The Influence of Reading Content on Students' Perceptions of the Masculinity or Femininity of Reading

Abstract

This study examined the effect of the content of reading material on students' perceptions of reading as masculine or feminine. Students in this study included 492 pupils (255 females, 237 males) from two suburban school districts. Students were enrolled in kindergarten, grades 2, 4, 6, 8, and high school. Students were shown a slide presentation consisting of 60 slides depicting various children's activities including the following reading activities: reading a book, a TV Guide, a mystery book, the newspaper comics, a science book, a dictionary, an animal book, a running book, and a poetry book. The reading slides were interwoven among nonreading activity slides to mask the emphasis of the study. In the slides, only the hands of the children were shown to prevent identification of the child in each slide as male or female. As each slide was shown, students were directed to respond by circling either “boy” or “girl” on their answer sheets. The total responses of “boy” for each reading item were analyzed for male, female, and total students. The percentages of responses of “boy” were generated and chi square analyses were conducted to determine differences between “boy” versus “girl” responses. The data indicated that the content of the reading material affected students' responses. Depending on the sex and grade level of the students, some reading items were viewed as masculine, some as feminine, and one as equally masculine and feminine. The specific content of the reading materials influenced the way in which reading was perceived.