A critical reading of gender construction in Malaysian children's literature

Abstract

Children's literature is an important resource for knowledge construction among young children. As they read the stories or have the stories read to them, children are presented with multiple ideologies and belief systems and this includes notions of masculinity and femininity (Taylor, 2003: 301). These ideologies are absorbed by young children and go on to influence their attitudes and behaviour as they participate in society. Perhaps for this reason, the reading of gender in children's literature has been an area that has drawn the interest of numerous researchers over the decades (Bender and Lach, 1990; Collins, Ingoldsby & Dellman, 1984; Crabb & Bielawski, 1994; Dellmann-Jenkins, Florjancic & Swadener, 1993; Desai, 2001; Dutro, 2002; Gooden & Gooden, 2001; Kortenhaus & Demarest, 1993; Oskamp, Kaufman & Wolterbeck, 1996; Poarch & Monk-Turner, 2001; Turner-Bowker, 1996; Weitzman et al., 1972). These studies have generally pointed to evidence of sexism, that is, the denigration of females realised in tandem with the exaltation of males (Ivy & Backlund, 1994: 72).

Naughty Boys and Sexy Girls

“…Think and see occur more with girl than boy , but not exclusively. Although these examples are fewer than those in the activity group, and perhaps not numerous enough for a safe conclusion, the difference in male and female representation nevertheless strengthens traditional images of males as braver, more curious, adventurous, and mentally more active than females (see, e.g., Swann 1992:98; Nair & Talif 2010:148-152).…”

The Marginalisation of Malaysian Texts in the English Language Curriculum and Its Impact on Social Cohesion in Malaysian Classrooms

“…In a multicultural society, the context of the content is crucial in creating an awareness of ideological constructs and their attendant influences on young learners (Radhika and Sandhya, 2009;Vengadasamy, 2011;Kalamees-Ruubel and Läänemets, 2012;Ramesh and Talif, 2013). Besides this, using a Eurocentric yardstick is merely a struggle between tokenism and embracing differences (Radhika and Sandhya, 2009).…”

The characteristics of male and female characters in children's literature

“…Zanimljiv je i podatak da su muški likovi često imali osobine ili ponašanja čije su odlike agresivnost, bes i ljutnja, dok je vidljiv nedostatak takvih emocija i ponašanja ženskih likova (Turner-Bowker, 1996). Slični su i rezultati istraživanja leksičkih izbora i konstrukcija roda u malezijskoj književnosti za decu (Nair & Talif, 2010). Autori su istraživali epitete kojima se opisuju samo muški ili samo ženski likovi, kao i one koji su korišćeni i za jedne i za druge.…”

“…Iz toga proizilazi značaj istraživanja i preispitivanja načina na koji su prikazani dečji likovi. Ukoliko su u književnosti za decu sadržani rodni stereotipi, veće su šanse da ćemo podsticati čitaoce da usvajaju te stereotipe (Nair & Talif, 2010). Iz tog razloga nas je zanimalo na koji način su likovi devojčica i dečaka prikazani u tekstovima i kakvu poruku oni šalju deci o njihovim društvenim ulogama.…”