This is an amazing post. (And some pretty darn good discussion in the comments, too.) I never consciously realized any of this before.
Now you mention it, I really can't think of any other children's story where female characters are treated as equals, or worthy of respect, the way they are in the Swallows & Amazons books. My reading growing up (I didn't encounter S&A till mid-teens) ran entirely to the distressingly common "girls are useless except when they pretend to be boys" spectrum.
I don't really have much to add to the discussion, yet, but I just thought I'd let you know that you've inspired me to do some serious rethinking of the assumptions I make about gender roles... many thanks to you for that!
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Date: 2010-02-08 03:43 pm (UTC)This is an amazing post. (And some pretty darn good discussion in the comments, too.) I never consciously realized any of this before.
Now you mention it, I really can't think of any other children's story where female characters are treated as equals, or worthy of respect, the way they are in the Swallows & Amazons books. My reading growing up (I didn't encounter S&A till mid-teens) ran entirely to the distressingly common "girls are useless except when they pretend to be boys" spectrum.
I don't really have much to add to the discussion, yet, but I just thought I'd let you know that you've inspired me to do some serious rethinking of the assumptions I make about gender roles... many thanks to you for that!
(Here via