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Re: Trans/Cross-Dressing
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From: pritchwitt_at_aol.com
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 13:51:12 -0400 (EDT)
I'm new to this list and haven't spoken up yet, but obviously this is a topic of great interest to me. My take is that the pink and frilly books are just a reflection of what's happening in society at large at the moment. As a fairly recent first-time grandmother, I am continually appalled by what I see in stores that sell clothing for infants and toddlers. Gone are green and yellow and red. It's all pink and purple (with sequins) on one side of the store and all brown and navy blue on the other. As though the need to label children as boy or girl is immediately meaningful or necessary. This was not the case when my own children were babies, and I wonder if the change is, at least partly, to do with the fact that so many people know the sex of their child before birth these days--they've already painted the nursery pink or blue and carried the color scheme on to every other aspect of the child's life. Which, of course, for the children whose minds tell them their gender doesn't conform to their bodies, makes it even harder to figure out who they are. I know, this has little to do with books, and I apologize for the rant. This topic is a hot one for me.
Ellen Wittlinger author, Parrotfish, Hard Love and many other YA novels
-----Original Message----- From: K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu> Cc: CCBC-Net Network <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, May 7, 2014 12:52 pm Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Trans/Cross-Dressing
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 13:51:12 -0400 (EDT)
I'm new to this list and haven't spoken up yet, but obviously this is a topic of great interest to me. My take is that the pink and frilly books are just a reflection of what's happening in society at large at the moment. As a fairly recent first-time grandmother, I am continually appalled by what I see in stores that sell clothing for infants and toddlers. Gone are green and yellow and red. It's all pink and purple (with sequins) on one side of the store and all brown and navy blue on the other. As though the need to label children as boy or girl is immediately meaningful or necessary. This was not the case when my own children were babies, and I wonder if the change is, at least partly, to do with the fact that so many people know the sex of their child before birth these days--they've already painted the nursery pink or blue and carried the color scheme on to every other aspect of the child's life. Which, of course, for the children whose minds tell them their gender doesn't conform to their bodies, makes it even harder to figure out who they are. I know, this has little to do with books, and I apologize for the rant. This topic is a hot one for me.
Ellen Wittlinger author, Parrotfish, Hard Love and many other YA novels
-----Original Message----- From: K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu> Cc: CCBC-Net Network <ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu> Sent: Wed, May 7, 2014 12:52 pm Subject: Re: [ccbc-net] Trans/Cross-Dressing
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: pritchwitt_at_aol.com. 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: Look4Posts ==== 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 12:55:28 PM CDT
