A brief discussion on some issues of sexism in Children's Literature

Children's reading material is often screened, it's content challenged and material selected out which is deemed appropriate. In the United States, we hear of heated debates over what material should be allowed in schools and what material should we shelter the innocence of our youth from. In New Zealand, there was, not so long ago, a furor over the use of Alice Walker's novel 'The Colour Purple' in Senior English Classes. In Britain, Noddy was banned and later reinstated in a newer, more modernised form. The debate over what should and, more importantly, what should not be read by children is heated and arguments fly from across the political spectrum. But is it such an important issue, and if so, why? The answer to the first part of this question is easy. Yes, of course it's important. Why? Given that reading, through all ages, is one of the most common ways a child in our society comes across new ideas, is in effect the most effective medium for a child to explore and develop an understanding of the world that breaks away from the commercially directed packaging that constitutes television, it is crucial that our young people have access to information and understanding which is positive, balanced and more importantly, balancing. This of course is the source of the heat. Different world views carry different expectations of balance. This piece is an argument for balance, it is an argument for non-sexist literature and in this argument I shall present key reasons why we should not only be encouraging non-sexist reading, but also the harm that lies in reading sexist material and ways in which you might act to counter it's influence..

Firstly, what is sexist literature that we should be seeking to replace it with non-sexist? Writing which characterises females and males in narrow, stereotyped fashions provides the most obvious answer. Our range of children's literature emphasises male activity/female passivity, portrayed both in physical and intellectual characterisations. In adventure stories (most notably as a type, The Famous Five) role stereotypes abound : girl characters presented as being tidy, caring, spending time cleaning and preparing food; boys as strong decision makers, resourceful, and acting positively; and of course, there is the character of "tom-boy", the girl who in all things trys to be like a boy but is generally not up to scratch, being let down by some female foible (such as lack of strength, or a tendency to gasp/scream at some crucial moment). Those stories, identified as being suitable for boys or girls, similarily have a distinctive active/passive composition. The boys story is almost inevitably adventure heavy, in which boy-characters perform acts which the readers are invited to identify with. A good example of this type of story are the Willard Price "...Adventure" stories. Girls stories, however, are most consistently relationship oriented, whether amongst friends or with animals; action in the story most frequently happens around the central female character. In both more and less subtle ways than this, the material that children read shapes their understanding of male and female "appropriate" activity. Another aspect of sexism in childrens literature is the relative predominance of boys and girls. From picture books to adolescent fiction, books marketed for both boys and girls are dominated by the presence of boys. In terms of physical majority or significance, girls are over shadowed by boys. This is for the most part quite deliberate as it is generally understood that if you write a story which is too heavy in it's representation of girls, boys will not be interested; however if you write a story with a strong representation of boys girls will be prepared to read it. This, then, is the relative value that is placed on male and female interests : for boys, it is unacceptable to have to deal with girls' stuff; for girls, accepting boys' stuff is a matter of course. Role and value are clearly communicated messages in much of children's literature. These messages are more than a reflection of the societies of their authors, they are an active part in the reproduction of those societies. Part of the process whereby girls come to accept their position in life is fed by by the books which they read or have read to them; the books which are written for them and chosen for them; the books which they come to identify as theirs and the characters who they come to identify as themselves. Further, it is partially through reading that boys learn and reinforce their attitudes towards women and girls; their sense of their own place in the world and what is expected of them; and their self identification. The limitations which this places on young people are damaging to any individual, whether a girl or a boy, in terms of their development of independence and relatoinship skills1 This is perhaps the greatest reason to seek to overturn the influence of sexism in literature : by offering young people a challenge to the roles that society, through literature, television, film and concensus opinion. Writers who write sexist children's literature for the most part do not do so out of desire to warp the minds of the young, they are responding to the preassures of the concensus of opinion which determines much of the movement of ideas within society. This concensus is referred to as an hegemony and it reflects the domination of a society by one of the component groups of that society. In the case of New Zealand, the dominant group is quite clearly pakeha and male, a similar state of affairs to the rest of the world. Members of component social groups accept the rules and conditions laid down by the dominant group, understand that achievement is measured against the standards of this group.

What's more (and most difficult) is that literature which is sexist is not necessarily bad literature. For example, two of the finest pieces of writing available to young readers would be the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper and the Earthsea sequence by Ursula Le Guin. These are respectively representatives of two popular genres of children's literature: the adventure story (see above)with fantasy undercurrents, and the fantasy epic. Cooper began her sequence with a pretty traditional adventure story 'Over Sea And Under Stone'; while this is substantially better written than, for example, 'The Famous Five', it still reiterates the character stereotypes. As the sequence progresses it leaves behind many of the limitations of the adventure format but maintains a male centred focus throughout. Similarily, Le Guin in the first three volumes of Earthsea presents, unquestioningly, a mirror of the male hegemony of this Earth. Both of these writers dealt with the growing demand for writing more favourable in it's treatment of women. In 1989, while speaking in New Zealand, Cooper denied that her books in any way reflected less positively on the strength and independence of her female characters, yet had written a new novel, 'Seaward', in which the central female character had been given a noticeably stronger role. Le Guin, who had always considered herself a feminist, and who indeed had written much which challenged gender assumptions in society, came to a realisation that throughout her work she had employed a male focus and point of view. As a result of this, she consciously and publicly redirected her creative output to a feminist perspective, including the production of a very powerful fourth volume of Earthsea picking up the abandoned story threads of a most interesting woman. Both writers, in their own way, have come to address the imbalance of their writing, but the importance of, the quality of what had gone before can not be diminished by it's apparent faults.

So, dealing with sexism in children's literature needs to address two main issues : firstly, and most obviously, actively selecting material which is non-sexist; secondly,, and more difficult, developing an approach to good quality children's writing which can challenge any sexist content while allowing the appreciation of the writing itself. Obviously much that is sexist is transmitted through film and television and in seeking to deal with sexist literature, much the same process applies to these visual media. Leaving the identification of non-sexist literature for the moment, let's consider the difficult task of dealing constructively with the mass of existing and very popular children's writing. Before you are able to actively deal with the content of a book it is essential that you are familiar with the story and have identified key areas in which the writing needs to be challenged in terms of sexism. If you have not read the book, read it now, if you have read it yourself as a child, read it again. Read it immediately after your child; not oly will you be familiarising yourself with the material she is reading, you will be showing an interest in her reading. Having identified the key points which you wish to address ( be selective, two or three ideas per book is quite adequate, any more threatens to turn the opening of a book into a threat of a lecture) discuss the book with your child, get her to express her opinion, offer yours : ask her what she thought of the things which you identified as being sexist. The most important idea for the young reader to develop is that writers are not infallible, everything which they put in print need not be taken as absolute truth, and the most important way to develop this concept is through discussion.

Selecting non sexist material ( and even being able to identify issues of sexism within the books children are reading ) requires some guidelines to what might be considered sexist or non-sexist. For example, consider, does the book being assessed assign important roles in terms of the action to male characters? does the book show a statistically unrealistic balance of male characters to female (remembering that women make up slightly more than half of the human race)? does the book present stereotypes of gender behaviour in such a way as to suggest that these are appropriate or accurate? does the book emphasise female passivity/male activity? does the book make gender based assumptions of the reader? does the book actively challenge the above roles and assumptions? does the book, in fact, develop exciting and challenging possibilities for it's female characters and offer it's male characters the opportunity to be sensitive to others? The answers to these questions are readily apparent, provided you take the opportunity to read the book in question. But obviously, in the search for non-sexist reading material of a high standard, you can not be expected to read everything. Much of the identification of such material is dependent on word of mouth; read, share what you have discovered with other interested parents; most major centres have a Women's Bookshop which will be able to offer advice. As a good starting point, Margaret Mahy provides some very broad challenges to acceptable gender roles for a wide range of reading ages. Joan Aiken's fantasy/history books are also strong in dynamic female leads. But both these writers also carry small inconsistencies in their work, as do (amongst my favourites) Diana Wynn Jones, Patricia Wrightson and Helen Cresswell. Excellent books for older readers have been published by Virago, under the imprint Virago Upstarts; picture books by Sandra Boynton, Joy Cowley and Patricia Grace are always good value; Niccobobinus, by Terry Jones, is quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. There are many books available which could provide the basis for a non-sexist reading programme. It is important that you are familiar with the writing you expect your children to read, and it is important that you discuss issues or questions raised.

One thing to bear in mind at all times when you are looking for non-sexist literature is that good literature is not written for males or females, it is written for people. Good children's literature is an important means of enriching a child's world view; more than television or film, which is heavily constrained by commercial considerations, literature is able to challenge some of the basic hegemonic assumptions of society; literature offers opportunities for discussion, not readily available to visual media which are percieved as being both more immeadiate and short lived in significance; and in literature, as the act of reading engages the child's involvement more actively than viewing allows, there is greater opportunity for real growth in thinking and attitudes. Non-sexist literature, and non-sexist challenges of sexist content in literature, are important in allowing children to come to terms with their own feelings and ideas in order to issue their own challenges to social assumptions and to edvelop for themselves positive non-sexist principles

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