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February 01, 2008
A Battle of the Sexes?
I love to hear from readers and the emails keep coming in about Hattie. But I got one yesterday that has me pondering. A mom wrote me that her son had started reading HBS and, she added, "even though it is about a girl, he is enjoying it." (my italics)
I will admit up front that I am sensitive to this gender issue. You already know that: that's why I created the Hot Women of Children's Literature. But this comment -- and others I've heard in the same vein -- really troubles me. What does it mean? Does it mean that we can't possibly expect boys to care about girl characters, whose lives are somehow less compelling simply because they are girls? Have you ever heard parents, teachers, librarians declare, "Our girl readers enjoyed Hatchet or Alabama Moon or Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It even though those books feature male main characters?"
So, I have to wonder. What is the underlying message being sent when we are surprised that boys enjoy reading stories about strong, adventurous, wacky, gentle or even angry girl characters?
I certainly hope we're not saying that such stories are inherently less interesting, less worthy of being read simply due to the sex of the protagonist.
That's what I fervently hope. But it sure kept me awake last night.
Posted by kirby at February 1, 2008 10:28 AM
Comments
I've ranted about this issue a couple times on my blog. You will not believe how early this gender stuff starts. At Halfway Down the Stairs bookshop last month we had a customer decide not to buy Sandra Boynton's PIGGIE BOOK for a newborn boy because...wait for it...it's pink. That was the most blatant example, but similar things happened all the time -- weekly, if not daily.
IMO, this whole-boys-won't-read-about-girls notion is a self-fulfilling prophecy. As long as we've got grownups out there who won't buy picture books or even board books with a female character in the lead role for their sons, this isn't likely to improve anytime soon.
Honestly, because this (alleged) gender split starts with infants and todders, I think the motivation lurking behind it is even more disturbing than the notion that boy characters are more interesting than girl characters. Our theory at the shop was that a lot of people are secretly and/or unconsciously worried that exposing little boys to too much girliness would somehow corrupt them -- turn them into sissies or preschool drag queens or something. It's astonishing.
On a hopeful note, we also noticed over the years that boys who are exposed to books with female characters early on don't seem to develop the anti-girl-book prejudice. One of my co-workers read the entire Little House series to both her boys, and they grew up into big strapping (married) lads who'll read just about anything. Another young fellow was thrilled to discover LOVE STARGIRL on the shelf because he'd loved the first book so much. He bought it with his own money and told us he didn't care what the kids at school would think.
It's a vicious little circle, but it can be broken, so long as we're willing to bring it up and challenge people's assumptions and fears.
Posted by: Sarah Miller at February 1, 2008 03:00 PM
Sarah,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I am so glad to hear the hopeful news you shared at the end of your comment.
Kirby
Posted by: Kirby Larson at February 1, 2008 04:00 PM