pigs," which was released in 1933, marked the first example of the technical innovation and experimentation whose culmination would make possible Disney's future work, and the beginning of an era of feature films with recognizable characteristics for which Disney would become known. "Three Little Pigs" pioneered in the areas of narrative, character development, color, and music and sound integration; Disney set high goals for itself and achieved them in this short film.

Merritt, Russel. "Lost on Pleasure Islands: Storytelling in Disney's 'Silly Symphonies'" Film quarterly. 59.1 (2005). 4-17.

In this article, the author writes about the Silly Symphonies with a focus on a few of the shorts remembered best and a few which have fallen through the cracks, with the intent of illuminating a new theory as to the reasons for the success of the series. He points out that the early Disney films, which are now often seen as bland and overlooked in favor of the “urban brashness” and “self-reflexivity” of Warner Brothers work, were and are still the “Tiffany line” of animation. But it was not the use of Technicolor, high quality sound, and general technical polish alone that resonated with audiences. At first, the “Sillies” were “anarchist” in their approach, but eventually Disney took on fairy tales, setting them to music and framing them in a new, American style. Disney managed to delve into the “primal fears and pleasures we encounter as children,” and it is this reason that what some see as oversimplified moralistic tales have such cross-generational appeal and seem to stick with and attract children.

The author discusses and forms theories as to the rules of fairy tale adaptation at Disney, especially related to the role of the child and the view of adolescents or adults, in a few of the Sillies including Babes In The Woods. He discusses Three Little Pigs specifically, but more as a contradiction to many of these trends. The pigs are pre-pubescent children, and while they are old enough to be without parental figures and have pin-ups, they still sing with high voices and dress like toddlers (except, of course, Practical Pig, who has photos of his parents and wears pants). Therefore the short takes place in the “self-contained infant world of play,” a fact echoed by the presence of the lean, hairy, evil wolf.

This article would be useful for my paper as evidence of the direct trend of the Silly Symphonies from experimental, even “anarchy” in animation, to standardization in the portrayal of fairy tales. But it also codifies the aspects of the adaptation process which are distinctly Disney and American, and shows how these aspects fall into the categories of characterization especially. Sound and color are also mentioned as methods for advancing animation and increasing the potency of the stories told in these short films.

Cinderella

The topic that I want to look at is Walt Disney's Cinderella's influence on children's perceptions about love and romance.

Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films

Haddock, Shelley A., Lori K. Lund, Litsa Renee Tanner & Toni Schindler Zimmerman. “Images of Couples and Families in Disney Feature-Length Animated Films.” American Periodical of Family Therapy 31.5 (2003): 355-374. EBSCO MegaFILE. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 7 April 2008. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tfh&AN=10833476&site=ehost-live>

This article is based on a study that identifies themes about families and couples in a number of Disney feature-length animated films. It states that a main way in which children are socially educated is through the media, and especially through animated Disney films, since these films are often passed from one generation to another. The study claims that its findings will be useful in helping parents and family therapists understand what children are learning through these films. Included in the results is the finding that a majority of the 26 films analyzed evoked the notion that being married and/or having children was the normal route for couples to follow. This idea is emphasized by the fact that characters are depicted as being married just after meeting. Remarriage may be seen as bad, because in the films in which remarriage is illustrated, stepmothers are depicted as evil, such as in Cinderella. All of the couples in the films analyzed were heterosexual couples, and the majority of them experienced “love at first sight,” which thus emphasizes the importance of physical appearance. And, in the majority of these movies, one does not find out how relationships are maintained; rather, most couples just “lived happily ever after.”

One of the films analyzed in this study is Cinderella. The study helps convey the notion that Cinderella is a film that presents us with romantic ideals – it contains the idea of “love at first sight,” that marriage is normal yet also an immense dream to have in life, and that happily ever after is attainable. It can teach children about social aspects of life, especially concerning couple relationships. This article can help to provide further evidence that Cinderella creates within children ideas about what love is like. According to the study, love is depicted as happening immediately and without effort, and marriage is seen as the ultimate goal. Thus, Disney films such as Cinderella create an unrealistic ideal about romance and love.

Longitudinal study of viewing smoking in movies and initiation of smoking by children.

Adachi-Mejia, Anna M., Michael L. Beach, Madeline A. Dalton, Meghan R. Longacre & Linda Titus-Ernstoff. “Longitudinal Study of Viewing Smoking in Movies and Initiation of Smoking by Children.” Pediatrics 121.1 (2008): 15-21. EBSCO MegaFILE. University of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 8 April 2008. <http://search.ebscohost.com>

This is a longitudinal research study, the purpose of which was to see if children’s exposure to smoking in films could influence smoking initiation in these children. The fact that the study is a longitudinal study means that it is a study that takes place over time; in this case the reason for the study taking place over an extended period was to see if over time, children’s exposure to smoking in films influenced their smoking initiation. The study demonstrated that children’s exposure to movie smoking significantly predicted smoking initiation. It showed that there was not only an association between movie smoking exposure and increased risk of smoking initiation, but also that early childhood movie smoking exposure was just as influential as exposure that occurs nearer to the time of initiation. This study is useful in looking at how Cinderella may influence children’s beliefs and notions about romance and love. Though smoking and love are certainly not the same things, both are social behaviors. In this study, children were exposed to a particular social behavior through film, which later had an influence on their real-life behaviors. This research thus helps to show that there may be a great influence between what films present to children, and what, in turn, children learn about the social world. In the study, children’s movie smoking exposure had a strong influence on initiation; likewise, then, it is possible that children who view Cinderella will be greatly influenced by its messages about love and romance. In addition, since early childhood movie smoking exposure was just as important as exposure that happened closer to initiation, then it is possible that what children learn about love, romance, and relationships through Cinderella may stay with them, even as other sources of influence begin to shape their views about the subject matter. In other words, what children learn about love and romance through early childhood viewing of films such as Cinderella may be just as important in influencing their thoughts and behaviors about love than what they learn about love as they get older and are exposed to more sources of information on these themes and issues.

The Production of Meaning through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney's Cinderella

Baker-Sperry, Lori. “The Production of Meaning through Peer Interaction: Children and Walt Disney’s Cinderella.” Sex Roles 56 (2007): 717-727. SpringerLink. University Of Pennsylvania Library, Philadelphia. 8 April 2008. <http://www.springerlink.com/home/main.mpx>

This article is about a study in which researchers looked at children’s interpretations of the fairytale Cinderella. The study was done using the book version of Walt Disney’s Cinderella, and was conducted in groups of elementary school peers. The researchers wanted to see how the children reacted to gender-related messages, especially in a group of peers. The study found that gender roles were reinforced in the various peer groups as a result of reading the fairytale.

This article is useful in looking at the film Cinderella and its influence on children’s perceptions and ideals on romance, love, and marriage. Though the study does look at the text-version of Disney’s Cinderella, the story and characters are the same, and the book provides pictures similar to what one would see on screen in the film version. In the study, researchers found that children combined the fantasies they heard about in Cinderella with their real life experiences, and the two often mixed together to form views about the film, and the girls often cited how they fancied getting married as Cinderella did, hoping to meet and marry a prince at a ball. Researchers also claim that many of the girls seemed to be envious of Cinderella, and after reading the film, talked about their futures and related the film in terms of what they would like their lives to be like. They believed that what happened in the story could happen to them. All of these notions coincide with the fundamental idea that I am looking at – that children are influenced by Disney’s film Cinderella in that they learn about romantic ideals.

Media Portrayals of Love, Marriage & Sexuality for Child Audiences: A Select Content Analysis of Walt Disney Animated Family Films.

Junn, Ellen N. “Media Portrayals of Love, Marriage & Sexuality for Child Audiences: A Select Content Analysis of Walt Disney Animated Family Films.” Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Washington, D.C. 4 April 1997.

This paper presents a content analysis that looks at the portrayals of love, sex, and marriage in several romantic and nonromantic Disney animated films, including both older and newer romantic films. Results found that male and female characters engage in “typical” gender roles – that is, male characters engage in more active love-related roles, while female characters are more passive when it comes to love. Over time, references to marriage and weddings in the films have remained relatively stable, though they slightly decrease in more recent films. Females were not featured as much in the films as were males, except in romantic stories. Both male and female characters engage in stereotypical conduct – females exhibit passive behaviors such as giggling and coy posing in order to attract male attention, while males exhibit more outward behavior, such as kissing the hand of a lady, fighting for the love interest, and other assorted chivalrous actions.

This analysis is useful for examining the topic that children may be influenced a great deal by the film Cinderella in terms of ideas about love and marriage. In fact, one of the older romantic films analyzed is Cinderella. Though this does not measure children’s responses to these images and themes, it is useful to think about the sorts of messages about love and marriage that children are receiving in Disney films such as Cinderella. Through these movies, children may have the capacity to learn about various social behaviors, including engaging in romantic relationships, since as the study points out, parents often do not discuss love and romantic related issues with their children until adolescence. As a result, it is very possible that they learn about love and relationships via the media, and as the study points out, Disney films are so ubiquitous that they may have a great effect on children’s perceived notions about love and romance. Thus, this study points out the many types of romance-related behaviors that a child may pick up from watching a Disney film, including Cinderella.

What's Wrong With Cinderella?

Orenstein, Peggy. “What’s Wrong with Cinderella?” New York Times Magazine 24 Dec. 2006. 8 April 2008. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/24/magazine/24princess.t.htmlpagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=8e5a1ac1332a802c&ex=1324616400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss>

This article talks about how the Disney “Princess” brand is becoming ubiquitous to the point that girls do not have any option but to embrace the brand. The column is interspersed with personal anecdotes of the author’s experience with her little girl, who innocently wonders why her mother does not like the Disney Princesses. The author talks about how products related to the Disney Princesses are everywhere, and discusses how the idea to create a brand that connected the Disney Princesses was formulated in 2000. It was the first time that Disney characters were marketed separately from a film’s release. Since then, the Princess brand has earned billions of dollars; it is the fastest-growing brand ever created by Disney, and may become the largest girls’ franchise in the world.

This piece’s discussion on the Disney “Princess” brand is relevant to the topic of Cinderella’s influence on children. If Cinderella has the capacity to be so influential in a child’s formulation of ideas on romance, then a discussion on the Disney “Princess” brand, which includes the character of Cinderella, is applicable to discussing how a film can have such a profound impact on a child’s social education. Since the brand is so ubiquitous, and young girls receive constant reinforcement that this brand is essential to their upbringing, then surely it may be that they pay close attention to the ideals put forth in the film. They may be reminded of these ideals each and every time they see a Disney Princess product in the store, and their beliefs may be continually reinforced, as young girls all claim that they want to be princesses.

Great joy / Kate DiCamillo ; illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline.

readers corner

Blacksburg New School, Blacksburg VA

Love's return: Psychoanalytic essays on childhood, teaching, and learning

Boldt,GM . Love's return: Psychoanalytic essays on childhood, teaching, and learning. [0-415-95205-0]

BF_Trends_2003.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The Ross Products Division of Abbott Laboratories has been collecting information on infant
feeding and breastfeeding in the United States since 1955.1-8 Current survey design permits an
examination of infant feeding patterns during the first 12 months of life. Ryan described increases in the
hospital initiation and duration of breastfeeding between 1985 and 1995,8 and later for the 1996 to 20019
time frame. This update complements the published data and provides current breastfeeding information
through 2003.

Child Trends DataBank - Breastfeeding

lists data sources for breastfeeding information

American Pediatric Surgical Association - APSA

Youth mental health facts, mental health information center

Child and Adolescent Mental Health page from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (SAMHSA)

Wong's essentials of pediatric nursing / [editor-in-chief] Marilyn J. Hockenberry ; section editors, David Wilson, Marilyn L. Winkelstein.

Wong's essentials of pediatric nursing / [editor-in-chief] Marilyn J. Hockenberry ; section editors, David Wilson, Marilyn L. Winkelstein. [0323025935 ] St. Louis, Mo. : Elsevier Mosby, c2005.
Call#: Biomedical Library Reserve Oversize RJ245 .W46 2005

NY Times article about Paul Newman's Founding of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp

Although Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is just one film on the long list of successful movies Paul Newman has starred in over his acting career, his time as Butch Cassidy has held a special place in his heart across many years. This fact became evident to the public upon his founding of the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for Seriously Ill Children in the Summer of 1988. The link above takes you to the New York Times article written by Daniel Hatch reporting on the camp’s preparation for opening.

The first Hole in the Wall Gang Camp opened in Ashford Connecticut, but since them, several other camp locations have opened across the country. According to Jeffery Glick, the first executive director of the camp, the camp was founded to give ill children a chance to experience camp-life like other kids their age. Children accepted to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp are frequently kids who have “only left home to go to the hospital.” At the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, children will be able to get the medical attention they need from an “infirmary that is set back and unobtrusive” while being able to participate in activities like “swimming, boating and leatherwork.”

Though reluctant to take credit for coming up with the idea on his own, when Paul Newman decided to create this type of camp, it was his goal to create an environment in which “these children can enjoy life and make life worth fighting for.” The funding for the camp comes partly from private donations, but primarily from the profits of Newman’s Own line of food products also initiated by Paul Newman. As the primary financial supporter of the camp, Newman pushed the “Hole in the Wall Gang” as the name for his camp as well as its central theme. The results of this desire are apparent to anyone observing the “turn-of-the-century lumber camp” that has been carefully constructed for the children. For his campers, Newman wanted to “avoid a sense of institution” – a feeling they knew all to well – by making sure the entire campground felt organic and real. In this way, Newman succeeded in capturing the love of wilderness and freedom enjoyed by the members of the Hole in the Wall Gang depicted in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The opening of his camp turned out to be a huge success and has been growing ever since.

< To learn more about the nature of this camp or how you can help to keep it running, visit http://www.holeinthewallgang.org>

Children in the digital age : influences of electronic media on development / edited by Sandra L. Calvert, Amy B. Jordan, and Rodney R. Cocking.

Provides a brief history of violent video games and discusses potential negative effects of violent video games. Also provides models and theories relating to the effects of Media Violence.

UK Children Go Online

report on internet activities of kids in the UK...and their skill sets

Childstats.gov - Home

This web site offers easy access to statistics and reports on children and families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education.