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Poynter, Elizabeth
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Arts Humanities Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

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Terrified Girls and Furious Boys: Does the Discourse around face and eyes in British Children's Fiction Reinforce Gender Stereotypes? Poynter, Elizabeth
Journal of Language and Literature Vol 25, No 2 (2025): October
Publisher : Universitas Sanata Dharma

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.24071/joll.v25i2.11673

Abstract

Language in context frequently reflects conscious or unconscious gender stereotypes. With children's literature, this may contribute to the development of a stereotypical gender identity. This study examines the linguistic context of two body parts, face and eyes, in two corpora of British children's fiction: adventure books aimed at 'boys and girls', and school and family stories aimed at girls only. Both corpora comprise texts from the mid-twentieth century, which is regarded as a period of strong gender polarisation, and specifically popular rather than prizewinning texts. Analysis employed LancsBox 6.0 corpus software. Faces and eyes may both be used to express emotion, and particular emotions have been associated with traditional binary gender stereotypes. It was hypothesised that these corpora would demonstrate such binary stereotyping. The study found considerable overlap between the two genres, but some distinctions suggesting that the literature for girls was somewhat less stereotyped than that aimed at a mixed readership. The expression of some emotions, such as fear and anger, tended to suggest stereotypical linking of these emotions with a particular gender, although less strongly than has been found in some other studies. It is hoped that these findings will contribute to our understanding of how a child's developing gender identity may be influenced.
My girl, old girl: Keywords, Collocations and Gender in British Children’s Fiction Poynter, Elizabeth
Journal of Language and Literature Vol 24, No 1 (2024): April
Publisher : Universitas Sanata Dharma

Show Abstract | Download Original | Original Source | Check in Google Scholar | DOI: 10.24071/joll.v24i1.7497

Abstract

The importance of children’s literature in the development of gender roles and gender identity is widely acknowledged. In the mid twentieth century books were the primary medium for most children, and the popular British fiction of the period is often considered to present strong gender stereotypes, despite the enormous social changes taking place (World War II, the Women's Movement). This study builds on previous content analysis and small-scale linguistic analysis to explore the extent of such stereotyping. It uses two digitised corpora, one of adventure books aimed at girls and boys, and the other of books for girls, from the period 1930-1970. With the corpus linguistics software LancsBox it examines keywords of each corpus against the other, and further against a contemporary (1961) corpus of general English prose. It then looks at collocations of GIRL, BOY, WOMAN, MAN. While there are some distinctions between the two genres, there are also considerable similarities. Some gender stereotyping occurs in use of reporting verbs and physical description, but there is no clear polarisation of gender roles in the collocations, and females are referenced more frequently in the adventure texts than in general prose of the same period. This tends to support previous findings, that the popular children's literature of this period is more nuanced than is often assumed. 
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