Gender Roles in Children’s Books: An Examination of Little House in the Big Woods and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Gender classification is a predominant topic within today’s sports and is most broadly understood through the portrayals of sports media. Through overt and covert ways, sports media has continued to promote a masculine representation of sports (Millington & Wilson, 2010; Messener, Duncan, & Jensen, 1993). By understanding the way in which sports media portrays sports, one can recognize how masculinity has dominated the world of sports. With the aid of two unique studies of sports media, this paper will critique the way in which media has effected the gendered depiction of sports.

The article relates to sports because it refers to gender ideology because it identifies the “children as male and female” and the “roles of females and males in society” and this article describes how these children were treated according to status and gender (Coakley, 2015). This information coincides with information in our text. According to (Coakley 2015) organized youth sports children perceive them as a way “to enhance their status among their peers” robbing them of enjoying the sport because it is controlled by adults “that focus on the improvement which can

A sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Sports originated in early history as males only, and was often used to see which male was more dominant. In today’s society sports have a different meaning and is played by both genders, but still holds a mentality of superiority. In this essay, I will be arguing the Social Constructs of Masculinity in Sports in the language and the actions used when performing these activities through both genders and how some actions are acceptable for one gender and not for the other. Using Laurel Richardson’s article Gender Stereotyping in the English Language, and X: A Fabulous Child’s Story by Lois Gould. The article and story will help distinguish the use of words in our society and how they are incorporated in sport and how the actions of a person that does not fit the social standard faces repercussions for their actions.

When a person of a specific gender enters a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex, many social and moral issues will arise challenging that person involved in that particular sport. The intentions of the individual will be questioned as well as their personal interest in the sport. Before any of these questions are asked, there must be a redefinition of gender roles, femininity, and masculinity. In order for a person to enter a non-traditional sport for their gender/sex without being criticize about gender morality, society must set flexible definitions for femininity and masculinity.

Children’s literature is not an accurate reflection of the developing roles of females in America (Kortenhaus and Demarest, 1993). In Hamilton’s study of 155 best-selling non-award books in 1999 to 2001, nine best- selling award books, and thirty 1995 to 2001 Caldecott books, the results in titles showed a 1.8:1 male to female ratio, 1.8:1 in main characters, and 1.5:1 in pictures. The study also proved that female authors did not publish more books with more male than female main characters (Hamilton et al., 2006). In Gooden’s study of 83 Notable Books for Children over the years 1995 to 1999, the results showed a 1:1 male to female ratio of the main character, a 1.2:1 ratio in pictures, and the titles actually had 19 females to 18 males in them. The study also showed that women were depicted in non-traditional roles such as chefs and doctors. Males were still not observed grocery shopping or caring for the children (Gooden & Gooden, 2001). According to these results, male to female ratios have decreased to equity numbers in pictures, titles, and main characters.

Here are the traditional gender roles implemented by society: women as natural caregivers and more nurturing while men as the providing responsible emotionless heads of family. I’m not denying that men and women are biologically different, but the childhood environment impacts, as numerous studies have scientifically proven, the traits that define their personality. For example, girls playing with dolls are subconsciously modified into a mother- nourishing and empathetic; through army sets, leadership roles are embedded into the boy’s brain.

Males are usually expected to act and look ‘masculine’ and females ‘feminine’. Also there is certain behaviors and norms that people are expected to conform to, based on their sex assigned at birth. In

Folktales are a way to represent situations analyzing different prospects about gender, through the stories that contribute with the reality of the culture in which they develop while these provide ideas about the behavior and roles of a specific sex building a culture of womanhood, manhood and childhood. This is what the stories of Little Red Riding Hood of Charles Perrault (1697) and Little Red-Cap of the Grimm Brothers (1812) show. This essay will describe some ideas about gender in different ways. First, the use of symbolic characters allows getting general ideas about the environment in the society rather than individuals. Second, it is possible to identify ideas about gender from the plot from the applied vocabulary providing a

In the short story “Boys and Girls,” Munro allows her work to comment on the gender roles that are accepted in society in the 1940s. In this given time period gender roles in society were extremely limited and stereotypical. In the short story the narrator, a young female, struggles to find herself and discover what her role is in society. In the beginning, the narrator is oblivious to society’s gender roles as she believes she is equal to her brother and enjoys doing male duties. However, as the short story progresses, the narrator is exposed to sexism and stereotypes as she is being constantly reminded that a female’s place is not outside with the men. This stereotyped gender role becomes baffling to the narrator because she personally feels

Charlotte's Web, Anne of Green Gables, Treasure Island, Cinderella and Grimm's Brothers fairy tales, have all been treasures of society's basic children's literature. They covered their share of beauties, villains, conflicts and happy-endings that many of us remember till this day. But were we as society's children aware of the impact these stories made on our views of men and women? Although parents, teachers and other socializing agents communicate gender roles to children at an early age, the issue of how children's literature influences gender roles, stereotyping and sometimes sexism has been a topic on many educators, researchers and psychologists' agendas since as early as

Books are not less important part of playing role in shaping human identity such as knowledge of the culture values and acceptable human behavior. Children enjoy when their parents read interesting stories for them or they even more enjoy having read fairy tales by themselves. They like to be projected main role on themselves and play in pirates, doctors, or peter pan. However, in most of the stories that young children might read still represent women stereotypically compared to men.

Throughout literature, authors employ a variety of strategies to highlight the central message being conveyed to the audience. Analyzing pieces of literature through the gender critics lens accentuates what the author believes to be masculine or feminine and that society and culture determines the gender responsibility of an individual. In the classic fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, the gender strategies appear through the typical fragile women of the mother and the grandmother, the heartless and clever male wolf, and the naïve and vulnerable girl as little red riding hood.

I have thought about many different ways to organize this paper and have come to the conclusion that the best way to approach the topic is on a book-by-book basis. My perceptions of the gender biases in these books vary greatly and I did not want to begin altering my views on each so that they would fit into certain contrived connections. What interests me most in these stories is how the authors utilize certain character's within their given environment. Their instincts and reactions are a wonderful window into how the authors perceive these "people" would interact with their surroundings and often are either rewarded or punished by the author through

In the past few decades, women have been greatly stereotyped and prejudged against due to their roles in literature and society. J.M Barrie’s Peter Pan is a classic tale about the adventures of a young boy who never grows old and lives on the magical island of Neverland. When viewing this story, with the Feminist Critical Theory, one can see the negative portrayal of womanhood and its effect on a young audience. The portrayal of women in Peter Pan teaches the readers about gender roles and stereotypical characteristics, the insignificant role of women in society, and the sexualization of women.

Everyone is born inclining to a particular sex. Children are either a boy or a girl. In some instances, some people develop both biological features found in males and females. As children grow, biological features continue to become more distinct. It becomes easier to separate people of one sex from the other. As a result of the sex an individual belongs, the society has, in turn, placed specific expectations from each sex (Reisner, Greytak, Parsons & Ybarra, 2015). These are called gender roles. To do this, the society categorizes people into genders and expect these genders to behave in a particular fashion. While the biological difference remains to date, the gender differences have undergone some changes. This is influenced by effects of technology and globalization. People adopt new cultures thus abandoning what they initially believed in. technology has made some activities easier to do thus everyone in the society can do them comfortably. Despite the passage of time and changes that have occurred, sex and gender ideologies remain relevant today and more to specific regions.