Gender, Race, and the Unbearable Stillness and Silence of Reading
Reading and White Female Bodies
In Western art, reading has been intimately linked to White female bodies. Often alone in their chambers, these bodies carefully decode texts in silence.Despite much research on multiliteracies or multicultural literacy education, I argue that the image of White female bodies silently perusing books is still the core image associated with reading.
Boys and Reading
For many boys, especially working-class African American boys, this emphasis on stillness and silence may be contrary to natural tendencies to be physically active and very vocal during that activity.My Own Experience with the Traditional Model of Reading
A quick Google search revealed many articles about how boys tend to read less and often skip pages while reading. I confess that I tend to do that at my age (56). Often the material seems convoluted but not intellectually rigorous.When I was a graduate student in English literature, I often encountered books written in such a convoluted, windy style that I skipped through much of the reading. I would read the introduction for the gist of the author's argument and then skim (skip through) the rest of the book. I felt stupid because I didn't focus on every word and wasn't engaged deeply with the scholarly material.
I didn't focus and wasn't engaged because I felt the material seemed boring and very verbose. Authors would apparently use 500 words when I thought 50 would have the same effect. They often changed verbs into nouns (nominalization) to achieve often convoluted sentences. Coincidentally, the field of English Literature, once dominated by White men, is largely the domain of White female bodies--silently reading books, apparently alone.
I have never been athletic and very rarely have I been restless. But even my eyes glaze over when I see too many words that seem to render too little meaning. I consider myself a very well-read person. Thanks in part to a solid liberal arts education, I have read the classics (Homer, Shakespeare, Virgil, Dante, Austen, Morrison). Because I minored in Latin language and literature, I even read some of those ancient Latin texts in the original language. I enjoyed every moment. I have read many novels, including the works of Cervantes and Dickens. I like to read.
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| Embodied Reading or The Whole Body Approach |
How I Survived the Traditional Model of Reading
I like to read because I tend to read differently. My entire body is involved. I talk aloud and ask questions. I pause frequently. I move around the room. I do anything but be still and silent.In short, if I need to be active while I read, the typical boy most likely needs to be active while he reads.
The following image illustrates and defines good readers. Apparently, I and many other boys and men are not good readers. Numerous scholars and teachers wonder why so many of us men and boys don't like to read. A part of the answer is simple: we can't put our bodies into it.
Fascinating observation that will open up many discussions for me and my friends. My partner is an English professor at a community college who also has a distinct way of reading. He's brilliant at his job but does not fit the stereotypes of a still and focused reader.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought went back to my Alma Mater, Oberlin College, where a marble statue of a young, white woman is featured prominently in the library. See https://www.oberlin.edu/news/whos-girl.
The Good Readers sign lists skills it sounds like you DO have. It may imply sitting and being silent... but those aren't the most important things about reading. What if we let our kids crowd around a book and get excited about what they are reading? It makes me think of the (mostly) boys in our library as they gross each other out with Guiness Book of World Records, bare bottoms in No David! and sharing their favorite parts of books. It's a social affair. And it can be loud. Fluency is probably where most teachers get concerned. I hear a lot about how graphic novels are making it difficult for our kids to read fluently.
ReplyDeleteStudies show that boys who read usually have men in their lives who they see reading. My husband is a reader and was very involved with reading to our sons. My boys used to read while walking to the dining hall at Scout camp. When people commented on their walking and reading I would say "They can't help it, their Mom is a librarian." But really I think it is because their Dad is a Professor.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunate that the images you chose are from historical times. In those days women reading was not the norm and so might have been viewed as empowering for women. That said, we need to see many more images of boys and men reading in ways that are meaningful to them. I hope you will help with that.
ReplyDeleteHey Johnnie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. So true. Found this article on Romare Bearden appropriate, especially in regards to the way images are used in our culture to perpetuate negative narratives about African Americans. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/02/13/romare-bearden-assembling-america/. We need more images of African American boys and girls reading!
Shawna
SFPL
Thank you so much for this insightful post. Connecting kids to reading - gets tougher and tougher. I'm going to add to this - not all boys will need to be active when they read. There are different kinds of readers - across personhood not just being a guy. I have created a website with 4 reader types and those 4 types cross through the boundaries of gender. Our Jokester readers are looking for action in the text or in the pictures. They need something to happen. Our Investigator readers won't have that same need. They are subconsciously evaluating whether there is a worthy problem and a worthy character to solve that problem. They also would value the quality of the narrative in terms of literary value - our Jokester doesn't even want to read "the quality of the narrative in terms of literary value." They closed the book at "narrative." We so need to honor who our children are as different human beings - it makes them different readers. To create a reader we have to meet them where they live and that means we have to meet them how they process the world. abookandahug.com
ReplyDeleteI agree that not all boys need to be active when they read, which is why I need to qualify such statements. While there are different types of readers, research has demonstrated that boys tend to not like the current model of reading--one based on stillness and silence.
DeleteI also agree that "we have to meet [readers] where they live and that means we have to meet them how they process the world." At least in the United States, public education (which is largely responsible for k-12 literacy education), attempts to shape readers to a specific model that resembles the one I critique: stillness and silence.
I enjoyed your post very much. I have firsthand experience that boys physically cannot seems to be still even when they are reading. I have two boys, growing up, whenever they were reading; they are either moving around or their hands or feet are engaged in some activity. However, I have also seen my father read and he would sit and read for hours together.
ReplyDeleteSo very interesting. I'm curious how this fits into your thoughts: I've met many men who preferred audiobooks because they could be doing something while they read. I've also met women like this too, of course. Many of these express guilt for not being able to sit and read with a book. I also whole-heartedly agree with you on wordy scholarly work. I've ranted on that subject many times myself.
ReplyDeleteI don't prefer audiobooks, which for me is akin to watching television or listening to the radio. Audiobooks tend to change me from an active participant in the process to a very passive listener. My brain tends to wander whenever I try audiobooks.
DeleteI think an interesting aside would be that while the stereotype *readers* tend to be white and female, writers tend to be white and male.
ReplyDeleteI would also add, that my daughter has ADHD. She can't possibly read without flipping herself over, climbing on furniture, playing with putty, etc. The model of how to learn in general is stifling for a lot of people. Fortunately schools are starting to change.
Historically, canonical writers (Shakespeare, Pope, Hemingway, etc.) tend to be white and male. Best selling writers, however, tend to be white and female.
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