How to Analyze Books for Racism and Sexism

Taken from: Manning, M.L. & Baruth,, L.G. (2000). Multicultural Education of Children and Adolescents. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

These guidelines are a starting point and are designed to help educators detect racist and sexist bias in children's story books, picture books, primers, and fiction.

1. Check the illustrations Look for stereotypes, oversimplified generalizations about a particular group, race, or sex that generally carry derogatory implications. Look for variations that in any way demean or ridicule characters because of their race or sex. Look for tokenism. If there are culturally diverse characters, are they just like Anglo Americans, but tinted or colored? Do all culturally diverse faces look stereotypically alike, or are they depicted as genuine individuals? Look at the lifestyles of the people in the book. Are culturally diverse characters and their settings depicted in such a way that they contrast unfavorably with an unstated norm of Anglo American middle-class suburbia? For example, culturally diverse people are often associated with the ghetto, migrant labor, or "primitive" living. If the story does attempt to depict another culture, does it go beyond oversimplifications of reality to offer genuine insights into another lifestyle?

2. Check the story line Civil rights legislation has led publishers to weed out many insulting passages and illustrations, particularly in stories with black themes, but the attitudes still find expression in less obvious ways. The following checklist suggests some of the various subtle forms of bias to watch for:

* Relationships: Do Anglo Americans in the story have the power and make the decisions? Do culturally diverse people function in essentially subservient roles?
* Standard for success: What does it take for a character to succeed? To gain acceptance, do culturally diverse characters have to exhibit superior qualities-excel in sports, get A's, and so forth?
* Viewpoint: How are "problems" presented, conceived, and resolved in the story? Are culturally diverse people themselves considered to be "the problem"? Do solutions ultimately depend on the benevolence of an Anglo American?
* Sexism: Are the achievements of girls and women based on their own initiative and intelligence, or is their success due to their good looks or to their relationships with boys? Are sex roles incidental or paramount to characterization and plot? Could the same story be told if the sex roles were reversed?

3. Consider the effects of the book on the child's self-image and self-esteem. Are norms established that limit the child's aspirations and self-esteem? What does it do to African American children to be continuously bombarded with images of white as beautiful, clean, and virtuous, and black as evil, dirty, and menacing? What happens to a girl's aspirations when she reads that boys perform all the brave and important deeds? What about a girl's self-esteem if she is not fair of skin and slim of body?

4. Consider the author's or illustrator's qualifications. Read the biographical material on the jacket flap or on the back cover. If a story deals with a culturally diverse theme, what qualifies the author or illustrator to deal with this topic? If they are not members of the culturally diverse group being written about, is there anything in the author's or illustrator's background that would specifically recommend them for this book?
Similarly, a book that has to do with the feelings and insights of women should be more carefully examined if it is written by a man, unless the book's avowed purpose is to present a male viewpoint. These observations do not deny the ability of writers to empathize with experiences other than those of their own sex or race, but the chances of their writing as honestly and as authentically about the experiences of other genders and races are not as good.

5. Look at the copyright date. Books on culturally diverse themes-usually hastily conceived-suddenly began appearing in the mid-1960s. There followed a growing number of "culturally diverse experience" books to meet the new market demand, but they were still written by Anglo American authors and reflected an Anglo point of view. Only in the late 1960s and early 1970s did the children's book world begin to even remotely reflect the realities of a multiracial society, and it has only just begun to reflect feminist concerns.