Mest utlånade bilderböcker utifrån genusperspektiv
The society in which we live is controlled by various kinds of rules, both written and unwritten. These rules tell us not only how we should act as humans but also how we should act as women and men. Adults teach their children the rules of the society in various ways, but they also act as model figures. Children are influenced by conscious and unconscious actions and also by activities performed by the adults. Furthermore, adults write children?s books which bring the essential content into children?s lives. These books propagate the image of men and women and these images influence children?s view regarding both genders. The aim of this paper was to examine how boys and girls are represented from a gender perspective, based on the 10 children?s books most often borrowed from Stockholm City Library in the year 2010. The method used in this paper is both qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The result showed that feminine and masculine characters are presented from the stereotype gender?s point of view, especially in terms of physical appearance. Some exceptions appeared in terms of stereotypical properties and activities of the genders, but masculine rules appeared to be dominating. On the other hand, there were significantly more masculine characters than feminine characters in the examined children?s books.