Abstract
Stereotypical representations of boys and girls are nothing new. Similarly, studies exploring these representations and their ‘effects’ abound. So why write another book on the topic and what new can be said on the subject? Dafna Lemish and Maya Götz’s edited volume serves two main goals: ‘to present examples of interventions from around the world that attempt to break gender barriers’ and to explore the impact ‘of exposure to gender representations’ (p. 10) on children and young people. It is clear that gender inequality still exists – male characters still dominate media representations, while female characters remain hypersexualized. Nonetheless, the editors hope that their book ‘will broaden the debate over gender representations’ and will also ‘showcase innovations in gender portrayals’ (p. 130). The book is divided into two main parts: Interventions and Consequences, which consist of as many as 21 chapters. It presents research from 16 countries. The studies discussed in the book utilize a range of different methods – from story-telling and textual analyses to ethnography, focus groups, interviews and surveys. Theoretically, different conceptual approaches have been adopted by the authors – from media/cultural/feminist studies to developmental psychology and health studies. While there are some really interesting case studies of successful interventions discussed in the volume, the overall conclusion reached is not very optimistic. Despite the very optimistic title (‘Beyond the Stereotypes’), the editors conclude that they have been unable to ‘document significant positive change’, because both young people and adults are ‘trapped’ in gender stereotypes, which are ‘so deeply rooted that they make any form of resistance a hugely complicated task’ (p. 16). The main question of finding ways of moving beyond these stereotypes, therefore, remains open.