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Australian academic calling for classic children's books to be removed from schools: 'Sexist and racist'

By Nikolina Koevska Kharoufeh |

A researcher from Western Australia's Edith Cowan University has criticised classic children's books, including some Dr Seuss titles and Harry the Dirty Dog, for having 'outdated viewpoints of gender roles and lack of diversity'.

Dr Helen Adam says these books, which are frequently read to children in classrooms and daycare centres, are "stereotypical and gender restrictive" and is calling for them to be discarded.

Based on her studies, she says there is a serious problem with the "non-traditional gender roles in these books". And, alongside insufficient representation of characters from minority ethnic backgrounds, these classic stories are making children feel excluded and marginalised.

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Dr Helen Adam focuses her research on improving the quality of books read to children in day care. (www.ecu.edu.au)

Research into the children's books being read in daycare centres and classrooms around Australia was analysed, with Dr Adam finding 85 per cent of books being read to children were 'gender traditional'.

This refers to books that "maintain traditional gender boundaries and reinforce gender stereotypes".

An example given in the study was Harry the Dirty Dog, a children's book by Gene Zion originally publishes in 1956.

"The illustrations show bias towards male representation and stereotypes of men. There are over 24 men portrayed in stereotypical roles including road workers, railway workers, shop owner. There are only seven adult females portrayed", the study concluded.

Dr Adam also pointed out that the girls in the book are mostly portrayed passively while the boys are in active roles.

Harry the Dirty Dog and Not a Box were placed in sperate catagories for their extremely different gender themes. (Publishers)

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Out of the 96 books that were assessed only four were catagorised as 'gender neutral' for "increasing readers' exposure and awareness of gender possibilities".

An example of this was Not a Box by Antoinette Portis published in 2006, that was praised for it's main character being an ungendered rabbit.

Dr Adam has blamed the reliance and preference of old and classic books to be read by older educators in care centres.

"At the time of this study, lots of the centres had mainly older books, some first published in the 1950s or 60s, when society's views on these topics was very different to today," she said.

"The books educators choose to read aloud send powerful messages that may influence children's identity and the findings of this study suggests a significant oversight in the book selection practice of these educators."

Following the findings, Dr Adam has suggested a number of recently published books that challenge traditional notions of gender to be included in daycare curriculum.

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A book that follows Nicholas who is trying to figure out which of Elvi's two mums is her real mum. (Scribe Publications)

Some of these included My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart, Who's your real mum? by Bernadette Green and I want to be a superhero by Breanna Humes.

She encourages parents and educators to be conscious about what storybooks they choose to read to children as it can have a major impact on their developing identities.

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