Little Red Riding Hood Too Sexist for School

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From BookRiot:

A school in Catalonia has withdrawn from its library 200 classic children’s books such as Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood because of their depiction of sexist stereotypes.

After analyzing the contents of its library for children up to the age of six, the management of Taber School in Barcelona found that around a third of its stories were “toxic,” and that only one-tenth of the books were written from a gender perspective.

Anna Tutzó, who was on the commission that looked at the books, said gender bias also pervades fairytales and the change of gender roles in society “is not being reflected in stories.”

. . . .

In the U.S., at least, studies show that only 11% of the stories in history textbooks are about women. Is this because 50% of the population only contributed to 11% percent of the country’s events?

Link to the rest at BookRiot

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9 thoughts on “Little Red Riding Hood Too Sexist for School”

  1. Is this because 50% of the population only contributed to 11% percent of the country’s events?

    Yes. The dispute falls on the events that are being studied. The events are indeed male dominated. I’d be interested in what events are being missed.

    Don’t like the way people did things in the past? OK.

  2. Gotta love how today’s warped p.c. values are applied atrociously to yesteryear. For those who want unfiltered versions of fairy tales (from Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson et al), check out a podcast called “Tales”. Good stuff from our warped childhood. As dark as you want to be.

    • Well, it could be that they’ve realized it’s not enough to say things were different in other times and today we’ve evolved beyond such attitudes because people might realize that today’s “universal values” aren’t quite as universal across time. If things were different yesterday, they might be different tomorrow and the future might see these times as poorly as they see the past.

      Dangerous thoughts.
      Best to erase the past, pretend those attitudes didn’t happen. “We’ve always been woke… er, at war with EastAsia.”

      Like I said, perfect story fodder.

  3. Is this because 50% of the population only contributed to 11% percent of the country’s events?

    Um, yes?

    Note, this is talking about the entire history. A history textbook that only covers, oh, about the last century would have a much different proportion. This also does not say that the 50% was not essential in all of history – just that they did things that were not unusual and highly notable.

    Example: A detailed history of how Martha kept the family plantation running would be mind-numbing. Yet, George would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to justify gadding about in the countryside fighting the Redcoats had she not been keeping the home fires burning.

    • Bringing in reason will avail you naught.
      The cause be hopeless; waste not effort.
      Tis not an issue of history but of politik.

  4. “A school in Catalonia … because … toxic,”

    Gee, doing that speed-reading thing of just glancing for keywords helps the OP make perfect sense!

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