looking at and interpreting images; developing a narrative, using these 3 figures, seleccted from work done by an European Association "Du coté des filles", coordinated by Adela Turin.
The questions were:
What do you see here in this picture?
What make you think that it is a male/female bear (depending on what was children's answer)?
What do you think that other members of this family are doing, while waiting?
These children are accurate observers, very sensitive to the details of pictures which have a great impact, as is shown by the way they speak about the plot and characters’ lives and articulate these narratives with aspects of their own lives, experiences and, maybe, expectations...
As a result of this inquiry, here are some conclusions:
Most of the children labelled the bear with an apron as being a female bear “she is cooking ... taking care of the family, and they added pink or pastel colours, rings and other gendered accessories.. Female bears are working inside, using domestic artefacts;
“he is lazy” “he is tired, ‘cause he’s been working...
the mother is cleaning...”
Culture, serious news and active sports are for male bears/fathers; “gossip” magazine are for female bears/mothers “the mother is reading Maria (magazine)
When working, male bears are often active,using production artefacts: “the father is working in the garden with his tools”...
These preliminary results suggest that their lives are affected by a remarkably insidious division along gender lines. Despite all social changes in women's lives, and in society, it seems these semiotic readers are experiencing a very hierarchical gender world
