Television is considered a powerful force in American life, whether for good or for ill, and the latter distinction has been much argued over the history of television broadcasting. One of the issues raised in recent years involves how television serves as an example in teaching gender roles to children, and this issue has become more heated as gender roles in society at large have been challenged, analyzed, and tested with the shifts in thinking and behavior that have taken place over the last two decades. It is not surprising that critics of television cannot agree on the effect of gender role presentation in the media when they cannot agree among themselves on what types of gender roles should be projected in the first place. Some theorists have simply approached the issue with the question as to whether or not television has any effect on gender role at all, and if so…