Did you have a favorite book as a child that has always stood out in your mind? Maybe you feel like it taught you a lot, and it influenced the person you are today. It turns out that it’s not just nostalgia that makes you feel that way. The books you read as a child really do have a huge impact on what and how you learn.
Of course, oftentimes when we consume different forms of media, we encounter messages that we didn’t intend on picking up. This is true for children, too. Recent studies have concluded that children’s books teach boys and girls different lessons about who they are and how they are expected to act. Traditional gender norms are basically pushed onto children as soon as they’re introduced to books.
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A study published in the European Journal of Pain and summarized by Talker Research examined the different attitudes in how pain is presented to boys and girls in children’s books. Researchers from the University of South Australia found that boys experienced pain more commonly than girls did in books, at a rate of 53% compared to 29%. However, despite girls experiencing pain less, they reacted much more strongly to it. 78% of girls cried when they felt pain, while only 22% of boys did the same.
The lead researcher, Dr. Sarah Wallwork, said this directly correlates to how boys and girls are taught to act in adulthood. “When boys are presented as stoic, it may encourage them to conceal their pain — a behavior that has been linked to an increased vulnerability to pain later in life,” she said.
This has a huge effect on the patterns and traditions boys and girls pick up. The University of Michigan reported that a study published in Scientific Reports found that, contrary to popular belief, women are not more emotional than men. However, most people have the idea that they are. This is because of the stereotypes perpetuated by the media and popular culture, which are presented to children from a very young age.
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The same study from the European Journal of Pain also took a look at how boys and girls react to pain when helping and supporting others. Girls were more likely to offer comfort to those who needed it, presenting them as more nurturing. Meanwhile, boys were painted as more practical by actively advising others on what to do. Dr. Wallwork commented on this as well. “Similarly, when girls are consistently portrayed as carers, it reinforces expectations that empathy and nurturing are ‘female’ traits,” she said.
Believing that women are more nurturing than men would be a fallacy, though. Writing for UC-Berkeley’s Greater Good Magazine, Emma Seppala stated, “Moreover, whether they are researching animals or humans, males or females, scientists find that compassion is innate and instinctual across the board. Research with both animals and humans shows that we naturally have an impulse to help others who are suffering.” One gender doesn’t really care more than the other, but that’s not what children’s books would have you believe.
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A somewhat similar study that also examined kids’ books, this time looking for specific evidence of gender stereotypes, was published in the journal Psychological Science. The Association for Psychological Science shared the study’s findings. Researchers used something called “word embeddings” to “measure words’ gender associations.”
Molly Lewis, lead study author and a researcher in the Department of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, said, “For instance, we found that the statistical patterns of words in these books reflected the stereotype that boys are good at math, while girls are good at reading.” This could connect back to boys supposedly being more practical while girls are more emotional.
Writing for Scientific American, Colleen Ganley noted that there are some differences in how boys and girls perform in math. In some areas, boys appeared to do better, while in others, girls appeared to do better. She summarized, “Overall, there are only small differences in boys’ and girls’ math performance; those differences depend on the age and skill level of the student, what type of math they are attempting, and how big of a dissimilarity is needed to say that boys’ and girls’ math performance is truly different.” In other words, while there may be some stereotypical ideas about what subjects boys and girls excel in, gender does not determine academic success in any specific subject.
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Lewis pointed out another finding from her study. “Another unexpected result was that children tended to be exposed to books that conveyed gender stereotypes about their own gender — girls tended to be read books about girl characters; boys tended to be read books about boy characters,” she said. “These findings are important because they suggest that books may be inadvertently teaching young children about gender stereotypes.”
This means that boys and girls are taught traditional gender stereotypes from a very young age. Before they can even read themselves, books are teaching them how their gender is supposed to act and be perceived. If this is starting so young, it’s no wonder that our world has been unable to eradicate these stereotypes. Girls and boys are told that they are not the same in society’s eyes from early childhood.
This can really impact children and affect how they view themselves into adulthood. “Gender stereotypes can harm mental health and lead to issues like low self-worth,” said health writer Heather Jones. “Gender stereotypes affect job choices and pay, impacting men’s and women’s roles.”
As much as many people would like to create an equitable society for both boys and girls to live in, that’s simply not possible when they’re being exposed to such blatant gender stereotypes from the time they are old enough to understand the books being read to them. Lewis noted this is getting better with books published more recently, so hopefully, gender equality will become a trend that’s here to stay.
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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
