Children's comics

As I've decided I want to write some kind of story to go with the activity pack, I was thinking about different ways of story-telling. I don't really want to write and illustrate a whole book because that could potentially be 30 to 40 pages, which would take my focus off my main objective: to educate a younger audience on the importance of choice within gender. 

Creating a comic might be a faster way to communicate my idea using characters. They tend to be more fast paced than storybooks and in-between pages or panels there could be little activities or facts.

I was thinking about the comics I read as a child (there weren't many!) and I distinctly remember Dennis the Menace & Beryl The Peril. 

Dennis the Menace got into lots of trouble and got up to stuff that is generally considered quite typical of a young mischievous boy. 

Beryl the Peril definitely strays away from what would you would expect from a young female character. Her actions are much like Dennis the Menace's so she is considered to be pretty 'masculine' - even the way she is drawn suggests so. I really like that there are female characters that stray outside of their gender boundaries - it's also great considering it was written in the 50s, which was arguably when the female gender role was reinforced most in the last 100 years. 

After a brief look at what The Works had listed under their 'children's comics' section, I was quite shocked at the amount of content that ultimately reinforces gender stereotypes. A lot of the covers feature big muscly men and perhaps a few scantily clad women. Gender roles and representation in comics is a pretty big issue on it's own and I'm not looking to investigate it too much, but if this is what children are being shown, then no wonder they grow up with the notion that men should be big and muscly and it's okay to objectify women. Although this is only a small representation of comics available to children, perhaps there ought to be more characters featured that don't conform to the usual gender stereotypes.

Creating a character for children

I've decided that it would be much better to write/illustrate a little story to base the activity pack on. My idea for the story is pretty simple - about a young boy who is confused about his gender (not necessarily transgender, but doesn't feel that he fits in with gender constructs associated with being male). I want the story to show what it is like for this character being surrounded by others who all seem to fit into the gender binaries. Perhaps I could also show that once this character opens up about their issues/concerns, other characters step forward and talk about how they feel about either their gender or their opinion on gender expectation.

I've come across this article about creating characters for children - basically a do's and don'ts. I hadn't really thought about the impact a character's name could have on children's perception of them. As the article suggests, it might be a fun idea to use a typically masculine name like Curt and have a character that contradicts what this suggests. It reminded me of a book we read in primary school, The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tiler, and throughout the whole book I imagined Tyke to be a boy - and then right at the end, it was revealed that Tyke was actually a girl! Which goes to show that we assume gender based on how a character behaves because we have learnt that boys and girls behave so differently. 

EDIT: rather than create one character, the story could follow multiple characters which highlight the many issues with gender binaries. E.g. One young boy who wants to wear pink and tries to make his friends see that it isn't a 'girls' colour. Another character could be a young girl who loves being super feminine and dressing up as a princess but also loves to play 'boys games' like football or rugby. 

Existing Activity Books

A few examples of activity books for children from The Works & Waterstones. I want to go and have a look at what they actually contain, but it's good to see that they're all pretty similar prices etc. 

Something else I've noted is that they're all based around a character/story which is clearly something younger audiences tend to engage with. Perhaps I should consider writing/illustrating a short story?

Practical Proposal

Up to this point I have come up with a couple proposals for the practical aspect of this project and I think I really need to nail down what it is exactly I want to do.

• To create a pack/publication aimed at children aged 7 to 11 highlighting the importance of choice within gender & identity.
• The audience (children aged 7 to 11) will most likely engage with this content through a physical activity book or pack however with the increase of technology like tablets, an app version of the content might also be relevant. 
• The pack would include an information book with illustrations (i.e. what is gender, why it is important to acknowledge that gender 'norms' don't suit everybody), perhaps a short story and some activities - maybe a paper doll which doesn't rely on the character's sex to determine the clothes and gives the children the option to mix up gender constructs. 
• Distribution? Potentially this could be something that could be distributed through schools.

Some references I will be looking at:

• HeForShe - "A solidarity movement for equality" - specifically aimed towards men because it is pretty common for them to feel like the equality battle isn't really their fight (but it is!)
• Human Rights Campaign - "Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender equal rights" - Dedicated to raising awareness for the LGBT community by sharing people's stories, news and events. 
• GLAD - "LGBT Youth rights" - Aimed towards a younger audience and is specifically concerned with LGBT rights in schools
• Gender Trust - Offers support for those two are transgender or unsure etc. Has a quarterly magazine and encourages members of the trust to get in touch with each other and offer mutual support. 

There are loads of organisations out there that deal with gender issues but I can't really find any that specifically target the audience I want to. In many cases children are aware of their gender issues at a very young age and it is important to have information targeted at that age readily available (and to make the other children understand).

Gender identity is a very current topic and is more frequently being shown/discussed on T.V. For example, I Am Cait which followed the transition of Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn Jenner. Aimed more towards teens, there was Pretty Little Liars, in which the antagonist whom they thought was a male stalker, actually turned out to be a transgender woman. Much more recently, even Eastenders is featuring a story/character with gender identity issues. 

With gender identity being given more attention in the media than ever before, I think it would be great to seize this opportunity to educate the next generation so that they don't grow up around social constructs that they can't relate to.  

We Should All Be Feminists

Once again I find myself coming back to this video. I think Adichie articulates what it means to be a feminist so well.

Adam, Ruth. A Woman's Place: 1910 - 1975. London: Persephone Books Ltd, 1975. Print.

"Mothers of the period prayed to have a son rather than a daughter"
1911 census says that there were 1000 girls born to every 1039 males. However, "the boys were not as strong as their sisters, particularly from birth to 3 years old". By the time the girls grew up and were old enough to marry, there were not enough men to court them. This would partially explain why it was so common for a young girl to be married to a much older man.
"The supply was further reduced by the constant drain of men in their prime, to administer to the colonies".
As there were so many more women than men in 1911, they were "kept in fear of ultimate rejection by the male" and a "woman's failure or success in life depended entirely on whether or not she succeeded at getting a husband".

The way the author writes about how it would be a "failure" if a woman could not find a husband, only reinforces the idea that women were raised to aspire to marriage and suggests that their lives were essentially worthless if they did not 'achieve' this.

Around 1877, birth control was starting to be developed. It was not widely accepted initially, but the 1911 census showed "that the people making the most use of it were doctors and their wives". Contraception was initially only available to the well-off and the educated but it eventually found its way to artisans and small tradesman. This reduced general family sizes, spaced out pregnancies so that babies had a better chance and drastically lowered the infant mortality rate.

"The release from continual child-bearing and child-rearing was the starting point of women's emancipation"
- Women had more time, energy and fewer "dead children to mourn than any women before them". This lead to young couples having a higher standard of living. Pre 1914, the bicycle meant that a woman could "roam about on her own" without her husband and at a low cost.

The Suffragettes

• The first women's suffrage was actually set up in 1866.
• Before the Pankhursts came into the picture, Millicent Fawcett was the president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (there were 16 in total)
• Fawcett's approach was described as "quiet and unintersting" and mostly consisted of piblic meetings and petitions - all of which were widely ignored.
• The Pankhurtsts were the "widow and daughters of a Manchester barrister who had stood as Parliamentary candidate for the Independent Labour Party" - his idealism about equality is what started their campaign and his friends who helped them.
• "The history of women's emancipation is peppered with men of his kind. The suffragette movement had more than it's quota of them, unappreciated, unthanked and their help barely remembered". - This is similar to what Turner said - I was skeptical initially because it was from a mans perspective.
• The Pankhursts started the Women's Social and Political Union in 1903 and agreed/accepted "nuisance value" and "martyrdom" as a natural consequence of what they had been inspired to do.
• In 1905, Christobel and a factory girl, Annie Kenney, were thrown out of the free trade hall in Manchester for asking about women's suffrage at a liberal meeting.As a consequence of their protest meeting outside, they were arrested for causing a "disturbance". Rather than pay a fine, they chose to go to prison, which resulted in the media paying attention to the movement and it soon became "an angry talking point all over the country".
• The Pankhursts used violent demonstrations, hunger strikes and spent time in prison - arguably as a reaction to Mr Asquith (who was known to be anti-suffragist) becoming Prime Minister.
• "Mr Asquith went through the motions of getting a suffrage bill passed, which quietened the women down for a time; until it dawned on them, all over again, that he had no intention of actually letting it get passed.."
• "female suffrage was an embarrassingly unwanted baby on any party's doorstep" - Once again, similar to what Turner said about the issue when discussing the events in the mid 1800s, no-one felt it was ultimately their place to make a decision on women's suffrage. 

Thoughts on Essay Structure..

Since the group tutorial, I've been questioning what it is I'm asking with this research project and what my ultimate goal is. The essay question I am currently proposing is "How has Western Feminism changed in the last 150 years?" - although I think this will change slightly..

After more recent research I know I definitely want to look at gender roles; their importance in society and how they have changed; what we can do to make positive change surrounding gender roles and finally, the impact social media has had on feminism/changing perspective on gender roles.

Although I will try to remain as objective as possible when writing the essay, I will still be approaching the topic from a feminist perspective. So far I have tried to be critical of my sources and it has proven to be quite helpful because it made me consider which angle the author is coming from - whether they are writing from a position of privilege or opposition etc.

1. Introduction [500 words] - what is this essay investigating? why is this relevant to society today?
2. 1st Chapter [2000 words] - what is feminism? what has it achieved? outline the main differences between each wave
3. 2nd Chapter [2000 words] - What are gender roles and how have they changed? 
4. 3rd Chapter [2000 words -  How has social media had an effect on feminism and changing perspectives?
5. 4th Chapter [2000 words] - Why is 'choice' so important?
6. Conclusion [500 words] - how are feminism, gender identity & choice interrelated? why is it important they they keep progressing?

Outlining an essay structure has made me realise there are some areas I still need to find texts on.. At the moment I'm pretty confident about the first two chapters so from now, I think my main point of research will be on how social media has affected feminism and the importance of choice in society. 

Gloria Steinem - Make Equality Reality 2014

"if you think about the human race as a bird with two wings and one is damaged or broken, no-one can fly"

I think this is a really interesting metaphor about the need for equality in the world. I think having reproductive rights for women is incredibly important and it's crucial that isn't taken away. My only criticism of Steinem's speech is that she doesn't (seem to) acknowledge some of the issues men face and she ultimately boils domestic violence down to a man's need for power. There is no mention of men also suffering from domestic violence - which, granted is a lesser statistic, but is an issue all the same. 

Emma Watson HeForShe Campaign

In this speech, Emma Watson talks about how the word 'feminist' has become a somewhat dirty word and not something people want to identify with. She puts this down to misunderstanding of what it stands for and goes onto discuss that it is a movement for men just as much as for women. The aim of HeForShe is to achieve gender equality by actively making change, rather than just speaking about it. I think it's important to remember that Watson is acknowledging her own privilege and is considering the inequality that is experienced globally for both genders.


In this interview Watson talks more in depth about her views on feminism and the HeForShe campaign.
They discuss what people can actually do to show their support of the movement because although men and women are on board with the idea, they aren't really sure what to do with it. One thing would be actually making a commitment on their website, but on a more social level, Watson says that "we just want to be included".

• (speaking about feminism) "people associate it with man hating"
• "people have come back to what the actual definition means.."
• "men think it's only for women..." but "... if you stand for equality you are a feminist"
• "it starts young, with girls and boys being told what they have to be"
• "we don't acknowledge how much pressure we put on men to conform to a certain perception of masculinity"
• "the minute I stepped up and spoke about women's rights, I was immediately threatened, within 12 hours"
• "both should be free to be sensitive and strong"
• "how are you not recognising the potential of that girl? why can't you see what she could bring to the table?"
• "social media connects people in the world to a community that they might not be able to access around them and it helps them think bigger"
• "femininity needs to be embraced whether it be found in a man, woman or gender non conforming person"
• "there's a lack of a sense of urgency around this issue"

Nicholson, Linda J. Feminism/Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.

• Originally published in 1990s - much more recent than other texts I've read and kind of coincides with the beginning of the 'third wave'

Postmodernism is often associated with an abandonment of conventional ideas of originality/authorship in favour or a pastiche of 'dead' styles. It is critical of cultural constructs - such as those of women, homosexuals and the colonised. In some respects, it is similar to feminism because it challenges social/cultural constructs and opens them up for exploration.

(talking about feminist theory).."It's analysis tended to reflect the viewpoints of white, middle-class women of North America and Western Europe". 

Ironically, feminist scholars argued that there was a limitation of scholarship which was "universalised on the basis of limited perspectives". They were aware that it not only left out women's voices, but many social groups had been completely silenced.

"Like many other Western Scholars, feminists were not used to acknowledging that the premises from which they were working from possessed a specific location"

Nicholson is saying that a lot of these feminist scholars, were to an extent, refusing to acknowledge or were blind to, the fact that they were writing from a position of privilege. 

"Postmodernism offers feminism some useful ideas about method, particularly a wariness toward generalisations which transcend the boundaries of culture and region"

"feminist theorists have not attempted, by and large, the construction of cross cultural theories of the true, the just or the beautiful. On the contrary, feminist theorists have most frequently claimed to base their theories in observation and to acknowledge their construction as rooted in the concerns of the present"

Nichols is saying that generally, feminist theorists have only been concerned with their own situations (e.g. their experience as a white, middle class woman in the west) and there is little consideration of other cultures or races. As Nichols is writing before 1990, her opinion of this is probably based on writers such as Betty Friedan. It is important to realise that the writers before Nichols' time might not have access to information on the state of the women's movement around the world. The West was arguably one of the most technologically advanced and communication within itself was well developed. We have to assume that these women simply did not know what life for women around the world in different cultures was like. One could argue that although they were writing from a position of privilege, they were some of the only ones who could do so (particularly in the early 1900s when access to education was different). Issues such as racism also could have influenced what was published throughout history - women of colour wouldn't have had the same opportunities to affect change as a privileged white woman. 

"On the one hand, gender seems to be a nearly universal feature of all human societies. On the other hand, the actual contents of gender definitions have an astonishingly wide ranging, cross cultural variability" and that difference does not always translate into unequal. 

Here Nichols is saying that gender exists in all cultures, but it is not exactly the same. Just because there is a dominant gender in Western society, it does not mean that there is an oppressed gender in every culture.

"Those who do not see gender as a basic in this deep and constitutive sense are more likely to argue for a politics of equality based on some presumption of eventual attainable and desirable androgyny; that is, on the basis of an identity which transcends gender differences"

This statement is saying that in order to achieve equality between the genders, some people believe that gender boundaries have to be blurred or abolished. 

"the notion of gender as basic merely serves to reify, rather than to critically contest, transform, and escape the imposed myth of difference, while it ignores other crucial and as yet subjugated areas of difference" - suggests that gender is much deeper than just the social aspects we already recognise, it is a learnt behavior and affects our phyche. 

"gender itself is a product of and a contribution to modernist discourse; it is about conventional forms of meaning, practice, and representation" 

Davis, Angela Y, and Robin D. G Kelley. The Meaning Of Freedom. Print. 2012

I chose the book as it was originally published in 2012, so it would offer a much more up to date argument. The writer (Davis), comes from a background of "extreme and blatant unfreedom". She grew up in the 1940's/60's when black middle class homes were "being firebombed regularly by white supremacists".

"freedom is not a thing granted by the stat in the form of law or proclamation or policy; freedom is struggled for, it is hard fought and transformative, it is a participatory process that demands new ways of thinking and being"

Here the writer is basically saying that freedom is more affected by social or cultural constructs than it is law or policy. She is saying that in order to gain freedom, you essentially have to win people over/get them to undertake that way of thinking. I picked out this quote because I think it's highly relevant in terms of the feminist movement - you have to change people's attitudes towards gender inequality before any laws or regulations can be upheld. 

In the end I concluded that most of this book wasn't relevant to my research and I didn't want to digress any further.

Suffragette Premier Protests

Feminist activists stormed the red carpet at the Suffragette premiere. How far have things come for women in Britain in the past 100 years?
Posted by Channel 4 News on Thursday, 8 October 2015

[Direct link to video] 

Just after the tutorial, Becca sent me the link to this video. These feminist protesters took advantage of the media coverage the film would have and demonstrated a highly visible yet peaceful protest. I think it's important that protests like this are still happening in the age of social media/the internet. It's very fitting because the film was about how women were killed doing almost the same thing 100 years ago.
The video gives some pretty good statistics too;

• Out of 650 Mps, only 191 are women - not even half.
• There has never been a woman Chancellor of the Exchequer 
• Less than a quarter of board members of FTSE 100 companies are women (the largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange)
• In the last 10 years, the UK has fallen from 9th to 26th in the World Economic Forum's annual global gender gap ranking. 
• Women working full times till get 9.4% less than men

I'd like to double check the statistics/see where they came from, but I think they're pretty shocking. It just shows that society still has a lot to achieve. 

Group Tutorial Feedback/Thoughts

[Previous post with Presentation Slides ]

• Clear theme/focused subject
• Rather than just relaying historical events and talking about feminism in general, what other things can I discuss?
• There are many different types of feminists - is it fair to group them like that really?
• My project is about informing people about the choices feminism has opened up

You can be feminine and still be a feminist. You can enjoy being a stay at home mum who loves baking and not be an oppressed housewife.

I want to teach children that their sex does not necessarily define their gender - as gender is a learnt constraint. If a boy wants to wear a pink dress, something outside of the usual gender norms, then he should feel able to do so. Likewise, if a person wants to conform to gender norms, then they should feel able to. This does not mean that they support gender equality any less.

With the West becoming increasingly multicultural, there are lots of different types of people that believe in feminist values. This includes people of various religions or race - there are just different interpretations and responses to the movement. 

For example, women who wear a hijab or burqa are too often viewed as oppressed. Is this view itself oppressing these women's choice to wear them? Isn't that what feminism is all about - having the equal choice to wear whatever you want? 

To an extent, there's almost two sides to feminism. There's the economical & political aspect of it, which can be demonstrated with facts and statistics and then there's the social aspect of it. The social side of the movement is much more about educating one another about the importance of having a choice. 

Presentation Slides for Group Tutorial

I've tried to be as concise as possible with the information on the slides. It's hard to know how much information I should tell other people about my topic because I don't know how informed they might already be (plus they have their own research projects to think about). I think I've covered the basics about each wave of feminism and communicated exactly what I am exploring, what I intend to produce and why. 
Something I've never done in a presentation is add a slide to guide the feedback - which will be crucial for this project. Throughout the module I will need feedback on quite specific things, so thinking of questions to ask the group in advance should help. 

Initial Practical Idea Research



To try and get a better idea of what I want to produce for the practical aspect of the project, I gathered a few examples for children's info/activity packs. I couldn't really find many examples similar to what I am aiming to produce - is this a good thing? I don't want to just replicate what is already out there but I do feel as though the market is lacking some form of informative activity pack based on women's history. 

From these examples however, I have noted a few things:

• it needs to be attractive - lots of bright colours have been used in these examples
• plenty of illustrations - too much text will probably bore a younger audience
• the text itself needs to be concise and simply worded
• info booklet plus a 'make' activity and possibly stickers?

Misrepresentation of feminism?

Whilst doing a good old Google search for some reference imagery, I came across this picture.

Initially, I thought it looked interesting and had a nice little summary of each wave underneath - until I reached the description of the third wave feminist. I have to say I strongly disagree and I'm actually a little bit gobsmacked. I went to the page where it was originally posted (blog here) and I actually couldn't believe that this person truly believed this about feminists today. 

The author writes that third wave feminists are typically "privileged, middle-class, suburban white girls" and claims "feminism is now about female superiority, misandry" and "anything that puts men in a bad spotlight". Towards the end of the article the author goes on to say that they do identify as a feminist, but not that type of feminist. 

In my opinion, this person is hugely misinformed about the movement. They see websites such as Tumblr and Facebook as a "breeding ground" for that 'type' of feminist, but why is this a bad thing? For the most part, the author is just describing misandry (are they forgetting misogyny also exists?). Misandry is not a part of feminism - it is about the equality of the sexes, so issues for all genders are addressed. If feminists throughout history had the technology and connectivity we have today, perhaps things would have progressed more quickly. Having platforms such as Tumblr or Facebook to write about a movement and ultimately spread it across the globe has allowed these ideologies to reach places they never would have previously. As the internet is such a huge part of our lives now, I think it is so important to use it to promote change or challenge society. 

It seems like the author of this blog is taking examples of extreme ideals and interpreting it as a representation of everybody (something that happens a lot with religion too!). Just because someone screams the loudest, doesn't mean they are the majority. 

Research Proposal Summary

Initial research question:
"How has feminism changed with each wave?"
   The initial feedback on this idea was that it was too vague, so I've altered my proposal to a more specific topic. I have decided to focus on western feminism, predominantly because of the availability of texts on the topic and you could argue that it has been the most progressive thus far, so there is more to examine.

After initial reading and taking another look at my essay from last year, "How has the role of women changed in the last 100 years?", I definitely want to investigate this topic further. This time however, I will be focusing on the movement that changed the female role.

"How has Western Feminism changed with each wave?" seems like a more appropriate question to investigate. Within this, I have identified a few more questions to try and answer:

1. Are there specific events that triggered each wave? Social/political/economic?
2. How successful has each wave been? How much has society changed in the last 150 years?
3. Will we ever learn from history? Will the movement ever reach it's ultimate goal?

For the practical aspect of the project, I want to use the information I gather to produce an activity pack for a younger audience. This is similar to what I did in level 5 but a more in depth investigation. The general age range for this pack would be 10 to 15 year olds, or possibly even younger? 10 to 13 year olds could be a more suitable audience because people's attitudes change a lot at this age. The pack would teach about the history of feminism, what it has done for society so far and highlight advocates for the movement (both current and throughout history). I intend to present this information in an illustrated booklet with activities such as 'make your own patches and badges' (inspired by current feminism diy culture). Presently, I want to make the pack appealing to both young girls and boys because I think that a lot of men grow up thinking that feminism is against them, when in actual fact it is a movement to ensure the equality of both the sexes, 

My reason for targeting a younger audience is that these people will be the leaders of our world one day, and it is important to educate them if we want to keep progressing. I feel quite strongly about educating people on the women's movement (not just the early suffragists) because nobody ever taught me about it whilst I was growing up - I think it is only right that the women who fought for my right to vote; receive an education; and generally be myself, should not be forgotten by the next generation. 

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

- George Santayana