CCBC-Net Archives
RE: Trans middle-grade?
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Dentan, Sarah <SDentan_at_ci.berkeley.ca.us>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 17:12:42 +0000
Hannah (and all) –
I have the same feeling, that there is a middle-grade gap in terms of materials reflecting gender-nonconformity and anything-other-than-heterosexuality. Which is not to say that there is no sexuality in middle grade books – I read a lot of middle-grade fiction with female protagonists with my kid and there is PLENTY of burgeoning sexuality available to the 8-11 year old girl reader, but it’s all boy/girl and we call it “romance”, not sexuality.
So we’ve got a normalized a preoccupation with straight romance for under-12 girls, but any discussion of same-sex romance and that becomes “sexuality”, and therefore not appropriate for a middle grade title. Which means that girls who aren’t interested in boys (either because they’re interested in girls or because they’re not invested in romance/sexuality at all) may see the occasional gay adult in their books, but they don’t see themselves.
There was a flurry of stories as far back as 2009 about the increasing numbers of gay kids coming out in middle school. Doctors and therapists working with trans* youth are starting interventions prior to puberty in some cases. So while it’s great to have gay parents or gay older siblings appear (I don’t know of a middle-grade title dealing with trans* issues) it’s clear that at least some kids are already dealing with these issues for themselves and with their peers.
This does have me thinking about the ubiquity of boyfriend/girlfriend tropes in children’s books featuring girls. It’s an ongoing plotline in Junie B. Jones, for heaven’s sake!
- Sarah
--- Sarah Dentan Berkeley Public Library sdentan_at_cityofberkeley.info
From: Hannah Gómez [mailto:hannahgomez_at_gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 8:25 AM To: CCBC-Net Subject: [ccbc-net] Trans middle-grade?
This is a really interesting theme for the month! I've mostly been lurking and reading with interest, since this is not an area I have much expertise or experience in yet, but I thought I'd ask a question.
A lot of the discussion here is centered around picturebooks that deal with gender nonconformity, generally with regards to dress or fairy tale tropes. And then we have the YA that we'll be reading and discussing in a couple weeks. But it seems like middle grade is a big gap. And given that ages 8-13 are when a lot of bullying starts to happen, in addition to the beginnings of puberty and starting to understand what your sex and what your gender mean to you and to others, I wonder why there doesn't seem to be any middle grade that touches on this (of course I'm not actually surprised, given the backlash against such things in YA and in overall culture and society, but ya know what I mean). Or do I just not know what's out there?
Hannah Gómez, MA, MSLIS hannahgomez_at_gmail.com<mailto:hannahgomez@gmail.com> http://hannahgomez.wix.com/portfolio
(520) 481-8778
==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: SDentan_at_ci.berkeley.ca.us<mailto:SDentan@ci.berkeley.ca.us>.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto:ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu>
To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to...
digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto:digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu>
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to...
leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto: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: Look4Posts
Received on Wed 14 May 2014 12:13:15 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 14 May 2014 17:12:42 +0000
Hannah (and all) –
I have the same feeling, that there is a middle-grade gap in terms of materials reflecting gender-nonconformity and anything-other-than-heterosexuality. Which is not to say that there is no sexuality in middle grade books – I read a lot of middle-grade fiction with female protagonists with my kid and there is PLENTY of burgeoning sexuality available to the 8-11 year old girl reader, but it’s all boy/girl and we call it “romance”, not sexuality.
So we’ve got a normalized a preoccupation with straight romance for under-12 girls, but any discussion of same-sex romance and that becomes “sexuality”, and therefore not appropriate for a middle grade title. Which means that girls who aren’t interested in boys (either because they’re interested in girls or because they’re not invested in romance/sexuality at all) may see the occasional gay adult in their books, but they don’t see themselves.
There was a flurry of stories as far back as 2009 about the increasing numbers of gay kids coming out in middle school. Doctors and therapists working with trans* youth are starting interventions prior to puberty in some cases. So while it’s great to have gay parents or gay older siblings appear (I don’t know of a middle-grade title dealing with trans* issues) it’s clear that at least some kids are already dealing with these issues for themselves and with their peers.
This does have me thinking about the ubiquity of boyfriend/girlfriend tropes in children’s books featuring girls. It’s an ongoing plotline in Junie B. Jones, for heaven’s sake!
- Sarah
--- Sarah Dentan Berkeley Public Library sdentan_at_cityofberkeley.info
From: Hannah Gómez [mailto:hannahgomez_at_gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 8:25 AM To: CCBC-Net Subject: [ccbc-net] Trans middle-grade?
This is a really interesting theme for the month! I've mostly been lurking and reading with interest, since this is not an area I have much expertise or experience in yet, but I thought I'd ask a question.
A lot of the discussion here is centered around picturebooks that deal with gender nonconformity, generally with regards to dress or fairy tale tropes. And then we have the YA that we'll be reading and discussing in a couple weeks. But it seems like middle grade is a big gap. And given that ages 8-13 are when a lot of bullying starts to happen, in addition to the beginnings of puberty and starting to understand what your sex and what your gender mean to you and to others, I wonder why there doesn't seem to be any middle grade that touches on this (of course I'm not actually surprised, given the backlash against such things in YA and in overall culture and society, but ya know what I mean). Or do I just not know what's out there?
Hannah Gómez, MA, MSLIS hannahgomez_at_gmail.com<mailto:hannahgomez@gmail.com> http://hannahgomez.wix.com/portfolio
(520) 481-8778
==== CCBC-Net Use ==== You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: SDentan_at_ci.berkeley.ca.us<mailto:SDentan@ci.berkeley.ca.us>.
To post to the list, send message to...
ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto:ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu>
To receive messages in digest format, send a blank message to...
digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto:digest-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu>
To unsubscribe, send a blank message to...
leave-ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu<mailto: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: Look4Posts
Received on Wed 14 May 2014 12:13:15 PM CDT
