Oh, The Places We've Been
Dear Leading Ladies,
First, we have two quick reminders:
Hungry to Learn
Please make time to watch Hungry to Learn, a documentary about food insecurity on college campuses and the subject of our next kNOw MORE! discussion on Monday, March 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. EST
Here is the correct link to watch Hungry to Learn. (We apologize for giving the wrong link last week.)
Register to join our March 22 Zoom discussion here.
To read more about the problem, Hunger on Campus includes extensive information and statistics.
Book Swap
Also, we hope you are gathering books to donate or trade at our Winter’s End Book Swap on Saturday, March 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the side yard of The Book Shop of Beverly Farms at 40 West Street. Remember, swappers and buyers will receive a coupon for 15% off all books purchased that day at the book shop. And there will be hot drinks and sweets for sale from Cha Cha LaMer. All proceeds will benefit local literacy programs.
Now, for this week’s topic.
There has been a big brouhaha during the last week or so about some of Dr. Seuss’s books being taken out of print because they contain images that are offensive and demeaning to several groups of people and that perpetuate negative stereotypes. Those who cry that the move was another example of cancel culture, or that keeping the books in circulation presents teachable moments, are missing the point.
“The teachable moments in these texts are for adults, not for small children.”
First of all, let’s hope we have come a long way in our sensibilities since the 1940s when close to nobody in the field of children’s literature thought much about the effects of characters or themes on children of color. Cowboys could kill savage Indians, Colonialists could tame wild Africans, and everyone was free to laugh at slant-eyed Chinamen. Thank goodness we are now paying attention to the great harm such images do to our children: both those who see ridiculed or subjugated characters who look like themselves and learn to feel “less than,” and those who see dominant characters who look like themselves and learn to feel “more than.” And, please, one doesn’t read these books to four-year-olds with the intent to “teach” them that the images are false and wrong! Just imagine reading an entertaining tale to preschoolers and then saying, “Oh, by the way, you are not supposed to be amused by these characters because they are portrayed in degrading and negative ways.” The teachable moments in these texts are for adults, not for small children.
In an opinion piece in the New York Times last Thursday, Charles M. Blow wrote that “As a child, I was led to believe that Blackness was inferior. And I was not alone. The Black society into which I was born was riddled with these beliefs.” Through books, movies, and television programs, he saw people who looked like him ridiculed, subjugated, and, always, powerless. So, when he read that the Seuss books, a small part of the canon of the writer’s works, were to be no longer published, he was pleased. “Racism,” he wrote, “must be exorcised from culture, including, or maybe especially, from children’s culture. Teaching a child to hate or be ashamed of themselves is a sin against their innocence and a weight against their possibilities.”
“Isn’t it time we women united to see equal roles for all become more than a fairy tale and, instead, our true story?”
Who could disagree? Seuss himself evolved with his times and wrote many books that promoted tolerance, mutual respect, care for the environment, and individuality. Who among us would like some of our early thoughts and writings claimed to be representative of our current thoughts on every social issue?
It is notable that the books of Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, are not the only ones that have received a second look with today’s eyes. The portrayal of females in children’s books has been reconsidered in recent decades as well. Popular children’s author Richard Scarry actually revised some of his books to make female animals into firefighters and police officers, roles previously assigned only to males.
By the way, an amazing standout in the annals of feminist kiddie lit is The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward, first published in 1939. In it, a brown mother is chosen to be the year’s Easter Bunny because of her skills at time management and her kindness. This is an unheard of choice in the long pantheon of white male Easter Bunnies. Heyward was best known for penning the book of Porgy, the basis of the opera, Porgy and Bess. The children’s book is still available and not to be missed, whatever you celebrate in the spring.
This brings to mind the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and the story of its birth, near demise, and current status. Can any of us imagine a children’s story selling today that portrays one half of the people in the country entitled to more money for their work just because they are taller than the other half? Where the short half are not allowed to decide what is done to their bodies, just because they are shorter? Where the tall people are in charge of more than 95% of the largest companies in the country? Where the tall half gets to tease and bully the short half without getting in trouble much of the time, but it doesn’t work the other way around?
You couldn’t find a publisher anywhere for a children’s book with that plot. Yet, the ERA, which proposes a rewrite of the inequities in that story, still lacks enough support to become law. Isn’t it time we women united to see equal roles for all become more than a fairy tale and, instead, our true story? The time is past to buy into any of the specious arguments that detractors use to dissuade some of us from supporting it.
Thirty-eight states, including Massachusetts, have voted to ratify the ERA. President Biden and Vice President Harris have voiced their commitment to the ERA. Don’t let them forget how important this is to us. Write them here.
We recommend you listen to this week:
A podcast about Shirley Chisholm, first Black Congresswoman, and first Black candidate for president of the United States, who famously said, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Presented by The Cabot Theater.
Stay safe, wear masks, and spread hope, not aerosols.
Therese
Judy
Mary
Kim
Leading Ladies Executive Team
Leadingladiesvote.org