Published Online:March 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJES020325
DOI:10.71329/IUPJES/2025.20.1.20-38
Author Name:Aditi Joshi and Devjani Ray
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:20-38
This paper looks at the construction of masculinity and femininity in contemporary picturebooks. The depiction of gender performance and gender roles in picturebooks functions as a medium of socialization through which children understand what is expected of them by familial and social institutions. Patriarchal ideology places gender at the center of identity, which guides the child’s interaction with others and the formation of their identity. This paper looks at the way contemporary picturebooks increasingly try to dismantle hegemonic ideals of gender through their subversion of arbitrary cultural codes of gender and depiction of sociopolitical issues. At the same time, attention is also given to the way picturebook narratives may inadvertently reinforce gender roles and binaries.
Picturebooks are generally conceived as instruments of socialization that induct the child into appropriate codes of conduct and behavior. Parents often read picturebooks aloud to children, who may not be able to completely grasp the meaning of words.