Author: Lotte Salling
Illustrator: Michael Domino
Publisher: Forlaget sprog og leg
Year: 2013

The student’s conclusion: Gender is presented in a diversified manner

The book describes synonyms and antonyms based on a small boy and his family and friends. This is a cute book with wonderfully many feelings described and pleasingly clear colours in all nuances, no pastel colours. The clothes of the boys have many colours; green, blue, orange, purple, pink, grey, red, i.e. “boy colours and girls colours”. Most are, however, green and blue.

The story tells us how one of the boy’s friends likes to be active and wild, while the other one would rather sit still and talk. The adults are clearly illustrated as men and women with appropriate hair and clothes. Both men and women manifest care and anger. We see the little sister making a mess and the little brother toying with his food.

There is a man who is a baker. When a profession is mentioned it is masculine, but he also makes pancakes at home. There are women crying, which is typically feminine. Body gendered codes are generally masculine for both men and women, but not when they cry.

The only women included are the boy’s sister, mother and grandmother. There are no girlfriends in the book. Boys and men play the main roles, which is a traditional description of gender roles.
There are both masculine and feminine codes, even if most are masculine ones, but they are distributed across both men and women. The story is therefore partly diversified because it presents genders in a varied manner, but masculine ones still dominate.

Student of early childhood education at University College Sjælland