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Re: Gender Roles and Picture Books
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From: Allison Angell <allison_angell_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 19:39:16 -0700 (PDT)
I got curious about this, too, so I checked "A Sick Day for Amos McG ee". ("Bear Has a Story to Tell" is checked out, so I couldn't check it) . With the exception of the bus driver, who looks male in the pictures ( but who is never specifically described as male), every other character in "Amos McGee" is described with "his" or "himself" to make the gender clear. Hope this helps, Allison Angell, Benicia (Calif.) Public Library allison_angell_at_yahoo.com
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From: DAJ
To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wis=
c.edu
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:05 PM
Subject: Re:
Gender Roles and Picture Books
On Mon, 8/12/13, Donna Barkman wrote:
I'm
interested in gender as portrayed in characters and wonder
why no critics seem to have noticed how often
animals are portrayed as male, for no particular
reason. For instance, in Caldecott winner "
A Sick Day for Amos McGee"and in "Bear Has a
Story to Tell," every animal character is male - just
two examples.
I don't have either book in front of me and thus wondered -- does the text indicate the animals are male or is there som ething in the illustrations that specifically codes the animals as male? (Years ago, wasn't there a criticism of a study of gender representation in picture books because in that study in crowd scenes, the only figures co unted as female were those wearing skirts?)
The corollary, I suppose, is how often we (or, at least I) picture the male of the species as a representative animal when there is a difference between the two: lions with manes rather than lionesses without; bright red (male) cardinals rath er than the brown females . . .
Full of questions,
DAJ
Received on Thu 15 Aug 2013 07:39:16 PM CDT
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 19:39:16 -0700 (PDT)
I got curious about this, too, so I checked "A Sick Day for Amos McG ee". ("Bear Has a Story to Tell" is checked out, so I couldn't check it) . With the exception of the bus driver, who looks male in the pictures ( but who is never specifically described as male), every other character in "Amos McGee" is described with "his" or "himself" to make the gender clear. Hope this helps, Allison Angell, Benicia (Calif.) Public Library allison_angell_at_yahoo.com
_________________=
_______________
From: DAJ
To: ccbc-net_at_lists.wis=
c.edu
Sent: Thursday, August 15, 2013 5:05 PM
Subject: Re:
Gender Roles and Picture Books
On Mon, 8/12/13, Donna Barkman wrote:
I'm
interested in gender as portrayed in characters and wonder
why no critics seem to have noticed how often
animals are portrayed as male, for no particular
reason. For instance, in Caldecott winner "
A Sick Day for Amos McGee"and in "Bear Has a
Story to Tell," every animal character is male - just
two examples.
I don't have either book in front of me and thus wondered -- does the text indicate the animals are male or is there som ething in the illustrations that specifically codes the animals as male? (Years ago, wasn't there a criticism of a study of gender representation in picture books because in that study in crowd scenes, the only figures co unted as female were those wearing skirts?)
The corollary, I suppose, is how often we (or, at least I) picture the male of the species as a representative animal when there is a difference between the two: lions with manes rather than lionesses without; bright red (male) cardinals rath er than the brown females . . .
Full of questions,
DAJ
Received on Thu 15 Aug 2013 07:39:16 PM CDT
