Representation

Children and adolescents’ identity development and perceptions of others who are either similar or different from them is partly influenced by the entertainment media they consume. It is, therefore, important to know how often and how entertainment media, including television shows, movies, and video games, portray people with various identities, and minoritized identity groups in particular. In this chapter, we review how entertainment media —popular among young people —represents minoritized social groups with a particular focus on gender, sexual orientation, and racial/ethnic background. Although the media landscape is increasingly more diverse, entertainment media for young people are still characterized by under- and misrepresentations of minoritized social group members.