This was an interesting article. I came of age in the early 1970s and remember the debate of using he and him as the default pronouns. I knew a woman who promoted calling history "herstory". It all sounds silly now, but that is only because of the men and women who dared to question the norms of society back in the 60's and 70's. Also worth noting is the website, http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ which is originated by Debbie Reese, in the American Indian Studies Program at UIUC. The site has lots of information about which children's books have stereotypes in them about Native Americans and why the books are sterotypical. Many books that we grew up with have negative stereotypes. The website is a real eye-opener for anyone who is going to purchase and/or use children's books.
All the same, do you just toss all those books (Dahl, Dickens, Austen, to name just a few) that portray anything but the completely politically correct version of life, or do you teach kids to read and think critically? I completely understand not supporting current presses that publish things that are ignorant of real life and its differences for different people, but to make a copyright cut-off for book choices seems a little drastic.
Sue, as an ardent feminist who likes to use gender-neutral pronouns for non-specified people (when I can be reasonably sure it won't cause utter confusion to my readers, anyway), I don't think the idea is silly at all. Not everyone agrees with me, but that's beside the point.
Shawna, I don't think we should get rid of those older books. Talking about them is important, but they are wonderful in their own right. I get more concerned when I see newly published books still using those problematic words and images. It means not that those books are unworthy, only that we haven't done enough to make the readers who will eventually become authors aware of it.
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This was an interesting article. I came of age in the early 1970s and remember the debate of using he and him as the default pronouns. I knew a woman who promoted calling history "herstory". It all sounds silly now, but that is only because of the men and women who dared to question the norms of society back in the 60's and 70's.
ReplyDeleteAlso worth noting is the website, http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/ which is originated by Debbie Reese, in the American Indian Studies Program at UIUC. The site has lots of information about which children's books have stereotypes in them about Native Americans and why the books are sterotypical. Many books that we grew up with have negative stereotypes. The website is a real eye-opener for anyone who is going to purchase and/or use children's books.
All the same, do you just toss all those books (Dahl, Dickens, Austen, to name just a few) that portray anything but the completely politically correct version of life, or do you teach kids to read and think critically? I completely understand not supporting current presses that publish things that are ignorant of real life and its differences for different people, but to make a copyright cut-off for book choices seems a little drastic.
ReplyDeleteSue, as an ardent feminist who likes to use gender-neutral pronouns for non-specified people (when I can be reasonably sure it won't cause utter confusion to my readers, anyway), I don't think the idea is silly at all. Not everyone agrees with me, but that's beside the point.
ReplyDeleteShawna, I don't think we should get rid of those older books. Talking about them is important, but they are wonderful in their own right. I get more concerned when I see newly published books still using those problematic words and images. It means not that those books are unworthy, only that we haven't done enough to make the readers who will eventually become authors aware of it.