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Re: Trans/Cross-Dressing
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From: K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu>
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 11:48:58 -0500
Picking up on something Julie Corsaro said, and Tad echoed below -- it IS difficult to come up with picture books with girls who are not ultra-feminine. In fact, I would say that many picture books aimed especially at girls are pink and sparkly, a la "Fancy Nancy." It's as if the picture books themselves are dressing in ultra-feminine clothes.
I'm sure many of you have seen your young female students, library patrons, or daughters gravitate toward the pink books, just as they do pink clothing. And yet, this is obviously learned behavior. (I heard an NPR report last week that said in earlier times, boys in Western societies were dressed in pink and girls in blue. Pink was a softer version of red, a robust, masculine color, and blue was considered peaceful and sedate.) There must be tremendous social pressure for girls to like pink.
A contemporary picture book author/illustrator I can think of who always shows strong little girls in pants and colors other than pink is Molly Bang. I'm thinking of her book "When Sophie Gets Angry... Really, Really Angry" and a much earlier one called "Delphine."
So while it may be easier for girls in our society to wear pants and colors other than pink, I don't think it's any easier for children born female who feel they are really boys inside. Or even for girls who don't like pink or dresses.
--KT
On 5/7/2014 10:59 AM, Thaddeus Andracki wrote:
> I wonder if the relative lack of picture books that parallel Morris
> Micklewhite and Jacob's New Dress is because of a /perceived/ surfeit
> of tomboys in children's literature. I think there's an assumption
> that "it's been done enough"???Little Women, Harriet the Spy, etc.???even
> though we're clearly struggling to come up with titles, especially for
> picture books.
>
> Two titles that don't quite exactly parallel but is worth mentioning
> at least, it seems, is Yolen's Not all Princesses Wear Pink and Bone's
> Not Every Princess.
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 11:48:58 -0500
Picking up on something Julie Corsaro said, and Tad echoed below -- it IS difficult to come up with picture books with girls who are not ultra-feminine. In fact, I would say that many picture books aimed especially at girls are pink and sparkly, a la "Fancy Nancy." It's as if the picture books themselves are dressing in ultra-feminine clothes.
I'm sure many of you have seen your young female students, library patrons, or daughters gravitate toward the pink books, just as they do pink clothing. And yet, this is obviously learned behavior. (I heard an NPR report last week that said in earlier times, boys in Western societies were dressed in pink and girls in blue. Pink was a softer version of red, a robust, masculine color, and blue was considered peaceful and sedate.) There must be tremendous social pressure for girls to like pink.
A contemporary picture book author/illustrator I can think of who always shows strong little girls in pants and colors other than pink is Molly Bang. I'm thinking of her book "When Sophie Gets Angry... Really, Really Angry" and a much earlier one called "Delphine."
So while it may be easier for girls in our society to wear pants and colors other than pink, I don't think it's any easier for children born female who feel they are really boys inside. Or even for girls who don't like pink or dresses.
--KT
On 5/7/2014 10:59 AM, Thaddeus Andracki wrote:
> I wonder if the relative lack of picture books that parallel Morris
> Micklewhite and Jacob's New Dress is because of a /perceived/ surfeit
> of tomboys in children's literature. I think there's an assumption
> that "it's been done enough"???Little Women, Harriet the Spy, etc.???even
> though we're clearly struggling to come up with titles, especially for
> picture books.
>
> Two titles that don't quite exactly parallel but is worth mentioning
> at least, it seems, is Yolen's Not all Princesses Wear Pink and Bone's
> Not Every Princess.
-- Kathleen T. Horning Director Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) 4290 Helen C. White Hall 600 N. Park St Madison, WI 53706 http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc horning_at_education.wisc.edu 608-263-3721 (phone) 608-262-4933 (fax) ==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu. To post to the list, send message to... ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to... digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To unsubscribe, send a blank message to... leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu ==== CCBC-Net Archives ==== The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at... http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp To access the archives, go to... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net ...and enter the following when prompted... username: ccbc-net password: Look4PostsReceived on Wed 07 May 2014 11:51:18 AM CDT
