Reading Research Quarterly Vol. 39, No. 3 July/August/September 2004 ? 2004 International Reading Association (pp. 256-270) doi:10.1598/RRQ.39.3.1 Stripping for the wolf: Rethinking representations of gender in children's literature ELIZABETH MARSHALL University of Maryland, College Park, USA his article seeks to broaden theoretical paradigms commonly usedin the social sciences to analyze representations of gender, especially girlhood, in children's literature. In particular, I attempt to addto liberal feminist frameworks for concep- tualizing gender thathave"been virtually unchallenged, despite problematic find- ings and a significant shiftin feminist thought" (Clark, 2002; Clark, Kulkin, & Clancy, 1999). Liberal feminisms theorize gender through the lens of sex-role theory, a paradigm rooted in humanistic discourses in whichsocial roles are allocat- ed to men andto women on the basis of biological sex.This article builds on this important work, which brings attention to sex-role stereotypes in children's litera- ture,and approaches the topic fromanother perspective. More specifically, this article builds upon feminist projects thatexamine the diverse representations of "the girl" in literature in the fields of education (e.g., Walkerdine, 1991, 1997), English (e.g., Saxton,1998; Trites, 1997;White, 1985), andwomen's and girls' studies (e.g., Driscoll, 2002; Inness,1998; Vallone & Nelson, 1994). In whatfollows, I rely on poststructural feminist and literary theo- ries to provide an examination of the discursive production of gender in literature for young readers. Feminist and literary theory informed by poststructuralism guide this project and provide a methodfor disrupting "common-sense viewsabout meaning, writ- ing, literature, [and] experience" (Culler, 1997, p. 4). Poststructural conceptualiza- tions allow for an analysis in which gender and textshaveno fixed meaning. Similarly, no one definition of feminism or poststructuralism exists. Rather, "the term 'poststructuralism' is plural and incorporates a range of theoretical positions" (Brooks, 1997, p. 47). I use poststructural feminism to meana theoretical orienta- tion that "takes as its starting point the premise that gender difference dwells in language rather thanin the referent, thatthere is nothing 'natural' about gender 256 This content downloaded from 142.58.129.109 on Mon, 14 Oct 2013 11:32:36 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions