What is Character Coding?

When I talk about my kids clothing designs, I often talk about the term "Character Coding."

Character Coding, Defined

“Character Coding” is the pattern in children's films and media where characters are assigned traits like predator or prey, hunter or hunted, based on gender rather than personality or story need.

Why This Term Matters

Character Coding matters to Fierce & Sweet kids apparel because it is the exact pattern I noticed when I started digging into kid's films: predators are overwhelmingly male and prey overwhelmingly female. Without a name for this, parents and grandparents often absorb the pattern without ever questioning it, and kids grow up learning it as simply "how things are." Naming it is the first step toward designing something different.

How I Use It

In my work, I use Character Coding as a lens when designing shirts, onesies, and hoodies. I ask whether the imagery I put on a child's chest reinforces that old hunter/hunted split or instead lets a girl be fierce or a boy be sweet at once, a whole person rather than a role.

More posts like this:

• The Number That Explains Everything
• My Honest Take on Why Girls' Clothes Are Stuck on "Sweet"
• Why I Started Counting Predators and Prey in Kids' Movies
• Let Him Be Sweet Too
• Have You Ever Noticed Who Gets To Be The Predator?

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