Gender Messages in Children’s Fairy Tales: An Examination using Content Coding and

Literary Analysis

Katharine Bamberger

Renee Dennison, PhD

Psychology

Ruth Feingold, PhD

English

Presentation Objectives

• Gender socialization processes

• Gender messages in fairy tales

• My study– Goals– Two methods

• Content coding• Literary analysis

• Why do gender messages matter?

Introduction• Socialization

– Occurs throughout childhood and lifespan (Arthur et al., 2008) – Learning what is expected (Elkin & Handel,1989)

• Assimilate into society to maintain relations (Damon, 1988)

• Find/prepare for unique role in society

• Gender socialization– Organize information based on gender (Fagot, 1995)

– Apply information to own beliefs and actions (Bandura & Bussey, 2004)

Introduction cont.

• Fairy tales– Common plot elements (Propp, 1968)

– Fairy element• Magic (e.g., curses, healing)• Mythical creatures (e.g., witches, giants)• Fantastical events (e.g., sleeping 100 years)

– From folklore– Revised over time

Introduction cont.

• Gender and fairy fales– Causes:

• Author’s beliefs (Zipes, 2006)

• Beliefs of the time period

– Means:

• Gendered characters• Limited action based on character role

Introduction cont.

• Gender messages noted in literary analysis of fairy tales– Female

• Collaboration vs. conflict (Mendelson, 1997)

• Victim (Nevaro, 2007)

• Beauty (Nevaro, 2007)

Study Objectives

• To analyze gender messages in fairy tales– Recommended for children’s reading– Prevalence of Disney images, esp. princesses

• Two methods– New method of analyzing fairy tales– Incorporate two approaches fuller understanding

• Masculinity and femininity – Analyzed via both methods– Gender messages serve as information for both girls

and boys, women and men

Content Coding Hypotheses

1. Well-known tales will be distinct from less-known tales with relation to gendered variables

2. There will be differences between the roles of heroes and heroines

3. Gender messages will be primarily patriarchal

Content Coding Methods

• Two samples– Well-known (n =17)

• 19th century versions

– Less-known (n = 18)• Randomly selected

• Rationale: – Less-known sample representative of genre

that has matriarchal origins– Well-known tales different because made

relevant to more recent culture

Content Coding Methods cont.

• Developing Coding Scheme– Based on

• Start list (Miles & Huberman, 1994) – Read all tales twice to become familiar and extract code-

able elements– Condensed start list by grouping similar elements

• Propp’s elements of fairy tale (Propp, 1968)

– Sought to find common trajectory of a fairy tale– Described events and character roles

– Generalized for all fairy tales read

Content Coding Methods cont.

• Categories of codes– Character Description– Events– Character Relationship– Gender messages

• Two coders– Primary coder: author– Secondary coder training

• One hour reviewing meaning of all codes

• Preliminary coding of 5 tales

0102030405060708090

Char D

esc

Event

s

Char R

el

Gende

r Mes

s

WellKnown

LessKnown

% Agreement

Content Coding Results

• Grouping Variables– Well-known/less-known– Heroine primary/secondary

• Test Variables– Heroine seeker/victim– Hero/heroine tested– Stereotypical message present/not – Counter-stereotypical message present/not

• Fisher’s Exact Test

Content Coding Results cont.

Primary/

secondary

heroine

Seeker/

victim

Hero/

heroine

tested

Stereo-

typical

Counter-stereo-typical

WK/

less-known

<0.01 1 0.13 0.60 1

Primary/

secondary

• 0.51 <0.01 1 0.48

• Well-known tales are more likely to have primary heroines and less likely to have secondary heroines

• When the heroine is the primary character she is more likely to be tested and the hero less likely to be tested

Content Coding Results cont.

• Non-significant– Seeker/victim

• Heroines are nearly always victims

– Stereotypical messages• Stereotypical messages present

– Counter-stereotypical messages• Counter-stereotypical messages absent

Content Coding Results cont.

1. Well-known tales will be distinct from less-known tales with relation to gendered variables

2. There will be differences between the roles of heroes and heroines

3. Gender messages will be primarily patriarchal

Literary Analysis

• Versions of 2 tales analyzed– 1 heroine-centered, 1 hero-centered– Across time periods: 18th-20th centuries– Existing literary analysis on specific tale– Extrapolation from general sources on author,

fairy tale themes, gender ideal/messages

Literary Analysis Hypotheses

4. Gender messages will change with each revision either overtly or covertly

5. Each revision’s gender messages will reflect the attitudes of the time period

6. Gender messages will reflect those found in content analysis

Literary Analysis Methods

• Heroine-centered tale– Prevalence in culture– “Cinderella”

• Perrault (1697)• Grimm (1884)• Disney (1950)

– Variations• Different time periods• Importance in recent history of “Cinderella”• Authors’ centrality

Literary Analysis Results

• Perrault’s “Cinderella”– Voluntarily helpless/submits to orders

• Sleeps in cinders even though she has a bed

– Never seeks help• “I should like– I should like–”

– No female collaboration• Stepmother/stepsisters conflict• No mother connection

– Eagerly forgives and rewards stepsisters

Literary Analysis Results cont.

• Grimm’s “Cinderella”– Mother

• Deathbed• Grieving• Grave/tree/bird

– Asks for help• “Throw gold & silver down to me”

– Patriarchal• Conflict• Bad women punished brutally

Literary Analysis Results cont.

• Disney’s “Cinderella”– Adapted from Perrault– Does not ask for help, but not helpless

• “WE can do it! We can help Cinderelly”• “But I already cleaned the curtains”

– Limited connection to mother destroyed– Subplots with mice

• Jaq and Gus heroes defeating Lucifer• “leave the sewing to the women”

Literary Analysis Results cont.

4. Gender messages will change with each revision either overtly or covertly

5. Each revision’s gender messages will reflect the attitudes of the time period

6. Gender messages will reflect those found in content analysis

Common Results

• Complex gender messages– Limited coding reliability– Changes across time

• Heroines act and are treated differently than heroes and other characters– Heroines freq. coded as victims– Heroines model feminine behavior of forgiving and

submitting– Heroines treated badly by other women

• Patriarchal gender messages– Stereotypical present; counter-stereotypical absent– Intrafeminine conflict defining theme of “Cinderella”

Discussion

• Strengths– New approach to fairy tale analysis– Multifaceted methodology gives broader

picture

• Limitations– New coding scheme– Complex gender messages make

interpretation of results difficult

Discussion cont.

• Future Directions– Changes to coding scheme

• Empowering messages• New codes

– More research to establish utility of this methodology

Discussion cont.

• Relevance– Predicting what children interpret

• Individual factors: life experiences, age, knowledge• Identifying with characters• Distortion

– Awareness of messages– Disney versions of fairy tales still popular

• Parents• Audience of feminist re-visions• Emphasizing women as victims in well-known tales

Acknowledgments

• Dr. Dennison

• Dr. Feingold

• Psychology Department

• Kat Painter

Questions?