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CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDER
STEREOTYPESIN CHILDREN'SBOOKS*
This article deals with gender stereotypes in popular children's books. I propose an exercise in which students use content analysis to uncover latent
gender stereotypes present in such popular books as those by Dr. Seuss.
Using a coding frame based on traditionalgender-role stereotypes, I assign
students to small groups who then undertakea close analysis of selected children's books to see whether or not traditionalgender-role stereotypes are apparent. Students examine the text, symbols, characters, use of color, and
major themes in each book. In this article, I briefly review the theoretical underpinnings of the exercise, offer a brief summary of content analysis, and
outline the delivery of the exercise, its learning goals, and major discussion
points. Througha take-home assignment, students are asked to articulate the
manner in which gender stereotypes may be perpetuated by the media. Additionally, students are encouraged to think about the ways in which their own
gender identities have been shaped by the media. Actual student comments
are used throughout to highlight the majordiscussion points.
FRANKTAYLOR
EdinboroUniversityof Pennsylvania
themselvesas membersof various social
categories, includingcategoriesrelated to
gender,social class, or race and ethnicity,
and to thinkaboutthe ways in whichtheir
lives have been shapedand influencedby
membershipin those groups. Perhapsthe
most basic social status is that relatedto
gender.Societymaintainsa differentset of
normativeroles for women and men, and
requiresof them differentresponsibilities
andkindsof work.One'sexpectedopportunitiesandoutcomesin life correlatestrongly
withgender.
One method of helping students learn
aboutgenderstereotypesand gettingthem
interestedin sociologyin generalis to use
the tools of qualitativeanalysis (Walzer
2001). The exercisedescribedhere consists
of a content analysisof children'sbooks
which contain many common stereotypes
"*Pleaseaddress all correspondence to the
relatedto gender.Almostany type of chilauthor at Department of Sociology, Edinboro
dren'sbook can be used. Studentsperform
University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA
a contentanalysisof gendermessagesin the
16444; e-mail: ftaylor@edinboro.edu.
books
by using a codingframespecifically
Editor's note: The reviewers were, in
for the purpose.Using the techdeveloped
M.
Linda
Art
order,
Grant, Jipson,
alphabetical
described
here, studentsread and
niques
and J. Allen Williams.
ONE OF THEMOSTdifficult tasks we face
whenteachingintroductory
coursesin sociis
students
that society
ology
convincing
in
a
role
their
behavior
plays large
directing
and shapingtheirlives. Studentssteepedin
the ideologiesof individualism
andmeritocmuch
to
racy
prefer view theirbehavioras a
matterof choice and outcomesin life as
congruentwith their unique talents and
skills. For instance,when it comes to genderedbehavior,manystudentsare inclined
to believe that differentialoutcomesin life
for womenand men are due to naturalor
innate differences(particularlydifferences
relatedto biology)ratherthanthe processes
of socializationand social forces which
might be suggested by using their
(Mills 1956).
"sociologicalimagination"
Thus, students must learn to identify
300
301
dren gender roles. A 1972 study of awardwinning children's books discovered that
women and girls were almost invisible.
Boys were portrayedas active and outdoorsoriented, while girls stayed indoors and
behaved more passively; also, men were
TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
302
leadersandwomenfollowers(Weitzmanet
al. 1972). This researchwas replicatedin
1987, and the researchersconcludedthat
althoughsome improvementsin roles for
women had taken place, the charactersin
the bookswereportrayedin traditionalgender roles (Williamset al. 1987). The 1987
researchfound a majorityof the female
charactersshared no particularbehavior,
girls in the books failed to expressany career goals, female role models were lacking, and male characterswere still portrayedas more independent.More recent
research, based on the same Caldecott
children'sbooks, foundthat
Award-winning
women were still portrayedin traditional
gender roles usually associated with the
householdandtoolsusedduringhousework,
whereasmaleswere non-domesticandassotools and
ciated with production-oriented
artifacts(CrabbandBielawski1994). However, otherresearchconductedin the 1990s
suggests that the traditionalportrayalof
womenin children'sbooksis givingway to
a moreegalitarian
depictionfor bothwomen
andmen(Clark,Lennon,andMorris1993).
This certainlysuggests that the issues are
farfromsettledandrequiremoreresearch.
LEARNINGOBJECTIVES
In orderto successfullyachievethe learning
objectivesof the exercise, some previous
topics should have been fully addressed,
includingsocialization,culture,and gender
inequality.The following learning objectives are derivedfrom the theoreticaldisof languagein the
cussionof the importance
of
socialization:
process
1. Demonstratethat gender ideology is
embeddedin popularchildren'sbooks.
2. Uncoverthe dimensionsof genderideology presentin the books throughthe
use of contentanalysis.
3.
4.
Connect the gender ideology in children's books to gender inequalities related to work, occupation, income, and
education.
Discuss whether the books are simple
reflections of innate gender differences
CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES
303
ManifestandLatentContent
Manifest content in an artifactof social
communicationrefers to elementsthat are
physicallypresentandcan be countedaccurately.For example,studentscan countthe
numberof male or female role models in
the books. Additionally,the number of
womenin rolesoutsideof thehouseholdcan
be countedor the numberof womenin leadershiproles, andso forth.
Latent content, on the other hand, requires an interpretivereadingby the researcher, who interrogatesthe symbolic
meaningof the datain orderto uncoverits
deep structuralmeaning(Berg2001). Obviously, a contentanalysisof latentmessages
is moredifficultto achieve.Whenemploying a latentanalysis,the researchershould
use corroborative
techniques,such as using
coders
or providingdetailed
independent
from
the
data, which supportthe
excerpts
statedinterpretations.
A rich latentanalysis
not
be
in
feasible
one class period,but
may
students
should
be
Criteriaof Selection
encouragedin the atThe issue of exactly which elementsfrom tempt.Also, a latentanalysismaybe approthe bookswill be analyzedrefersto the cri- priatefor a take-homeexercise, which the
teriaof selection;in this exercise,the crite- instructor
can easilydevelop.
ria are usuallyworkedout in advance.The
criteriashouldbe exhaustiveenoughto ac- Whatto Count
304
themes that seem to be important
(Abrahamson1983). The deductive approach,on the other hand, uses a coding
schemedevelopedin advanceof the analysis. The researcherdevelops a hypothesis
from a theoreticalframeworkand tests it
usinga codingschemewhile performingthe
analysis.A codingscheme-in this example
one basedon the traditionalgenderdichotomy foundin many introductionto sociology textbooks-is providedto the students
in advance.
Althoughalmostanythingcan be counted
when performinga contentanalysis,seven
major elements are usually emphasized.
These elements include words, themes,
items,concepts,and
characters,paragraphs,
semantics(Berg 2001). For this exercise,
studentsshould easily be able to identify
words,themes,andcharactersrelatedto the
traditional gender dichotomy. Students
shouldbe instructedto look for these elementsin the book'stext, as well as the use
of color, the storyline,phrases,picturesand
anythingelse relatedto gender.
CodingFrame
This exercise employs a coding frame to
organizethe dataandto help studentsidentify findingswhile analyzingthe books. I
have used the coding framepresentedhere
with great success, and instructorsshould
findit easy to reproduce(see Appendix).
TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
EXERCISEDELIVERY
StepOne
Startby dividingthe class into smallgroups
of two or three students.I have used the
exercisein largerclasses wherethe groups
can be as largeas five students,althoughin
largergroupsthe chanceof socialloafingis
greater.Once the groupshave been established, allow themto select a book to analyze and handout the coding sheets. Each
group should have one book, one coding
sheet, and a copy of the traditionalgender
roleslistedin Figure1.
At this point, give the studentsexplicit
aboutwhatthey are expectedto
instructions
do. Explainthatthey are going to readthe
booksandlook at the pictureswith the specific goal of determiningto what extent
genderstereotypesare present.The importanceof systematically
linkingtheiranalyses
to the datacannotbe overemphasized
(Stalp
and Grant2001). This is accomplishedby
askingthe studentsin eachgroupto develop
operationaldefinitionsof the genderstereotypestheywill code.
I like to use a dialecticalapproachthat
mixes inductiveand deductivetechniques.
Studentsfirst take a cursorylook at each
book to see whetheror not genderstereotypesarepresent.For example,if the group
thinksthe book containsan exampleof a
womanbeing passive, they begin to try to
GenderStereotypes*
Figure1.GenderThemesBasedon Traditional
Traits
Masculine
Traits
Feminine
Dominant
Submissive
Independent
Dependent
Intelligent
Unintelligent
Emotional
Receptive
Intuitive
Weak
Timid
Content
Passive
Cooperative
Sensitive
Sex object
Attractivedue to physical appearance
Rational
Assertive
Analytical
Strong
Brave
Ambitious
Active
Competitive
Insensitive
Sexually aggressive
Attractivedue to achievement
CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES
305
306
TEACHING SOCIOLOGY
CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES
307
A thirdinterpretation
oftenvoiced during
discussionis that the books simply reflect
reality.Witha little effort, studentscan be
spurredinto thinkingof lots of womenand
men they have knownor knowwho do not
fall into the traditional definitions of
"feminine" and "masculine." In other
words, not all men are dominantand independent, nor are all women submissive,
passive, and dependent,as suggested by
genderstereotypes.If the booksdo not accuratelyreflect realityfor boys, they do a
worsejob of reflectingrealityfor girls, who
are nearly invisible in them. Moreover,
researchsuggeststhatmost childrendo not
developconsistentlyfeminineor masculine
(Bem 1983;Bernard1981).
personalities
a
and
reads
sits
down
studentscommentedon
someone
female
Several
Until
actually
bookand analyzeseverypictureand word, how accuratelythe booksreflectreality:
you don'tsee the hiddenmessagesor probthatkidsare beingexlemswithinequality
Notall boysarebad,notall girlsareprissy.
posedto. It wasn'tjust in one or two of the
notall fathers
arehousewives,
Notallmothers
and
books.Therewere cases of inequality
aredoingallthework.Therewerejusta lotof
ineverybook.
cultural
different
messages
inthebooks.
wrongmessages
Gender
playsa largerolein thesebooks.For
inthesebooksit is veryrarethatyou
instance,
will see the malebeingshorterthanthe fethe malein a
male,or the femaleprotecting
is almost
female
The
situation.
dangerous
and the
follower
as
the
alwaysportrayed
in
leaderis morelikelythemale.Themothers
whostay
thesebooksareusuallyhousewives
homecleaningandcookingall day.Whilethe
andcomeshome
fathergoesto a jobeveryday
withthechildren,or relaxes
androughhouses
aftera hardday'swork.Someof thesethings
mayhavebeentrueat thetime,butin today's
societymostwomenworkeverydayto help
earna living.
308
TEACHINGSOCIOLOGY
genderstereotypes.Althoughthis exercise
cannot directly determine the extent to
whichany particularstudent'sgenderidentitywas influencedby children'sbooks,it is
an issue studentsshouldbe asked to consider. To that end, instructorsmay find it
useful to assign studentsa take-homeproject in whichthey conductfurtheranalysis
of genderin the media.
These take-homeassignmentscan take a
variety of forms, but I have found two
strategiesto be particularlyeffective. The
first strategy asks studentsto reexamine
mediathey were familiarwith as children.
In this case, studentsare directedto recall
theirchildhoodandto identifytheirfavorite
children's books, cartoons, storybooks,
textbooks,and even games. They are then
instructedto locatesamplesof thatparticular mediaand conducta latentanalysisfor
genderstereotypesin a mannersimilarto
the class exercise.The secondstrategyasks
studentsto conducta broaderlatentanalysis
usingcurrentmedia.Thisanalysiscan focus
on advertisements,commercials, magazines, and television programs such as
situationcomedies, or movies. For example, certain, if not all, Disney movies
(includingTheLion King, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin)lend themselvesquite
well to a latent analysisof genderstereotypes.
Ask studentsto writea threeto five page
essaybasedon theirchoiceof strategiesand
one (or some combinationof) suggested
topics. In orderto complementthe in-class
exercise, their essays should address the
followingissues:
"* identifiablegenderstereotypes
* similarityof sample to those gender
stereotypesfoundin the class exercise
"* what role the mediaplays in transmitting genderstereotypesto futuregen*
erations
how accurately students believe the
gender stereotypes describe themselves
or other women and men they know
to what extent students have incorporated gender stereotypes as part of their
genderidentity
to what extent students'gender roleperformancesapproximatethe gender
stereotypesandin whatsocialsettings
CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES
or everythingthatwas evil or badwas colored
in black, while everythinggood and happy
was coloredin primarycolors.Thinkingabout
all thesemessagesremindedme of how whenI
was youngermy fatheronce saidto me, "You
hammerlike a girl,"to whichI replied,"What
thehelldoesthatmean?"He hadno answer.
From these remarks it seems clear that the
exercise is one that does indeed help students recognize gender stereotypes in popular children's books. Indeed, the exercise is
easily adaptedto other media and other ideologies and stereotypes. I conclude with a
comment from one of the male students,
who had a somewhat broader view of the
exercise:
309
APPENDIX.
CodingFrame:FemaleGenderStereotypes
Submissive
Dependent
Unintelligent
Emotional
Receptive
Intuitive
Weak
Timid
Content
Passive
Cooperative
Sensitive
Sex Object
Attractive
CodingFrame:MaleGenderStereotypes
Dominant
Independent
Intelligent
Rational
Assertive
Analytical
Strong
Brave
Ambitious
Active
Competitive
Insensitive
SexuallyAggressive
Achievement
310
TEACHINGSOCIOLOGY
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CONTENTANALYSISAND GENDERSTEREOTYPES
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