CCBC-Net Archives
Perspectives on Gender
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Megan Schliesman <Schliesman>
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 09:36:11 -0500
Today we'll start our discussion for the second half of July:
Perspectives on Gender in Books for Children and Teens: Back in the 1970s, there was a growing awareness of the need for books that offered strong, independent female protagonists and that showed both boys and girls engaged in non-traditional roles and behavior. Thirty years later, we'll examine how gender is depicted today in literature for children and young adults. Do gender stereotypes continue to exist? In what ways are books for children and teenagers reflecting or challenging the way we think about gender today?
I admit that I initially cringe when I see the inevitable princess book(s) that comes out annually--there's alwasy at least one I can find on the CCBC shelves of new books at any given time; usually there's a lot of pink on the cover. It's not there is anything inherently wrong with them, but they push my buttons regardless, having grown up during the emerging consciousness of the first wave of contemporary feminism in the early 1970s, in a household where "princess" was the antithesis of an ideal. Today we have the argument that girls can be anything they want-- engineer, architect, truck driver, teacher, mother, princess. But the books that reference, and, one might argue, reinforce the old stereotypes still cause me pause.
What I appreciate are books that illuminate the struggles of gender, like Jennifer Donnelly's historical novel "A Northern Light,", about a teenager in 1906 fighting against the limits of being female at the time, and Glen Huser's extraordinary
"Stitches," about a boy who loves theater and puppetry and sewing (and who faces at-times brutal bullying but emerges whole and in-tact). I like the picture books of Kevin Henkes and Bob Graham, in which moms and dads, whether mouse or human, are shown doing what were once considered non-traditional for their gender.
What do you think about the depiction of gender in books for youth? Are there books you especially appreciate? Do you think stereotyping still exists? How do books reinforce or challenge the images kids are getting from society and popular culture?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 19 Jul 2005 09:36:11 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 09:36:11 -0500
Today we'll start our discussion for the second half of July:
Perspectives on Gender in Books for Children and Teens: Back in the 1970s, there was a growing awareness of the need for books that offered strong, independent female protagonists and that showed both boys and girls engaged in non-traditional roles and behavior. Thirty years later, we'll examine how gender is depicted today in literature for children and young adults. Do gender stereotypes continue to exist? In what ways are books for children and teenagers reflecting or challenging the way we think about gender today?
I admit that I initially cringe when I see the inevitable princess book(s) that comes out annually--there's alwasy at least one I can find on the CCBC shelves of new books at any given time; usually there's a lot of pink on the cover. It's not there is anything inherently wrong with them, but they push my buttons regardless, having grown up during the emerging consciousness of the first wave of contemporary feminism in the early 1970s, in a household where "princess" was the antithesis of an ideal. Today we have the argument that girls can be anything they want-- engineer, architect, truck driver, teacher, mother, princess. But the books that reference, and, one might argue, reinforce the old stereotypes still cause me pause.
What I appreciate are books that illuminate the struggles of gender, like Jennifer Donnelly's historical novel "A Northern Light,", about a teenager in 1906 fighting against the limits of being female at the time, and Glen Huser's extraordinary
"Stitches," about a boy who loves theater and puppetry and sewing (and who faces at-times brutal bullying but emerges whole and in-tact). I like the picture books of Kevin Henkes and Bob Graham, in which moms and dads, whether mouse or human, are shown doing what were once considered non-traditional for their gender.
What do you think about the depiction of gender in books for youth? Are there books you especially appreciate? Do you think stereotyping still exists? How do books reinforce or challenge the images kids are getting from society and popular culture?
Megan
Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, UW-Madison 600 N. Park St., Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706
ph: 608&2?03 fax: 608&2I33 schliesman at education.wisc.edu
Received on Tue 19 Jul 2005 09:36:11 AM CDT
