~/ "Our history has been stolen from us. Our heroes died in childbirth, from peritonitis, overwork, oppression, from bottled-up rage. Our geniuses were never taught to read or write. We must invent a past adequate to our ambitions. We must create a future by the Feminists on adequate to our needs."-The Old Mole, Cambridge, Massachusetts Children's Literature A Feminist Look at Children's Books
IS THE PORTRAYAL of females in three to one. On that score, the years children's books sexist? That is, are have brought little improvement. The girls and women assigned only tradi ALA list for 1969 gave us a ratio of tional female roles and personalities? over two to one. And when the female foot fails to fit The Child Study Association list for that often too4.ight shoe, is the girl or the same year proved more difficult woman then seen as an unfortunate, to analyze. It is very long, divided troubled human being? into innumerable categories, and These questions were the basis of a many of the books can't yet be found group effort to scrutinize some of the in the libraries. However, we made a more highly praised children's books. separate check of several categories. In our view, a non-sexist portrayal Under the heading of "Boys and would offer the girl reader a positive Girls" we found a male to female image of woman's physical, emotion ratio of two to one. Under "Growing al, and intellectual potential--one Up" the ratio was over :three to one. that ·would encourage her .to reach And "Sports," of course, like certain her own full personhood, free of tra bars we could formerly name, was ditionally imposed limitations. 100 percent male. The rest of the In selecting books to examine, we book list may not follow the pattern consulted a number of influential of this sampling, hut suspicion runs lists. These were rthe Notable Books high! of 1969 (American Library Associa The thoughtful introduction to the tion), the Child Study Association's Child Study Association list makes the annual recommendations for that following statement: The books a same year, and the Newbery Award child reads "should not shield him winners. from knowledge of destructive forces It was a shock to discover almost in the world, but rather help him to immediately that relatively few of the cope with them." We agree, for the books on these lists even feature fe most part. But why does the sentence male characters-let alone what we read "shield him" and "help him"? would consider positive female char Sexism is such a destructive force in acters. Of all 49 Newbery Award the world, that we feel the implicit winners, books •about boys outnum sexism is this sentence should not be bered books about girls by about overlooked. The introduction states also that a book's "possible emotional and intel The Feminists on Children's Media lectual impact on a young reader" are a collective of women who are must be considered. Right on! Not preparing a list of non-sexist children's even a problem of gender ,there. The hooks. The collective includes moth CSA continues: "from its inception, it ers, high school students, librarians, has been aware of the mental health and other professionals in writing, aspects of reading and asks that publishing, and education. This article books for children present basically was part of a media presentation on honest concepts of life, positive ethi Sexism in Children's Books presented cal values, and honest interpersonal in cooperation with the Author's relationships." Guild on October 15 We ask no more than that. The
Reprinted from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, January, 1971 Copyright c 1971 Xerox Corporation OSA has clearly been struggling to rigid mle definitions require that a on that career she never had-and encourage greater sensitivity toward boy be all that a girl should not be: discover a new concept of herself. racism in books for children. If only unafraid, competent at "male" jobs, The difficulties and the loneliness, are their future book selections could be strong. A weeping boy is a "sissy." real, as are the child-care problems. made with an equally growing sensi Words like "sissy"-and "hero," too But let the woman find a new self tivity to the impact of sexism! Many should be dissected and exposed for reliance in fighting her own battles of the present selections fail to realize the inhuman demands they make on and joy in winning at least some of the promise of rtheir own introduc growing boys. Children's books oould them. tion. The list is guilty of sexism-if help. There is also the question of lan only through indifference. We object to a woman's being guage. No more automatic use of Of course, a greater sensitivity to defined by the man she marries, or "he" to mean "child," or "mankind" sexism would greatly curtail the cur the children she bears, or the father to mean "humankind." ,Jf at first the rent lists of recommended children's she once obeyed. Let's see women alternatives seem forced-and they books-at least for ·the next few who are people in their own right will-they won't sound that way for years. Yet, a scrupulous attitude on independent of such compensatory long. the part of prestigious organizations affiliations. And if a woman doesn't Despite our criticism of socially as would surely serve powe11fully in rais want children, or even a husband, signed roles, we don't mean to dimin ing the general feminist consciousness must this be seen as peculi:ar? ·WhY ish or ignore the mother or house of the children's book world, making not encourage girls in a search for wife. She is often a strong, wonder forever obsolete Eve Merdam's re alternate Hfe styles? Give a girl all •the fully rich human being. Her role can cent and •accurate comment that "sex possible options you give a boy for be vital, and sometimes she finds sat prejudice is the only prejudice now her future life choices, all his freedom isfaction in it. But let's not insist on considered socially acceptable." Habit to inquire and explore and achieve. that as her role. ·Men can also cope dies hard. Her options don't have to be. slanted skillfully wHh household tasks-and We'd like to apologize for seeming toward certain currently socially im not necessarily look .for a ·woman or to pick on CSA. It's just that such a posed preferences. daughter to take them off the hook. praiseworthy introduction deserved There are books on superwomen. attention in terms of its implications Okay. Superwomen do exist. But SEXIST BOOKS for the female image. Nor were we many more books are needed on being picky in our examination of women who simply function very rwell The books we read-most from the specific books: checking the preva and freely wherever they choose--or lists mentioned earlier-fell, or were are forced-to apply their abilities. pushed by our merciless analysis, into lence of so virulent a disease as sex We are bitterly tired of seeing de several categories. One, plain and ism requires the isolation of even po pictions of the woman as castrator. simple, was the Sexist Book, in which tential carriers. Even a well-known writer, whose por girls and women ·are exclusively as What would we like to see in trayal of girls we frequently admire, signed traditional female roles children's books? What were our cri slipped badly in some recent picture although the material may, unhappily, teria? We wanted to see girl readers books. In one of these, the mother be fairly true to life. encouraged :to develop physical confi reproves her son for spilling the mud We were forcibly struck by the dence and strength without the need he is playing with--even though the purposeful sexist propaganda between to fear any corresponding loss of scene is outdoors! In another, little the covers of some of the recom "femininity." We would have liked to sister (and we know where she mended children's books. learned her lesson) reproves brother Young women who have found it see the elimination of all those tire for accidentally spilling paint off his an uphill struggle to identify with the some references to "tomboys." Why easel. Little girls are as capable of popular female image will recognize can't a girl who prefers baseball to making a casual mess and as freely it as propaganda-and not simply as ballet simply be a girl who prefers lost in creative play as little boys. A a natural reflection of life. Unfortu baseball to ·ballet? picture book that does that beautiful nately the girl reader is not yet so Many women have t()--{)r simply ly is Rain Rain Rivers by Uri Shulev experienced. 'Books that outline a tra prefer to--earn a living. Can't we en itz (Farrar, 1969) which we were ditional background role for women, courage girls to find satisfaction and delighted to find on both the ALA praising their domestic ·accomplish fulfillment in work, and lay forever and CSA lists. (We were as pleased to ments, their timidity of soul, their the suspicion •that work outside the find the two previously mentioned gentle appearance and manners, and home for a woman is primarily proof books ignored by both lists.) at the same time-fail to portray ini of her inability to love a man, or to And when, as must sometimes hap tiative, enterprise, physical prowess, land a sufficiently lucrative one? W om pen if books portray real life, there is and genuine intellect deliver a power en do study seriously, work with an overoontrolling or too~bossy wom ful message to children of both sexes. enjoyment--or at least pride irn their an, she should not be made a fool or Such books are a social poison. competence-get promoted, and (of villain. A little understanding-of her Take, for a horrible example, the course) fight sexism at work and in problem, her frustration at not being attitude exempHfied in the following their families in order to progress. allowed to play an equal role in her line: "Accept the fact that this is a Let's show them as no ,less "femin family or her world, and her conse man's world and learn how to play the ine," despite the assertiveness and quent misuse of energy to project her game gracefully." Those •Words fell firm sense of self required in this un ideas and ego through the lives of from the lips of a sympathetic male traditional role. others-is long overdue. character in Irene Hunt's 1967 New Margaret Mead has written that How about books showing more di bery winner Up a Road Slowly (Fol "man is unsexed by failure, woman by vorced and single-parent families? le . . ·. ' . . ~ . . ' .' ·.. ~. . ' ·~ ' ' .' . . ; . .· .· .. ' ···. Ginsusewh8tb0ys invent.~ From Whitney Darrow, Jr.'s "I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl!" (Windmill Books/ Simon and Schuster, 1970) book is marred only by the plot's revolving around the standard ques tion: "Whom shall Kit marry?" In too many hooks we find the male character worrying about what shall he be-while the female character worries about who shall he be. Only a few hairs are out of place in Next Door to Xanadu by Doris Orgel (Harper, 1969), also listed by ALA and CSA. The main character faces the too-often very real hatred of pre teen boys toward girls. She meets it with strength, earning respect. The only boy-crazy girl in the book is deemphasized. But one scene allows our society's pervasive sexism to come shining through. At a going-away party for one of the girls, a woman parades as a for tune-teller. "She took out a bowl, put it on the table, filled it with all sorts of strange little things. Then she said Al's sympathetic teacher explains that it is against school rules for her to take 'Who among you dares to delve into shop in "A Girl Called Al" by Constance Greene (Viking, 1969) the secrets the future holds in store?' " Here were the fortunes of in these books. As a stage in growing that other world •at a safely future the girls: The girl who pulled out two up, tomboy behavior appears to be date. Real life is rarely like that. safety pins would be "the mother of a acceptable. But the girl must in the A new book re•commended on both fine pair of twins." Chalk meant an end conform ·to more socially ap the ALA and the CSA lists is Con other would be a teacher. The one proved behavior. In a widely used bi stance Green's A Girl Called AI (Vik who picked a little sack of soil would bliography compiled by Clara Kirch ing, 1969). The main character be "a farmer's wife." One pulled a ner in 1966 entitled Behavior Patterns comes across as a nonconformist who penny: she would be very rich. One in Children's Books there is an entire truly enjoys her individuality, and picked a little plastic boy doll and she section called "From Tomboy to throughout most of the book she would meet a "fine young man." Young Woman." Here are two ran eschews traditional female worries "Great happiness" was in store for dom descriptions: how she looks, hooking boyfriends, the one who got a bluebird's feather. etc. Wonderful. But the ending is a When one of the girls pulled out a A Girl Can Dream by Betty Cavanna neat little all ~American package. AI jack, the fortune teller chanted: (Westrnins•ter, 1948): Loretta Larlcin, gets thin, gets pretty, and now she "Butcher, baker, candlestick-maker; tops in athletics but poor in social will be popular. All these sudden tailor, sailor, teacher, preacher; doc graces and jealous of a classmate who switches hit the reader in the last few tor, lawyer, carpenter, smith-she shines socially, finds out that being "just pages. Her pigtails make room for a would have kept it up, but Helen a girl" can be fun. feminine hairdo. Her closest friend guessed it. Betsy would marry a jack explains: "Her mother took her to of-all-trades." Billie by Esphyr Slobodkina (Lothrop, the place she gets her hair done and Not be a jack-of-all-trades, but 1959): Billie, who wore faded jeans had the man wash and set Al's hair, marry one. Not be a farmer, but be a and played boys' games because she and now she wears it long with a farmer's wife. The only vocation pre didn't like being a girl, came to think ribbon around it. It is very becoming, dicted was that of teacher. Unfortu differently after she took ballet lessons my mother says. She is right. But I nately, fortune-tellers will be like to limber up a sprained ankle. miss Al's pigtails. I wanted her to that, until we have feminist fortune wear it this way but now that she tellers. That would certainly bring These books fit into the following does I'm kind of sorry. She looks old brighter futures. categories: Womanliness, Growing er and different, is all I know." At the risk of carping, we felt that Up, and Popularity. Again, we are led to believe that such a fine book as A Wrinkle in Young readers of such grievous another character in our long line of Time by Madeline L'Engle (Farrar, cop-outs are forced to believe that the individual heroines will conform to 1962), the 1963 Newbery winner, spunk, individuality, and physical ca the role society has rigidly de.fined for had a hint of acceptance of woman's pability so refreshingly portrayed in her. We .find it hard to buy the sud second-class status. This is almost tomboy heroines must be surrendered den change in AI. And we also miss the only science fiction book in which when girls grow up--in order to fit the pigtails. a girl is the main character. We even the passive, supposedly more mature Sometimes it is .the focus of a book find a mother who is a scientist, per image of a young woman. But where that makes it a cop-out. When we haps one of the only scientist moms in is that earlier energy to be spent? Is read the 1959 Newbery winner, Eliz juvenile fiction. But why did father depression in the adult woman per abeth Speare's The Witch of Black have to be a super scientist, topping mom by a degree or two? haps linked to the painful suppression bird Pond (Houghton Mifflin, 1958), of so many sparks of life? we praised Kit's independent spirit, POSITIVE IMAGES :In a way we could call the Cop her rejection of bigoted values, and Out Book the "co-op" book, for it her truly striking courage at a time Happily, if not of course, there are permits the ·tomboy reader to believe when women were burned for witch some books for children which show she can pass comfortably over into craft. From a feminist standpoint, the female characters in flexible, diverse roles. They allow for character de (Grosset & Dunlap, 1908), and velopment beyond the stereotype, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by do not disappoint us in the end. Kate Douglas Wiggin (Macmillan, At first we tried calling these 1903). Of course there are some posi "Non-Sexist." BHt we found many tive books that escaped our notice, books were not precisely either Sex just as some of the negative ones may tist m Cop-Out, though somehow have slipped by, but we wanted to they did not quite fit our exacting cover a fourth and extra category feminist standards, usually because that seems to overlap all the others. they did not deal with the questions they posed 'in a sufficiently clear, real, ESPECIALLY FOR GIRLS and affirmative way. The rare book that did succeed, even in this, is our This category appears on a number Positive-Image Book. of publishers' lists and on lists of rec Certainly, these categories overlap ommended books. It's called "espe a bit. A Wrinkle in Time really he cially for girls." The reason advanced longs among the Positive-Image by librarians ,and publishers for hav Books. We just couldn't resist putting ing such a category at all is that while down papa's degrees. Unfair, we ad girls are perfectly happy to read mit, because of the especially fine, "boys'" books, no self-respecting boy honest relationship between Calvin will read books about girls. (the 'boy who is a friend, as opposed In our male-dominated society, un to Boy Friend) and the girl protagon fortunately, this is probably true. But ist. They respect each other's heads, listing a separate group of books for and his ego does not stand in the way girls provides boys with a list of of her saving the day with an act of books not to read, further polarizing courage that rescues her little brother the sexes. from it. We also applauded the image There seems only one possible jus of the mother as a brilliant scientist tification for a separate category of who instills pride in her children. books for girls: to spot and recom Another Newbery we salute is the mend those books which, according to 1961 winner, Island of the Blue Dol our highest, most stringent feminist phins by Scott O'Dell (Houghton standards are not sexist. Pursuing this Mifflin, 1960), one of the rare books logic, when children's literature no showing ,a girl with strong physical longer supports sexism, there will no skills. She kills wild dogs, constructs longer be any reason to list books weapons, kills a giant tentacled sea "especially for girls." fish, and hauls a six-man canoe by The current lists of girls' books herself. The Indian girl protagonist, promoted by publishers, show a pre Karana, spends 18 years ,alone on a ponderance of stories about love, da bleak and lonely island. And there we ting, and romance. And there are the are indeed tempted to ask why such a companion books about young girls marvelous heroine can only be en with problems like shyness, over countered alone on an island-and weight, glasses, acne, and so on, that never in the midst of society? are supposed to interfere with ro While on the subject of positive mance. Certainly, problems facing images, ,there is a new book we hope young girls should be dealt with in will appear on the 1970 recommend ed lists. Rufus Gideon Grant by Leigh the books they read, but we resent Dean (Scribners, 1970) is about a the implication forced on young girls boy, but we were taken by the follow that romance is the only fulfilling fu ing reference to a woman: "There ture for 'them. noys, too, are involved inside this magazine was this lady, in romance, but their books are about climbing giant ,trees and playing with other things. wild chimpanzees.... " And Rufus The lists for girls also include career asks: "Can a boy be a zoologist?" books about nurses, secretaries, bal If we had time we would also like let dancers, stewardesses. Why not to discuss such essentially positive more female doctors? Bosses? Pilots? image books as Strawberry Girl hy Lois Lenski (Lippincott, 1945), From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Alice (top) bravely meets her unex Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg pected adventures in Lewis Carroll's (Atheneum, 1967), Vera and Bill "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" Cleaver's Where the Lilies Bloom (Macmillan). The Miller girls (center) (Lippincott, 1969), 'and Pippi Long don't let being female stand in the way stocking by Astrid Lindgren (reissued of their adventures; they even have a in paper by Viking, 1969). Padding stepmother who works ("The Motor our Positive-Image list a bit we might ing Millers" by Albert Wilson Con add commendable classics like Lewis stant, Crowell, 1969). "Phoebe's Re Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (,first volt" (Farrar, 1968) is quashed by published in 1865), Anne of Green social pressures, though she no longer Gables by Lucy M. Montgomery has to wear pink and ruffles (bottom) "Mommies punching tickets on trains," one of Beni Montresor's illustrations for "Mommies at Work" (Knopf, © 1961 by Merriam and Montresor). Written by Eve Merriam, it is one of the few children's books portraying working mothers Aquanauts? Present books sim Trumbull when I was ten." We wel motherless ,teenage heroine cooks all ply reinforce the sex roles imposed come both reactions. the meals and does the housework for by society-and even then virtually Two more books on this list, A her teacher-father, whose domestic all the careers end in a cop-out. When Girl Called AI and Next Door to ineptitude is paraded as one of his the girl marries she gives up the Xanadu, have already been described endearing qualities. A pair of sisters career. But must marriage and career above as Cop~Outs, though we did in the hook are set U:p with mutually be mutually exclusive? These books consider them both almost commend exclusive stereotyped female traits are justified by their publishers in able. To those three accepta