Disney Junior's "Sofia the First" and Gender Identity

After our class discussion on "Theorizing Gender" I started thinking about gender as a social construct. On the weekend after our class, I was babysitting my goddaughter. We were doing the usual two year old activities: playing with toys and watching the Disney Channel. One of her favorite shows is Disney Junior's newest, Sofia the First. The story of a young girl whose mother marries a king and gets thrown into becoming a princess. She must quickly learn how to be a princess in time for her debut ball. Sofia must go to school to learn how to perform magic, wear pretty ballgowns, and do "princess things"such as dancing, picking flowers and "wistfully singing in window sills."     

The video below is a song from an episode of Sofia the First titled "Princess Things." This video made me realize how gender is based on social constructs and how front and center it is in the media. As we can all see this is a television show for children. The video promotes the idea that boys (princes) do "princely things" and girls (princesses) do "princess things" and "no one crosses in between." It's interesting what society considers female and male behavior. This song teaches children that girls should pick flowers, shop and participate in the arts (reading, singing and dancing) meanwhile boys should play sports (jousting & polo) and work out ( hike & climb trees.) 

I don't think I realized how mainstream gender was until I saw it reenacted on a children's TV show. The biggest problem I had with this is the fact that children are being taught how to act based on their gender when we live in such an evolving society. I feel that shows like these will prohibit our society from moving forward to the new normal. We live in a society where gay marriage is legal and the social norm is very different than what it used to be. A positive aspect of this video is the fact that Princess Sofia is resisting societal norms and questioning why she isn't allowed to do "princely things." I think that if more children are encouraged to go against the grain and question what goes on in society we will be able to progress as a country.