An interesting new study by Nicole Martins and Kristen Harrison, discussed at Jezebel, finds that watching TV affects the self esteem of kids. Essentially, it increases the self esteem of white boys and decreases the self esteem of girls and black boys. Beyond the simple lack of depictions of females and nonwhites (are TV shows any better than movies at passing the Bechdel Test?), the authors discuss the fact that when individuals from these groups are depicted they are typically seen as one-dimensional. As I’ve discussed in the past, movie (and likely television) studios still see the idea of projects centered on nonwhites or nonmales as risky. It turns out that not featuring characters like these is also risky.
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