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Photo from Powell's
Oh, I love Dr. Seuss as much as the next gal, but was he a sexist?
Margot Magowan points out in her recent article on SF Gate, Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss, no girls invited, the possibility that the good "doctor" had a problem with girls.
In his writing career, Theodor Seuss Geisel, under the pen name Dr. Seuss, published over 60 wonderfully imaginative often genius rhyming children's books. However, these books only included a handful of girl characters, including Cindy Lu in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and the sister in The Cat and the Hat.
Now honestly, while I think Ms. Magowan makes a valid discussion point (why didn't Dr. Seuss include more girl characters?), I don't really have any reason to believe he was actually a male chauvinist.
He was a writer after all and oftentimes, writers write about what they know. Theodor was once a boy, so it's not so strange that he often included boy or male characters. But probably more importantly, there's the part about the era in which he was writing. It wasn't really a girl's world, now was it? Who knows if he'd even have been able to sell a girl-centered story to a publisher. Sad but true.
The part I think is really important is Magowan's final point: "Dr. Seuss — just like the guys at Pixar and Disney — is so creative in so many ways, why does he become trite and cliche when it comes to gender? Why is it so beyond the male imagination to create a magical world where girls and boys are equally important?"
Disney, and especially the ever-modern Pixar, should be able to look at Dr. Seuss and the entire children's literary canon and see that half the population is *STILL* being sorely overlooked. They're making multi-million dollar movies, which can and should include more strong, independent girl characters.
What do you think? Had you ever noticed there were so few girls in Dr. Seuss books? Did it bother you? And what do you think about this in terms of today's children's literature and media? Does it matter?
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Comments (15)
What about Gertrude McFuzz?
No it doesn't bother me.....he didn't have many people in his books either...I think his books are TIMELESS and GREAT even today for kids to read and LEARN how to read!!!!!
I think that perhaps he wrote about boys because once, he WAS one.
Who's in Whoville were more than just boys and the Onceler could have been a girl, who knows? Who cares? I just loved his books as a child, and my children did too. I still have The Lorax sitting proudly on my bookshelf.
Oh good god. Seriously? He wrote children's book for crying out loud and they certainly weren't male-only! Thats why they are CLASSICS- because EVERYONE has been able to enjoy them, boys and girls alike. How many of his characters were actually people anyway?
And how chauvinist is the lady who brought up this ridiculous idea? Seriously? She went around counting the number of female characters (well, human ones anyway) in his compilation of stories... that hints at a deeper rooted personal issue.
Really? Dr Seuss books have been key in teaching young children to read. The stories are fun and as innocent as the children reading them. What's next? are you going to smash Charlie Brown because Lucy didn't get the lead role? lol what a silly issue to discuss!
Wow. Who really cares??
As a kid, you wouldn't notice if the book had more boys than girls and I don't think it would matter to them. I would have to agree with others that Dr. Suess books didn't always have people, they were mostly animals and they are great teaching tool for reading. Does this lady not have anything better to do than worry about something like this? Does she not think there are more pressing issues with children than how many of whatever are or are not in a book?
Wow, really, everyone? You don't think it matters if there are girl characters in children's books? Taking Dr. Seuss off the chopping block here. Thinking about girl children of now and the future. You don't think this is something worth wishing for? I'm surprised. I clearly remember the first time I read a book with a strong female lead, and it did make a difference to me. I immediately related to the character and the writing in a way I didn't to boy characters, and yes, that made me feel a little more powerful in some way.
I love Dr Seuss and so do my kids... I can't say that either I nor my kids seem to have noticed that boys outnumber girls in the stories. As for the Pixar movies, I'm kind of puzzled by the complaint about the lack of women there, since I think some of their movies (The Incredibles with Elastigirl, for instance) do portray strong women. She may not be the central character, but she's very much the one who holds everything together for the family and comes to the rescue when her hubby ends up in trouble, and I would rather my daughters watch that than a princess waiting for the prince to kiss her and carry her off into the sunset!