Stereotyping in Children's Literature

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Many children’s books, especially those which were published before the beginning of the 1990’s contain elements of stereotyping, particularly racism, sexism and classism. These elements reflect the widely accepted attitude of the time when the books were written. The question remains; do these books still have a place on our bookshelves today even though society has moved towards political correctness and opposes stereotyping? This topic is discussed briefly in the book review by David Ward which featured in The Guardian, entitled “Golly! Blyton ‘is not guilty of racial slurs’”. I shall further discuss the issue of stereotyping, particularly with reference to Enid Blyton’s Noddy series. Stereotyping is defined by the Oxford Online Dictionary as “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing”. Racism, which is a form of stereotyping, is a mind-set. Racism arises out of the belief that one race is superior to another. Sexism is stereotyping which is based on sex. Sexism is most commonly a prejudice shown towards women, however it can be a prejudice against men. It is usually based on the belief that women are inferior to men. Classism is regarded stereotyping or prejudice shown towards people of a certain social class. It is typically viewed that being a part of the middle or upper class is better than being a member of the lower class. The lower class members of society are generally regarded as your blue collar workers who do the more menial jobs in society. With reference to these definitions, I agree that Enid Blyton uses sexual and class stereotypes in her writing. This is evident in “Noddy and the Magic Rubber” (Blyton, E. 1986) where Miss Little Doll is described as carrying a shopping basket. This is a form of sexism as it is stereotypical for a female character to be shopping, as this is perceived
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