Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
When I was in K-12 we learned that those (male AND female) students were known as "losers."
I can't name one of my male friends or even acquaintances from school that thought reading or learning was "for girls."
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Good thing we have access to more than anecdotes.
Quote:
Gender identities that cast reading as an unattractive activity mean
that boys have markedly different attitudes to reading to girls. More
girls than boys say that a reader is happy (46% vs. 40%), clever (70%
vs. 61%) and someone who will do well in life (66% vs. 54%). Boys,
on the other hand, are more likely than girls to believe that a reader
is boring (18% vs. 13%) and a geek (22% vs. 19%).
These attitudes also affect the extent to which girls and boys identify
themselves as readers: girls are more likely than boys to view
themselves as readers, with 69% of girls saying that they are a reader
compared with 60% of boys. A quarter of boys (25%) said that they are
not a reader (15% were not sure) compared with a sixth of girls (16%;
15% were not sure). Some boys find being a reader less attractive and
less aspirational. It doesn’t sit well with their gender identities.
Interestingly, even boys who regard themselves as readers differ from
girls who see themselves as readers: 66% of boys who see themselves
as readers enjoy reading either very much or quite a lot compared with
76% of girls who see themselves as readers.
The strongest indicator that male gender identities can be hostile to
reading is the fact that a significant minority of children and young
people think that reading is more for girls than boys – 18% of boys and
12% of girls.
Boys Commission Report (UK Literacy Trust)
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