The website “Sociological Images” noted changing gender roles as depicted through a series of images in Richard Scarry’s famous children books. The book images came from Alan Taylor’s Flickr set, where he compares Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever, 1963 vs 1991 editions. As Taylor notes:
“The 1963 edition is my own, bought for me in the late 60′s when I was a toddler, and read to tatters. The 1991 edition belongs to my kids today. I was so familar with the older one that I immediately started noticing a few differences, and so have catalogued 10 of the more interesting differences here in this collection.”
Here are the changes Taylor found specifically with regards to gender.
Dad now helps with meals:
Jobs are no longer segregated by gender (the pilot is no longer “handsome,” the “baggage man” is now a “handler,” and the “pretty stewardess” is now a “flight attendant”):
The “brave hero,” “jumping gentleman,” and “fire fighter” are now gender neutral:
And girls are generally added, using bows (for better or worse) as a signifier:
We find it interesting, not just that the changes were made, but also to realize that it’s only been one full generation where the gender stereotypes were such an ingrained part of our culture.
Vocalyze
Wait-gender stereotypes are no longer an ingrained part of our culture?
Are you sure about that? Perhaps you should take a visit to the local toy store. Girls get to choose between pretty little barbies, dolls that she can pretend are her “babies”, kitchen playsets, cleaning tools, jewelry boxes, jewelry, play-makeup, princess dresses and “heels”….you know, things that encourage them to be passive, caring little princesses with thier heads in the clouds.
Boys have cool things at their disposal like super-hero toys, skateboards, t-ball sets…you know, things that encourage them to get active.
While you’re at the toy store, I encourage you to pick up copies of the books For Boys Only and For Girls Only.
…..is this article for REAL??
To “someone’s” credit, there are pink sporting goods now available at places like Target. I don’t know how widely-bought or encouraged it is though.
Gender roles are still pretty hardcore in childrens’ toys though. I think that’s a tough nut to crack. It’s up to the parents – in my opinion – to steer kids from such a hard-edged stereotype, but let them float into whatever it is that makes them happy. Then, they can go fight all the world’s problems harder when it’s time for college, like the rest of us ended up doing
Sports equipment for girls: paint it pink.
You cannot write any article pointing to change that benefits feminism – without one of them attacking you. Feminist progress is always greeted at a threat – because in order to maintain itself they must maintain that there is no progress. No matter how much you give in – they will always want more.
Comments that veer from feminist orthodoxy will get modded down.
Despite what other parents seem to want to do, I take full responsibility for the gender roles that I’ve issued in my household. This is something that I know I am blessed to be able to do, and it has a lot to do with not having cable television in our household.
Having raised our daughter in an environment free of commercials has produced something that’s pretty incredible. Our daughter has grown into the type of person that she wants to be. And yes, sometimes that includes playing princesses or barbie dolls (though most of what she has is from my collection and my mom’s collections that I inherited as well). Sometimes it includes playing cars and trucks. Most of the time she plays horses because we’ve made a point to expose her to them from a young age.
Rather than blaming the toy companies, or authours, or even the musicians and television shows of the day.. I suggest parents take initiative and take control (as much as they can) over the gender roles that their children are exposed to.
It all starts in the home. What kind of gender roles are you assuming in your everyday life? Children are for more likely to note what is happening around them and model after that behaviour than they are to decide, “I can;t play with a basketball because the packaging is blue and there’s a boy on the picture.”
That’s put on them by external sources including their parents.
“… take control (as much as they can)…” Aye, there’s the rub: AS MUCH AS THEY CAN. Because it cannot be 100%, unless you keep your daughter locked up inside your house and never let her out.
You can cut out a lot of stuff, but even if she doesn’t watch TV commercials, she’ll see ads on the street, billboard, ads in stores, magazines, online, etc. She will watch TV at friends’ houses. She’ll talk to her friends, who watch TV and love Disney movies.
You cannot control everything your daughter does. Even if you homeschool, and she doesn’t interact with other students at school, she will interact with other children at some point in time, and she will be influenced by their toys, their parents, their clothes, their music, their views.
Do you plan on letting your daughter read books? Unless you plan on writing and editing those books yourself, she will be influenced by other authors. We as consumers, as members of society, have a right and a duty to speak up about gender stereotypes and demand changes.
It starts in the home, yes. But someday, they have to LEAVE the home, and meet the rest of the world. This is why parents “blame” media and other outside sources: we are asking for accountability and change, because we know our children, and others’ children, will be influenced by these things as well.
When my niece was young, back in the early 90′s, my sister didn’t want her paying with Barbies and she bought her an “alternative Barbie”. I think it was called a “Happy to be me” doll. It had darker hair and more natural proportions. My niece, age 5, hated that doll. Never played with it, not once, despite my sister’s constant encouragement. My niece begged and begged for a real Barbie. What’s really sad is that my niece is half Hispanic and has dark hair, dark skin and brown eyes, but even at age 5, she had absorbed the cultural belief that blond, blue-eyed, pale skinned women are the beauty ideal. Finally my brother-in-law’s sister gave her a Barbie (against my sister’s wishes) because “every girl needs a Barbie” and that Barbie became my niece’s favorite toy for years. “Happy to be me” was eventually donated to Goodwill.
I agree that parents play a big role in defining gender roles for their kids. My husband and I know this, and we were very purposeful in giving our two boys trucks, balls, dolls, a kitchen set, cleaning toys, tools, etc. My husband does half the childcare, half the cooking, half the cleaning. I do home repair, take out the garbage, and I work outside the home. We talk to our boys often about gender stereotypes, and how to avoid them and look at the person, not their gender. And then we sent our kids to public school. Our older son was teased in kindergarten because pink was his favorite color. It’s now red. He comes home from school and tells us that boys are good at sports, girls are good at taking care of babies. He talks about how only girls are interested in clothes, and that they talk about their outfits a lot at school. He points out that none of the girls are any good at mini baseball, and will only grudgingly agree that this could be because they don’t have nearly as much practice playing as all the boys do, not because they are inherently worse at hitting and catching a ball. The books my son reads talk about boys “screaming like a girl”. None of this is ok with me, but this is the world we live in. Society, friends, teachers, coaches, authors, all have a HUGE role in teaching our kids. I will continue to fight the good fight at home, but it sure would help a whole bunch of the rest of the world would stop reinforcing these gender stereotypes every time I turn around. Hats off to Richard Scarry for doing their part to help turn the tide.
Some of the earlier examples are just strange. “Beautiful Screaming Lady”?
Exactly! “Beautiful screaming lady”?? “Handsome pilot, pretty fllight attendant”??
I’m glad they’ve made the changes they have, but good golly… my fond memories of Richard Scarry books just got sorely soiled.
hello evryone just to inform you that magic can change you into whatever gender you think
you just want to be. i know that sex change are always emotional, if anyone would like to share
this story with me I would be glad to introduce to you the spell caster that change my genda
and I would greatly appreciate it. here is my personal e-mail address mariamsmith82@yahoo.com
Interesting! One thing – I didn’t know that people consider the term “brave hero” to be gender specific!
Looks like my comment got deleted because I wasn’t completely pro-feminist!
Pointing out that the replacements words were often smaller or dumber or nonexistent means I’m a misogynist pig who hates feminism and should be censored!
Oh Goodmenproject, do you ever want to be taken seriously?