In my theory chapter I have reviewed the post-structural view of subjectivity, which positions readers as active producers of meanings. This view has had an immense impact on gender research in education. The idea of children’s sense making of the texts as variable and paradoxical (both individually and collectively) fuelled a plethora of studies, which placed emphasis on children’s responses to non-traditional gender discourses. Many scholars were interested in scrutinising the potential impact of children’s exposure to feminist fairy tales on their gender identity construction.
Researchers have been particularly concerned with the influential impact of the discursive representation of masculinity and femininity in the literature on children’s gender identity
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construction and their perceptions towards gender roles. Traditional folk tales such as Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty were at the epicentre of the analysis, for researchers postulated that these stories promoted gendered views of masculinity and femininity. In the tales, women often identified with docility whereas emphasis was also placed on their beauty and dependency on men. A male hero/Prince would rescue them from their ‘miserable’ lives and through marriage would position them at the centre of the domestic sphere (Lieberman, 1972; Rowe, 1979; Stone, 1975). The feminist response to the traditional folktales was to provide alternative stories with female protagonists who portrayed as physically powerful, dynamic and independent (Phelps, 1978; Barchers, 1990). These stories were either the remnants of matriarchy, which have been handed down in the oral tradition, or they were produced by feminists. Already from the late 19th century Victorian writers such as Mary De Morgan and Evelyn Scharp ‘conceived tales with strong heroines who rebel against convention ridden societies’ (Zipes, 1986: 13). Since then, a range of feminist fairy tales has been produced (e.g. Nesbit, 1985; Baum, 2005; Storr, 2007). Most often ‘the aesthetics of these tales are ideological, for the structural reformation depends upon a non-sexist...world view that calls for a dramatic change in social practice’ (Zipes, 1986:
13). This was achieved by feminism through a reversed storyline ‘which provoked readers to rethink conservative views of gender and power’ (Zipes, 1986: 13).
One of the most significant studies for the purposes of my research was conducted by Davies (1989b) who analysed pre-school pupils’ responses to a feminist fairy tale, ‘The Paper Bag Princess’. In the fairy tale, traditional gender dynamics are shifted and the ‘Paper Bag Princess’ breaks away from the norms of the fragile and dependent Princess. In the reversed storyline ‘Paper Bag Princess’ is portrayed as heroic and dynamic, a girl who fights with strength and sheer will power malevolent creatures in order to rescue her Prince. At the end of the story the Princess refuses to marry the Prince and seeks new epic adventures. Davies
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(1989b) noted that in spite of the apparent intention of the author to construct a heroine, many of the students to whom she read the story were unable to perceive the Princess as a heroine.
The strong identification of femininity with docility in pupils’ perceptions precluded a feminist hearing of the tale. Davies’ (1989b) findings showed that pre-school pupils had strong preconceived meanings about the categories of masculine-feminine and Prince-Princess. Pupils had expected the Princess to be less dynamic and more dependent on the Prince. The heroic female protagonist in the feminist tale challenged the gendered discourses that pupils widely accepted, and through which they gave meaning to the categories of male-female (Davies, 1989b).
In an analogous study, Wason-Ellam’s (1997) scrutinised boys’ and girls’ responses to the feminist fairy tale of ‘Tatterhood’, a parody of the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. ‘Tatterhood’ is a modern heroine that combines raucousness and beauty and fights against evil witches to rescue Belinda, her demure and fragile sister. In spite of ‘Tatterhood’s’ dynamic personality and heroic demeanour, pupils were unable to perceive her as a heroine. However, in students’
perceptions ‘Tatterhood’s’ heroism was associated with her beauty and her marriage to the Prince. ‘Not surprisingly, beauty was defined as a vision of the ideal female’ (Wason-Ellam, 1997: 433). Hence, it could be argued that although feminist stories provide an ‘alternative to the sexist world’ they are not always ‘powerful enough to disrupt it’ (Wason-Ellam, 1997:
436).
The explanation to Davies’ (1989b) and Wason-Ellam’s (1997) findings lies perhaps in participants’ age and their lack of prior exposure to non-traditional gender discourses, for age plays a crucial role in children’s ability to challenge/reproduce gender discourses (Flerx et al., 1976). More specifically, scholars have postulated that children are active readers and have the power to challenge normative gender representations, providing that the necessary
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discourses through which they will be able to resist/repudiate the gendered texts are available to them. In parallel with this, according to Parsons (2004) upper elementary pupils (aged 8-14) have reached a sufficient level of maturity to challenge gendered discourses and particularly girls are more prepared than boys to participate ‘in this disruption of discourse’
(Parsons, 2004: 143).
Previous studies on children’s responses to non-traditional gender narratives have found that pupils’ gender plays a crucial role in their ability to challenge traditional gender discourses.
In particular, Westland (1993) postulated that in her study boys were less prepared than girls to challenge gendered discourses ‘because they had more to lose than gain from the changes’
(Westland, 1993: 244). Westland (1993) analysed British pupils’ (aged 9-11 year old) responses to the traditional fairy tale of Cinderella. Her findings yielded that girls were able to challenge the Cinderella storyline, as they were almost unanimous that they wouldn’t like to be Princesses, whom they thought lived restricted lives. The majority of girls preferred fairy-tale scenarios that gave their heroines autonomy. In contrast to girls, boys identified with the Prince and in general accepted the traditional gender narratives. The boys ‘... had little incentive to alter the standard fairy-tale structure...’ because ‘independent Princesses might be a risk, even a threat, and get in the way of the hero continuing to do as he liked (Westland, 1993: 244).
Analogous were Rice’s (2000) findings, who analysed American sixth-grade boys’ and girls’
responses to the Japanese folktale ‘Three Strong Women’. In the tale, Forever Mountain on his way to wrestle before the Emperor meets Maru-me, a girl with astonishing physical strength who together with her mother and grandmother (women of extraordinary strength as well) train him for three months. As a result of the training that he received by the ‘Three Strong Women’, Forever Mountain easily wins the wrestling competition. At the end,
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Forever Mountain gets married to Maru-me and becomes a farmer (Rice, 2000). Rice (2000) observed that children who had the discursive history to challenge the gendered discourses did so. Boys and girls who participated in her study were not able to resist to gendered discourses to the same extent. Unlike boys who had taken up traditional gendered positions,
‘a small shift from stereotypical positioning was signified by the girls, suggesting that the discourses available to the girls [had] enabled them to broaden their cultural definitions of gender’ (Rice, 2000: 230).
Children’s ability to reproduce non-gendered discursive practices has also been examined by Yeoman (1999). In her study, a post-structuralist methodology was deployed in analysing Canadian fourth-and fifth-grade pupils’ perceptions of non-traditional gender roles as well as their ability to produce their own gender egalitarian stories. Her findings yielded that children’s prior exposure to non-traditional gender narratives14 influenced their ability to understand gender egalitarian texts. A strong linkage between lack of previous exposure to non-gendered discourses and resistance to non-traditional gender narratives has also been proposed by Trousdale (1995). The researcher explored girl’s responses to gender discourses in three feminist stories (‘Tatterhood’, ‘The Twelve Huntsmen’ and ‘The Three Strong Women’) and a ‘patriarchal’ tale (Grimm’s ‘Briar Rose’). Her findings postulated that Cindy, the participant, gave meaning and understood the strong female characters of the stories based on patriarchal discourses. Although Cindy admired the strong female protagonists she did not identify with them (Trousdale, 1995). In spite of the fact that Cindy placed emphasis on the female heroines’ demeanour, she also felt that she ‘would rather be normal’, for her future aspirations were gender normative. Moreover, Trousdale (1995) argued that in the retelling of the story Cindy tended to change the characters’ roles into more gender normative. For example, in the retelling of ‘Three strong women’ she ended the story by
14Children had been exposed to similar texts in popular culture and in their classroom (Yeoman, 1999).
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saying, ‘and they lived together. Yeah. And I bet he did the ploughing instead of Grandma’
(Trousdale, 1995: 175). When the participant was asked to explain, she answered, ‘...cause he was the man, cause he was the man of the house. Cause the man of the house did the ploughing, like, and he was probably strong. So she did it’ (Trousdale, 1995: 175). However, there was a strong indication that women would continue to do the ploughing after Maru-me married Forever Mountain, as they did before the marriage.
Unlike Cindy, Nikki, a young girl in Trousdale’s &McMillan’s (2003) study, was able to challenge the gendered discourses and she accepted the female heroine. More specifically, Trousdale &McMillan (2003) conducted a case study of a girl’s responses to gender roles in three feminist fairy tales (‘Tatterhood’, ‘The Twelve Huntsmen’ and the ‘Three Strong Women’) and one ‘patriarchal’ tale (Grimm’s ‘Briar Rose’). Using a grounded theory methodology, Trousdale &McMillan (2003) interviewed the participant at two stages of her life, at the age of 8 and 12. Their findings yielded that at the age of 8 the participant ‘was remarkably forthcoming and sophisticated about gender constraints, but at 12 had obviously noted ‘where and when women speak and are silent’ (Trousdale &McMillan, 2003: 24). The analysis of the girl’s answers at two different stages raised questions about how girls negotiate cultural scripts in a patriarchal society (Trousdale &MacMillan, 2003). Nikki was also unable to accept the passive female protagonists, like Cinderella, and suggested that had she been Cinderella she would have acted differently, for she identified with active heroines such as Tatterhood (Trousdale &MacMillan, 2003).
In summary, gender research on children’s responses to traditional and non-traditional gender discourses in fairy tales has showed that children are active producers of meanings and not passive recipients of pre-determined meanings in texts (Currie, 1999). In this context, texts are ‘polysemous sites’ (Lemish, 1998: 148). Children’s age (Parsons, 2004), gender
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(Westland, 1993) and their previous exposure to non-traditional discursive practices play a crucial role in the production of meanings.