I follow a few authors and illustrators on Twitter and
Facebook. Not only does it help me keep
up to date on new books being published, but also they are generally
intelligent and interesting people. They
post some of the most thought provoking links or comments in both of my
feeds.
A month ago Shannon Hale, Newberry honor award nominee and
author of various children, young adult and adult books, posted about male
readers and her books.
She has observed that her book signings tend to be an all
female audience with the occasional male fan.
When she has had the opportunity to talk to these boys, she has learned
that they generally are homeschooled.
The question she poses on her blog is – why? Why does she have so few male fans? Is something happening in schools that make
boys feel like they need to conform to specific gender roles? Why should a boy not be encouraged to enjoy a
book with a female protagonist? Would a
female be discouraged from reading a book that is generally considered more
male centric like Ender’s
Game or Hatchet? My guess is no. Why does a double standard exist?
Gender roles and peer pressure is not a new topic. In a couple of my education courses at UIUC,
we discussed at length how young people form an identity and the impact their
environment has on this development.
Since this is a youth services library blog, I thought this
topic was certainly appropriate. It is something I need to consider in my
future career. How as a future school
librarian can I make sure I am doing my do diligence to avoid making gender
bias assumptions during readers advisory or on book displays or book talks? It is something I need to continuously be
mindful of so I do not contribute to the problem.
