Strollerderby
Gender Roles In Children’s Literature
Back in second grade, when I and many of my classmates were
forming Harriet the Spy clubs, complete with code names and symbols to indicate
various personality traits
Go Back To Strollerderby
5 Comments
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amthe heart rises with sun over still and peaceful waters.
Be thou blessed.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amramona and eloise both got their first books in 1955. And Trixie Belden was out solving mysteries (in jeans no less) starting in 1948. Harriet is great but she certainly wasn’t first
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amThere’s Ferdinand and Leo the Late Bloomer, who spring immediately to mind, but in terms of modern (human!) role models, I have trouble coming up with any.
mcglory13 commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amMy son got a book called “The Sissy Duckling” as a present. It’s for a younger audience, but it has an alternative masculinity. I think Encyclopedia Brown meets your criteria, since he’s the thinker and the “muscle” of the operation is his female friend. There’s also Ferdinand the Bull. I think a fair number exist, you just have to hunt for them, just as you have to hunt for alternative female models. It may have become more acceptable for women to be “tomboys” but the recent surveys of kid’s lit doesn’t back up your statement that good role models abound.
Anonymous commented on Jan 01 70 at 12:00 amI have 2 boys, and sensitive yet strong male role models abound. For many years, guys have been told to get in touch with their feminine side. It shows in modern culture, with rising respect for the softer, sweeter things in life like yoga, vegetarianism, pansexuality, and so much more. Sure the guys may still get called pansies, but as I’ve witnessed, their female friends totally dig their tuned-in ways!
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