Romancing the Horse: Adventure and Femininity in Juvenile Equine Fiction for Girls

Abstract

Juvenile equine adventure fiction is an ideal genre within which to examine the portrayal of young women as both adventurous and feminine. Unlike other sport or activity-oriented adventure fiction requiring displays of strength and skill, the ‘teammate’ in these stories is far larger, faster and more powerful than any human ‘player’. In terms of size, temperament and care, the presence of the horse in young peoples’ series adventure fiction elicits the potential for physically demanding action and tests the femininity of its young riders. In this chapter, I compare and contrast femininity as it was constructed in vintage juvenile equine adventure fiction and in modern-day ‘pony books’. I find that patriarchal hegemony has continually downplayed female adventure and constructed femininity as caring, maternal, heterosexual and dependent on masculine leadership and strength. I conclude that cultural conventions of femininity are maintained through an emphasis on self-surveillance and embodiment.