When cartoon movies are examined, it is seen that the number of male characters are more than females.
According to a research report in 1981, Barcus (1983) “realized that 75% of characters in children’s TV shows are
male while 21% are female”. Thompson and Zerbinos examined 175 cartoon movies in the cable and normal TV
and reported that “the number of males among protagonists is more than females by one third while the number of
other male characters are nearly one fifth more than females.”(Thompson & Zerbinos, 1995:651-673). The Smufs
(Image 1), which was designed by a Belgian caricaturist called Peyo and transformed into cartoon later in America,
can be assessed as the most stunning example of this approach since there were 90 male characters while there was
only one female character called Smurfette. The reason of male characters’ number being higher than females is
that cartoons are mostly viewed by boys. According to the vice president of CBS, “boys are always dominant in
children’s TV” (Poltrack, quoted in Carter, 1991, p. C18). TV channel directors express that programs are made for
boys. The reason for that is “the number of male viewers between the ages of 2 and 11 exceeds females in Saturday
mornings. If a program is successful it should be attractive for boys since they don’t watch programs inclding
female protagonists while girls watch programs including male protagonists” (Thompson ve Zerbinos, 1995:653).