​PAGE 12:
"For Beauvior, gender is "constructed", but implied in her formulation is an agent, a cogito, who somehow takes on or appropriates that gender and could, in principle, take on some other gender. Is gender as variable and volitional as Beauvior's account seems to suggest? Can "construction" in such a case be reduced to a form of choice?"
When the relevant culture that constructs gender is understood in terms of such a law or set of laws , then it seems gender is as determined and fixed as it was under the biology-is-destiny formulation. In such a case, not biology, but culture, becomes destiny.  

PAGE 43 & 44: 
Gender is the repeated stylization of the body, a set of repeated acts within a highly rigid regulatory frame that congeal over time to produce the appearance of substance, of a natural sort of being. 

​PAGE 173:
​Such acts, gestures, enactments, generally construed, are performative in that the essence or identity that they otherwise purport to express are fabrications manufactured and sustained through corporeal signs and other discursive means. That the gendered body is performative suggests that it has no ontological status apart from the various acts which constitute its reality. 

​PAGE 178: 
The action of gender requires a performance that is repeated. 

PAGE 179:
​The effect of gender is produced through the stylisation of the body and, hence, must be understood as the mundane way in which bodily gestures, movements, and styles of various kinds constitute the illusion of an abiding gendered self. 

One of the main things which stood out to me in this chapter was the way that the reactions of the children backed up and evidenced the idea that male power equals domination. See page 91.
Page 109 mentions the ways that males and females are allocated roles which involve particular behaviours. Males are portrayed powerful, contrasting with those of a female who appear weak, ‘complementary and supportive to that power’.

Conclusion:
The conclusion I found quite fascinating. “At the heart of the idea of maleness seems to be the idea of power as male power, with females having power only in the domestic realm or as helpers of men in the male sphere.” Another element I found in the conclusion was the ways in which Davies addresses how this idea is embedded in the narrative structures of children’s books, which consequently affects their attitudes towards themselves and others as they develop - “attitudes they develop towards themselves either as active agents who can and should act powerfully in a public sphere, or as sexualised beings whose agency is profoundly inhibited through the positioning of themselves as the passive recipients of another’s gaze.” - see page 138.
Page 141 - Davies finishes the conclusion with the need for more communicative practises for children - the belief that they should not need to comply with a label of ‘male’ or ‘female’, or ‘boy’ or girl’ and the behaviours and characteristics these labels expect. “They need access to forms of discursive practice where their social practice is not defined in terms of the se too genitals they happen to have.”

It is fair to say I found this book very eye-opening, and particularly fascinating considering the era it was written in. Although it isn’t really current enough in terms of the present day problems surrounding gender representation in children’s literature, it is interesting enough to see how this has previously been addressed and researched.

Firstly, I was quite surprised after reading this article, as I was under the impression that many of Dahl’s protagonists were male. However, this was a pleasant reminder of the reality that Dahl is actually a supporter of female gender which is conveyed through his modern approach of female heroines.
‘Matilda’ one of Dahl’s greatest books, involves a bright, dynamic female character as the protagonist, along with a petrifying headteacher, Miss Trunchball - which already breaks stereotypes surrounding employment. Matilda acts in a way normally associated with boys in such literature. Matilda’s world is female dominated and we see Dahl’s attempt to break stereotypes through the character of Matilda’s father who states ‘girls should be seen not heard’, followed by several degrading statements. “The patterns of gender which can be associated with fairy tales are carried by the adult female characters in Matilda”.
This article also covers Dahl’s book The Witches, which is one of the most heavily criticised sexist books due to it’s “implied connection between malicious and gender”, however after analysation, we can forgive Dahl through his clear statements that witches are not human, and the lack of feminine features of the witches. He can be applauded however for the great representation of female characters, despite the adventurous child in the book being male - which also fits the stereotypical characteristics of a boy of that age.
The other book which is analysed is The BFG and the gender acknowledgements within. The girl here is not portrayed as weak nor passive towards the descriptively large male character, which breaks tradition which would normally convey fear. One criticism which is mentioned is the way there is a clear differentiation of boys and girls however which we see when dreams are referred to - the BFG refers to girls dreams as ‘whoppsy girls’ dream’ which boys would refer to as “rot bungling grinksludging old dream”. It is clear here that the genders are portrayed to have complete difference in interests, which in today’s society would be deemed non-representative and naive.


Overall I found the article quite eye opening, providing me with ideas and food for thought.

After the session with Claire around research methods, I found it much easier to find appropriate texts and articles. I think ProQuest is a really useful search tool, especially the advanced search options. I will link my notes from the lecture below.

​Although I did find some interesting picture books which are much more open minded, whilst  breaking stereotypes, these were far and few between. I found that lots of the classic, very popular picture books that are still very common today, seem to only involve male characters which in the modern day is quite alarming. Tony Ross is definitely an author I want to research further as I know he uses controversial characters and I have heard of parents not wanting their children to read their books. Another thing I noticed throughout was stereotyping around gender roles - authoritative figures being male.

I also was introduced to this instagram page which is full of great resources for such topics. I think this is a great page for sourcing helpful, educational books, for families/children who would benefit. I will link below. 

​www.instagram.com/diverse_kids_books/?hl=en

Gender is something that fascinates me in regards to breaking stereotypes, traditional views as opposed to the current era, feminism etc. I have always been interested in picture books and this has been more recently brought to my attention as I'm now re-reading most books again to my young nephew which has highlighted lots of issues. I plan to learn more on the reasonings behind gender choices within characters, and how this is changing as society evolves. One thing which this could also lead to is traditional family life, the way 'normal' was mum dad and kids, the typical nuclear family, whereas in the current period there is no normal. My personal opinion on this topic, as a child from a non-nuclear family, wonders why children's books struggle to display the non stereotypical gender roles and family situations. Picture books are impressional texts aimed at young people that embody social norms - and I want to understand how we break this 'norm'. 
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What is gender stereotype? Gender stereotyping involves a generalisation or preconception of behaviours, characteristics or roles carried out by male and female texts. This can be harmful towards men and women as it may limit their abilities/capabilities due to the misconceptions of their gender.
What is a picture book? A picture book is a book which is most commonly written for children, containing lots of visual and verbal elements. They use pictures and words to create meaning and help children understand and learn that words convey meanings, particularly through the use of contextual clues.