Check out this t-shirt & the petition against it

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-jcpenney-to-stop-promoting-sexist-messaging-to-girls

Spunky Female/Gender NonConforming Animals in Picture Books

Via Sociological Images - one of my favorite sites :   The NYT recently reported on a study of children's books in Gender and Society (PDF available) that found:

Compared to females, males are represented nearly twice as often in titles and 1.6 times as often as central characters.  . . We argue that these disparities are evidence of symbolic annihilation and have implications for children’s understandings of gender. Nevertheless, important differences in the extent of the disparity are evident by type of character (i.e., child or adult, human or animal), book series, and time period. Specifically, representations of child central characters are the most equitable and animals the most inequitable. . . 

This got me thinking - what books include great female or gender nonconforming animals?  A few that immediately come to mind for me:

• Koala Lou by Mem Fox
• Louanne Pig in Nancy Carlson's books (esp. "I Like Me") 
• Yoko in Rosemary Wells' books
• Charlotte, although Wilbur might really be considered the main character? 

I'm struggling to think of books where the male character is shown to be more feminine - maybe the Son in The Kissing Hand?   [Here's a list by blogger AcceptingDad -- and a "GenderEqual" online bookstore].

What other books can you think of? 

Boys to Men Conference

Boys to Men is a wonderful group that advocates a feminist approach to raising boys and thinking about the stress that conventional masculinity puts on boys. They are offering their annual conference on May 25th -- registration closes on May 17th. The workshops look interesting and useful to all parents and teachers, I think... http://boysconference.org/