“Why are comics such a boys club?” is a familiar complaint in comics circles. Examples of how mainstream comics seemingly go out of their way to alienate women readers, and reinforce insensitive handling of female characters (the famous “Women in refrigerators” thesis) are easy to come by, and easy to scorn.
But while we’re quite sympathetic to these complaints, and are often found lodging them ourselves, a recent study suggests that comics may very well be one of the last bastions of male literacy.
A widely quoted study recently released by the Center for Education Policy revealed that boys are lagging significantly behind girls in literacy. In fact, this is a trend that’s been continuing for the last decade or so, with boys falling behind girls in reading scores in all 50 states, sometimes by 10 percent or more.
“The cause for concern is that this is an unmistakable and clear trend, a national trend,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy. “Mainly, we found no state in which boys did not lag behind girls in reading at the elementary level, the middle level and the high school level. So it’s pretty clear: Boys are not doing as well as girls in reading.”
The gap is noticeable in grade school, and continues through high school and beyond with more women than men entering college getting degrees.
While no one has been able to pinpoint the cause of the boys’ troubles, many feel that American society’s increased emphasis on literacy skills is leaving boys behind at an earlier age, and they never catch up, especially in a learning environment that fails to acknowledge the fact that boys need more active engagement.
Among the solutions being looked at? An emphasis on books that appeal to what boys like, including such gross out favorites as Captain Underpants, and yes, comics and graphic novels.
Author Richard Whitmire’s WHY BOYS FAIL examines the whole trend of falling educational achievements for boys, and covers the topics on his blog. A recent interview with Whitmire and the educational publisher ABDO faces the comics connection head on:
Dan: ABDO launched its Spotlight division in 2006 – the first educational publisher to license books from comics publishers like Marvel, IDW, Dark Horse, etc. specifically for use in schools in libraries. One of the main reasons we did this was Jim Abdo’s son was a reluctant reader, and the company thought since he would be interested in those characters, he would start to read, and maybe this would appeal to other boys, too. Later we learned how much research there is on how comic books can help readers build skills – and we cite many studies on our Web site to that effect – plus how they lead to other sorts of literacies, and were a big part of great role models’ lives growing up, like the President, or famed literary giants like John Updike. Yet we still consistently run into educators who reject the genre, or districts who ban them, despite the growth of the comics industry over the past decades and the research that shows how fostering personal interest is an easy way to get boys reading. Our librarian customers embrace personal interest in reading, but they share with us how they often struggle explaining their collection choices to administrators, teachers, and parents. Two questions – first, did you read comics or comic books when you were a kid? And second, do you see educators rejecting research like this in other areas of education?
Richard: Haha. My mother hated comic books; I had to go to my friends’ houses to indulge my love for comic books, which endured for years. I remember once my mother caught me in the local drugstore reading comics on the shelf. She dragged me home and sent me to my room.
As part of my book research I visited a Maryland elementary school that was experiencing success using comic books in the classroom, then graduating to graphic novels. I’ve become a big believer in letting boys read what they want to read. If they become avid readers, their interests will broaden.
As you can see in the above link, ABDO has published a number of educational comics — this is a still-growing category and based on the ones that pass our desk, a good place for many comics writers and artists who are out of favor at the Big Two to get steady work.
While we stand by our belief that it’s never good to alienate a potential audience, there is much to ponder here. It’s sort of troubling that the average boy/guy must be coaxed to read with the idea that it “contains at least one explosion,” as the site Guys Read advertises. If reading is classified as icky girl stuff, our nation has a big problem looming in future years, and not just because women will have to deal with dating more and more dumbass guys.
We’ve commented before on what we see as an increased polarization of entertainment as being pink or blue but never in between. (The hatred of Twi-fans being only the most obvious example.) That is obviously a topic that deserves much deeper thought than we get to in this blog post, but for the moment, we’re forced to ask: should we just let the boys have their kick ’splode comics and get on with it? The future of America could well depend on it.
>>Should we just let the boys have their kick ’splode comics and get on with it?
Sounds like gender essentialist analysis all around. I’m a guy and got into “kick ’splode” superhero comics at a very young age but the explosions and fights were actually the least interesting aspect of them to me. Rather, I felt myself drawn in by the soap operatic elements and introduction to a larger background and narrative of that fictional universe. Not exactly stereotypical “boy” interests.
Let’s let CHILDREN – of any gender – decide what they like to read – give them a wide range of choices – and forget the Politically Correct crap about the content they “should” like or worry about why they like it.
I think it would be a disservice to boys to tell them to just read comics. Not that they should be discouraged from reading comics but both boys and girls should be encouraged to read a wide variety of literture. Telling a boy that he should just read comics is another way of saying that we just don’t expect that much of them. It would be like telling a girl that she should not worry about college and just get married.
I’m not saying comics can’t be great literature but as it stands now most American comics, especially those that appeal to boys do not have a wide range of literary themes. Not saying they’re all action-packed superhero stories; I’m aware of the indie comic movement and the move toward more mature graphic novels but it seems 90% of American comics are of the superhero variety.
Also, our culture seems very polarized right now, between men and women, and high-brow and low-brow culture. The intellectual powers-that-be complain about the lack of literacy in our society but dismiss most of what average Americans read as garbage. Most media is aimed at either “men” or “women” with no choices down the middle. When I go looking for something to read or a movie to watch, I don’t look for something that appeals to my gender, but to me as a person. But apparently, I’m unique in that approach.
I think what needs to happen is that more Americans need to realize that comics can be literature and the American comic industry needs to start creating more stories that appeal to people who want read something other than just stories about superheroes. And both boys and girls should be encouraged to read a wide variety of stuff, that includes comics but not just comics.
>>I’m not saying comics can’t be great literature but as it stands now most American comics, especially those that appeal to boys do not have a wide range of literary themes.
I think the themes are there in superhero comics but it takes a good teacher to tease them out and teach them to children. For example, the origin of Spider-Man could be used to introduce kids to literary themes such as irony, and themes in Shakespearean literature, particularly themes about hubris of the powerful. Comics could also be used to teach children about the intersection of literature and history, for example using the Superman origin to tease out themes about immigration and assimilation. It’s all in there amidst the ’splosions. ; )
“While we stand by our belief that it’s never good to alienate a potential audience, there is much to ponder here. It’s sort of troubling that the average boy/guy must be coaxed to read with the idea that it “contains at least one explosion,” as the site Guys Read advertises. If reading is classified as icky girl stuff, our nation has a big problem looming in future years, and not just because women will have to deal with dating more and more dumbass guys.”
Worried about gross gender stereotyping while committing more of the same, not to mention casual misandry.
Freakonomics author Steven Levitt had some interesting insight into how books in the home effects a child’s success in school. Apparently, just HAVING books in your home seem to increase the chance of a child doing better in school.
So, I say bring on the ‘Sploding Comics Group! (Just in time for Seige #4 too…)
It is an epidemic, Heidi. And it’s also our best shot at getting comics into schools where they might well be able to do some real good in reversing the decades-long decline in literacy and overall test scores among America’s boys.
It’s why I formed Reading With Pictures (www.readingwithpictures.org), to facilitate academic research, create tools for teachers and advise publishers on how to create the best possible comics and graphic novels for classroom use.
I learned to read from comics at age four. By age eleven, I had taken the SAT and scored high enough to gain admission to my local community college. I wasn’t some genetic genius, I just loved to read and loved to learn because comics made both those things so easy and so fun.
In other words, Hooked on Comics Worked for Me!
Reading comics is certainly better than reading nothing, but I don’t believe that getting a boy to read something is sufficient. If he’s going to contribute meaningfully to society, he has to be able to reason, criticize, consider counterarguments, etc. The polarization of American politics is partly due to people clinging to simple principles and refusing to consider viewpoints that seem to conflict with them.
If comics-format stories can present complex and/or provocative subject material that stimulates a debate in a class, then I don’t see disadvantages in using comics rather than literary classics that can put readers to sleep.
The current generation of comics writers, though — all the emphasis on style, rather than substance, has resulted in story content that is as terrible, in some respects, as comics published 60 years ago. UNCANNY X-MEN #522. for example, which has Magneto using his power to haul the Retaliator missile back to Earth, is as absurd in its abuse of physics as a story that has Superman straining mightily to push a star from point A to point B. Fiction that treats logic as something that can be ignored for the sake of entertainment does nothing to encourage readers to think critically.
SRS
Excellent article, Heidi.
And if I could throw in my $0.02. I think this is also a symptom of alliteracy as opposed to illiteracy in a culture.
(alliteracy is having the ability to read, but chosing not to)
Twas ever thus, at least in my experience. Growing up in the ’70s, I was one of the few boys in my school who read. During high school, there was a basic common understanding that reading was stupid/boring/”gay”. It was always a surprise to find someone (apart from my friends) reading something that wasn’t part of the curriculum. And a teenager reading comics? Might as well be wearing diapers.
More often than not, when a guy saw me reading a book, the first question was “why?”. Some of these dudes went on to become teachers. And I know at least two of them that still do not read for pleasure.
It’s even more disappointing to realize, in retrospect, that this attitude was reinforced, or at least sanctioned by, teachers. I started reading casually in elementary school, only because a single teacher went out of her way to recommend some books to me. Her choices, though, were limited to stories about racing cars and soldiers. My lack of enthusiasm was puzzling to her, and expressed some hesitance when I opted for The Call of the Wild.
I also had a high school chemisty teacher who saw me reading The Scarlet Letter and immediately put on a mocking little performance complete with limp wrist and falsetto. Throughout my education, teachers did little to promote reading. Literacy? Yes. Reading for enjoyment? Not so much.
It’s heartening to learn that some effort is being made to convince boys to read more. However, I would hope that they will be encouraged to branch out into other genres. Hearing someone say he/she reads only sci-fi, or only westerns, or only mysteries, is like hearing them say they eat only hamburgers and fries. That probably makes me a snob, but I’m cool with that.
As a kid, I loved to read, which I chalk up mostly to the fact that my sisters were significantly older than me, so my mom could sit down and read to/with me at a very early age. By the time I was in kindergarten, those “early reader” books bored me. That’s not because I was a genius; it’s because I had a parent at home who taught me by example the wonderful world of books. (She was always reading as well, and we went to the library often.)
Happily, when I discovered comics, she didn’t seem to care. I was free to spend all of my allowance on them, and I ate them up. Superhero books aren’t exactly known for upholding the laws of physics, but I learned some concepts from them that helped out. For example, when a grade-school English teacher first brought up the concept of chronological order, I figured out exactly what it was because I’d read about the JLA battling Chronos. If nothing else, comics helped improve my vocabulary along with expanding my imagination.
Props to Josh Elder for being proactive and taking steps to get comics into classrooms. I understand the value of assigned reading, but we have to make room to encourage kids to read what they enjoy, too.
I started reading while very young, because my parents encouraged me. My comic days began when I was made to accompany the family to do the weekly grocery shopping. I would linger at the magazine stand and look at the comics.
Where I lived in the 60’s, all boys read comics of one type or another. The other neighbourhood boys mostly read war comics, so we swapped those with each other, those and Charlton car comics like Hot Rod Racing.
I mostly liked the DC comics for the conservative nature of their drawings, and the wacky but tame stories. Marvel was okay, but mostly filled with page after page of large drawings of heroes fighting. And Marvel comics were always continued. I remember thinking that spending 12 cents on a continued story was a poor investment.
To this day, I dislike continued stories, preferring done-in-ones. And I love encouraging kids to read and draw.
For me, comics were a gateway drug to the written word. But comics will always be my first love. Still, I was reading the shit out of anything I could get my hands on before I even hit kindergarten, so if comics can help, let comics help.
The idea is not that boys should read ONLY comics, but that comics can entice reluctant readers to read, and to help illiterate students to gain and improve literacy skills.
I have a four-year-old nephew. I gave him the box set of Toon Books last year, and he practically memorized them! He enjoyed the stories, but also learned the lessons presented in each book. (Why wishing that everything should be orange is not a good idea, or why cooperation is important.)
When someone is having a first baby, I always give “The Read-Aloud Handbook” by Jim Trelease. Parents should start the moment the child is born; the child will gain language skills and acclimatize to the parent’s voice.
The Diamond Bookshelf is an excellent resource for librarians. The Maryland Comic Book Initiative
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/programs/recognition-partnerships/md-comic-book
is actively using comics statewide.
“The purpose of the initiative is to introduce and encourage the use of award-winning and other credible graphic novels and comic book materials in classroom instruction. These materials are not to be a replacement of traditional texts and instruction, but rather an additional means to enhance reading instruction by motivating students to read more and better. ”
I learned to read partly from the Easy Reader and Spider-Man on the Electric Company. I read my brothers’ comics (and later their copies of National Lampoon). I read the comics in Highlights and Boys’ Life (ignoring everything else). According to the California Achievement Test, I was reading at a Twelfth-Grade level in the Seventh Grade. Part of that was comics, part of it was finding exciting stories to read.
The Marvel Adventure comics are excellent, balancing action with conflict. Johnny DC is half fun titles (Scooby-Doo, Cartoon Network) and half fun/moral comics (Super Friends, Shazam). I would love to see both companies produce easy-to-read comics. Could Marvel print an Essential Spidey Super Stories collection? Even if they drop the Sesame Workshop stories by Tom Whedon, et al., there would still be enough stories to appeal to young readers.
I could go on, but read this instead:
http://www.diamondbookshelf.com/lessons/Librarians_Guide_57_61.pdf
It’s excerpted from David Serchay’s “The Librarian’s Guide to Graphic Novels for Children and Tweens” (978-1-55570-626-5)
This is interesting, and as a teen librarian, I see both parts of the argument.
I do have boys who won’t read anything outside of the “loud/gross/stupid” category. However, most of these guys don’t read superhero comics — they read shonen manga.
The superhero comics they do read usually tie into a media property — Iron Man, Batman, Ben 10.
Then, I have the guys who do read. Most of them read a lot. These guys tend to gravitate towards hard sci-fi and high fantasy books. These guys do read superhero comics.
A lot of these guys, the readers, have been complaining to me about superhero comics lately. Most of their complaints revolve around the lack of story, unnecessary violence and never ending universe “events”. So, I would argue, that focusing on the action elements of superhero comics could actually be alienating readers.
There are no girls in comics therefore there are no comics for girls.
There are no girls in comics the same way there are no girls on the internet. This is because as a whole women are brought up to believe that the more devoid they are of personality or interest the more attractive of a mate they will be for any perspective life-partners (who will of course pay for them and tend to them for the rest of time in exchange for sexual favors).
This is the life of 99% of females. Dull, vapid with glassed over eyes and zero aspirations. Or maybe I’m just spending too much time out here in LA.
Either way. I solved your problem. Therfore…
/thread.
You sound like a fun guy on a date, Christian.
My mom says I’m a winner.
It’s a good thing you’re not in comics or on the internet, Heidi. You’d never get a date if you were.
kdb
Kurt,
Oh, I fully acknowledge the irony of where I posted this.
when i was in school every textbook read as a synopsis after synopsis. and alot of the required reading seemed to over-evaluate the entrances and exits from each circumstance. literal wording was so excruciating that i kept picking up comics and reading into the art, and bounding around every subtext the general sitcom was trying to feed me. i could write a paper on a skimmed-through and probably write a book about a single picture.
and as far as the girls in my class reading better – well i took it as just another way to dismiss my bombastic attitude. i also entertained the sexist notion – that alotta drama that resided in the books (aimed at our reading level) were a rehearsal of context. so i kinda chalked it up as another form of makeup. the girls read up, like they were looking into buying a car/house/special breed of pet. almost like each book was a matter of investigative journalism. i read like i was trying to re-chart the course as dictated, and correct for any realities that might set upon me after arduously glossing through it.
dont know how the other boys fared, but i was pretty vocal about my paranoia. adults were probably quipping up historical synopsis and jaunty romps through life lessons..trying to imprint us with the self-perceptions that got away from them. getting away, being a polite assumption that each writer failed some social structure previously. maybe they faltered to realize something fundamental about a supposed narrative structure in their own lives.
i still think people are out to seize on young minds and perceptions – but i realize now that those folks are pedos/clergy/and marketing executives.
My 14 year old son points out that the problem with the declining scores for boys lies in the standardized testing that determines the figures. American educators understand but regularly fail to acknowledge that learning is an individualized process. Not all children learn the same way. Some learn by observing, some by participating. Some are analytical some are creative.
Many students, and unfortunately many of the most brilliant ones, are round pegs being hammered into square holes by an inflexible education system. Thanks to President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind,” schools seek only to educate children to score well on these standardized tests which will determine the federal funding that will be issued to their school district.
Focusing on a narrow “standard” cripples the ability of teachers to be creative and the student’s opportunity to learn in a way that is conducive to their own individuality.
It is proven that comics can be a valuable educational tool but so long as they remain outside the parameters of what is considered standard in education they will always be a hard sell.
Excellent article. My kids are perfect examples for this…they actually learned to read by reading comic books. Then their interests increased and other books become of interest to them. My daughter is now teaching reading to the kids she babysits and brings comics with her…the kids LOVE this. She is waiting for April 13th when a new Disney comic is coming out called Disney Fairies: Prilla’s Talent. The little kids can hardly wait.
I’m glad you mentioned how it’s not boy beings dumber, but more to do with not teaching these boys right. My Mom was told that it was great for me to read comics – as it’s reading something. I was never a good reader or writer when I was younger (not to mention having several learning handicaps to overcome) but today I’m quite an avid fan of reading and am very good with writing as well.
Boys and girls simply develop differently, and if they wish to change these statistics, they need to figure out ways to teach more effectivly to boys.
Although I’m not overly concerned with iliteracy as much as I use to be. The interner is probably one of the largest driving forces to enourage reading on some level. (You can’t look up youtube videos without knowing something)
For more analysis and reaction, read Kristoff’s original op-ed piece in the NY Times and the follow-up blog with comments.
Part of the problem is that smart boys are considered geeky and nerdy and not masculine. They are the Peter Parkers, and though there is competition among the smart kids (judged by GPA), though schools will proudly laud academic achievement, it rarely makes the news.
Society’s POV of geeks is changing. Kids… less so. Bullying, harassment… that continues.
Man… If I had gained super powers in high school, I’d have been tempted to exact revenge, not fight crime.