Overcoming Gender Stereotypes in Elementary School

This week’s article summary is The Making of a Man: Rethinking and Challenging Stereotypes  

The article begins with the ways gender-nonconforming or transgender students are teased and bullied, especially in middle and high school.

The article’s main purpose, however, is to remind us—as elementary teachers—that we need to guide our students to avoid succumbing to traditional gender stereotyping that still dominates our society today.

A few years ago in a school in-service presentation, a psychologist who specialized in transgender teens explained how gender should not be viewed as an either/or, zero/sum, masculine/feminine paradigm but rather as a continuum in four areas: biological, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. 

All of us fall somewhere on the continuum and often in different places in the different categories, e.g., you may be a male biologically yet you may identify as and express yourself to the world as female. 

Mainstream society lags behind research. Our students are bombarded with images and messages that reinforce the stereotypic view of gender. (Whenever I wear a pink shirt, I invariably get comments from young kids—and adults—that pink is a girl’s color.)

The picture books listed below run the gamut and even push societal limits—I am not sure most elementary schools are understanding and compassionate enough yet regarding gender to read the last book with kids.

Still, as the article states we need to help our kids “be able to see themselves in the literature they read, especially those who demonstrate multiple masculinities or femininities, or who demonstrate gender variance.”

Joe

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Experts estimate that one in 500 children is gender nonconforming or transgender. Although schools are places where respect for diversity is fostered, especially for children with disabilities, gender diversity is rarely valued.

Children can find themselves in hostile environments where bullying and teasing from peers and adults are the norm. Students are can be verbally and physically harassed and report that school personnel typically do not intervene on their behalf.

Most literature read in elementary classrooms reinforces conventional gender norms. Gender stereotypes in books amplify and perpetuate biased attitudes and behaviors. Females in children’s books commonly are described as ‘beautiful, frightened, worthy, sweet, weak, and scared,’ while male characters are represented as ‘big, horrible, fierce, great, terrible, furious, brave, and proud.’

Fortunately, this is changing for girls, with a number of books depicting multiple femininities with characters who cross the traditional gender line, excelling in sports, fighting in battles, showing courage, assertiveness and leadership, and sometimes identifying closely with boys.

While multiple masculinities are depicted in an increasing number of young adult novels, there are fewer such books for younger children. William’s Doll (Zolotow, 1972) and Oliver Button Is a Sissy (dePaola, 1979) are two early examples of books in which not all boys are strong, tough, aggressive sports lovers.

Below are five picture books that facilitate primary-grade discussions about gender stereotyping, gender role development, and accepting individual differences. It is essential that children be able to see themselves in the literature they read, especially those who demonstrate multiple masculinities or femininities, or who demonstrate gender variance.

The Only Boy in Ballet Class (Gruska, 2007) – Tucker loves to dance and his feet never stop moving. He’s teased in school but not in ballet class. Then he’s roped into playing in a championship football game and is terrified. When the ball lands in his hands, he uses all his dance skills to help win the game.

The Boy Who Cried Fabulous (Newman, 2004) – Roger has trouble making it home from school because, much to his parents’ annoyance, he finds everything to be “fabulous.” He solves the problem by expanding his vocabulary to include wonderful, glorious, magical, and luscious.

My Princess Boy (Kilodavis, 2011) – This book is written by the mother of a young boy who loves to dress up like a princess but is hurt by the way people stare and laugh at him. The story encourages children to be more accepting of those who are different from them.

10,000 Dresses (Ewert, 2008) – Bailey dreams about dresses every night and tells his family how much he would like one of those dresses. His mother, father, and brother are repulsed – Boys don’t wear dresses! – but he tells them he doesn’t feel like a boy. He meets Laurel and they work together to design and make beautiful dresses.

Be Who You Are! (Carr, 2010) – Nick has always viewed himself as a girl; he feels as though he has a girl’s brain and enjoys wearing dresses. His parents accept this and repeatedly tell him, “Be who you are!” He joins a play group with other gender-nonconforming children, tells his parents he doesn’t want to be a boy anymore, and changes his name to Hope.

While the need is great, there are significant challenges to bringing such literature into elementary classrooms. Stereotypical views on gender and masculinity are deeply ingrained, and censorship of this literature is widely accepted. To even begin to help children rethink their views and learn the value of challenging their own stereotypes will take considerable work on the part of sensitive and understanding teachers and administrators. There is, obviously, no quick fix to changing stereotypical attitudes, and parents, of course, must be given the option of having their children excused from these literature discussions.

In addition, it’s important to plan carefully when using such books in classrooms. There are several strategies, including brainstorming stereotypes up front using sentence stems (Girls like to…, Boys wear…), putting together a semantic gender and character analysis chart after reading the books, and pairing these books with picture books in which strong female characters cross gender lines.