Interrogating Diversity in Award-Winning LGBTQ-Inclusive Picture Books

• In Event: 21.048 - Current Perspectives on Queering Elementary Education, Research, and Practice

Abstract

Objectives
Educators recognize the importance of representation in classrooms and showing students reflections of themselves and their lived experiences, while also allowing other students insight into new, diverse experiences (i.e., Bishop, 1990; Tschida, Ryan, and Ticknor, 2014). Such representations are particularly important for LGBTQ identities that are often overlooked in educational environments – especially in the elementary grades – as research shows LGBTQ-inclusive curricula lead to a variety of positive outcomes for LGBTQ students (Kosciw, et al., 2016). LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature is an easily-accessible tool to implement such curricula (Hermann-Wilmarth, 2007; Rowell, 2007; Stoodt-Hill & Amspaugh-Corson, 2009; Whittingham & Rickman, 2007), but are LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature titles representative of the full diversity of people with LGBTQ identities? Do they represent a range of LGBTQ experiences? This paper addresses those questions to identify how LGBTQ picturebooks privilege or marginalize different identities and experiences and considers the ramifications of the inclusion or omission of these books in educational environments.

Framework
This research employs an autoethnographic approach (Ellis, Adams, & Bochner, 2011; Maréchal, 2010) where the researcher analyzes the literature of a marginalized community as a member of that community. The research also considers intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1991) regarding how diverse identities are treated within identity categories.

Methods
This textual analysis investigated the 28 picturebooks recognized by either the Lambda Literary Award and/or the Stonewall Book Awards.

Initial readings focused on the protagonists of the stories and the diversities they represented – specifically human vs. animal traits, race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Second readings looked for ways LGBTQ characters were identified in the texts. Final readings looked for queer terms anywhere in the books and synthesized findings across the multiple readings to make determinations about the types of diversity represented (or not).

Results
Analyses showed a distinct lack of diversity in how picturebooks present LGBTQ experiences:

1. Both human and animal protagonists are present; however, human characters reflect a bias for a dominant white narrative, further marginalizing LGBTQ people of color.
2. Girls and boys enjoy equal representation, but using only male or female gender markers erases other gender identities and could prove problematic for gender non-conforming youth.
3. LGBTQ characters are often referred to only indirectly or implicitly. In other words, the language and labels of the LGBTQ community are mostly absent, which may restrict understanding or erase members of the community.
4. Books include some positive representations, but many incorporated stereotypes and negative interactions.
5. Most protagonists are straight, which might reinforce that LGBTQ experiences are secondary to heteronormative ones.

Significance
Schools that want to create supportive environments for LGBTQ students can do so through the selection and implementation of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s literature, but teachers should recognize the gaps that still exist in terms of available representations. To find out which books may be best suited for use in schools, analysis of available books should be conducted in order to help teachers make better-informed decisions about the books they share with their students. This paper presentation addresses this important need.

Author

• Craig A Young, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania