Light-hearted Mr Men books are branded sexist by literary study
THEY ARE a light-hearted set of books which delighted children and parents alike.
But now the Mr Men series created by Yorkshire author Roger Hargreaves has sparked a sexism row, it has been reported.
A new literary study claims female characters in the books are portrayed as less powerful. It found the Little Miss characters have to be “saved” in the stories more than half the time, while the Mr Men only need saving less than a third of the time.
It also says the male characters also get more to say in the books as they are given on average 12 extra words.
The study also claimed that Mr Hargreaves’s simple tales even play to gender stereotypes with some of the characters, such as Little Miss Bossy.
It cites examples of “stereotypical” passages including “She managed to find herself the perfect job. She now works for Mr Lazy! She cooks and cleans for him” and “I know what that naughty little lady needs”.
The study by the University of Lincoln was presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Nottingham.
Researcher Madeleine Pownall examined the direct speech of characters in the books and found that females were given an average of 53.5 words per story, while males had 61.5. The series ,which started with
Mr Tickle in 1971, is aimed at children aged two and older. The Little Miss books followed a decade later.
Egmont, the publisher, has been approached for comment.