This article discusses young women's reading practices and the social uses of literature for enabling gender equality that are present in those practices. Through a digital ethnography study where six young women collaborated as participants, I asked the data: How is literature, precisely its capacity to be used, conceived by young women readers…

A common perception that girls are good at writing may lead educators to overlook girls. This study examined the writing engagement of three sixth grade girls and how their writing self perception affected their attitudes in a writing classroom. Using a qualitative case study methodology, three themes emerged: the importance of writing tasks, the…

This document discusses biographies of women, chosen to appeal to young girls, including "So Young a Queen,""Indian Captive,""Wilderness Wife,""Louisa,""Molly Garfield in the White House,""I Mary,""I Varina,""Pattern for a Heroine: The Life Story of Rebecca Gratz,""Theodosia,""Child of the Silent Night,""The Silent Storm," and "Invincible Louisa."…

A study of formula fiction books was conducted to determine how these books fit into women's lives, what images they bring to mind, and what uses they serve. Seventy-two women from the ages of 18 to 70 read a Harlequin Romance novel by Sue Byfield. Then the group participated in several focus group discussions, a qualitative indepth technique that…

Data on women readers and authors indicated that: (1) women write more heroic fantasy and politically liberal science fiction than hard science fiction (physical science and technology), (2) women readers like hard science fiction less than men, and (3) many women authors use their fiction to advocate social change from a feminist perspective.…

Data from 149 female members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) were used to construct a composite of the reading habits and their relation to other characterisitics of this group. The typical respondent was a married woman between 26 and 40 years old who had attended college but remained at home to care for children under…

Details two studies that investigated adolescents' preferences for type of theme and sex of character in contemporary realistic fiction. Concludes that (1) subjects showed preference for themes in which the central problem was resolved successfully, and (2) boys preferred to read about males and girls preferred to read about females. (MKM)

Reports the results of an interest survey given to children in four fifth and sixth grade classrooms to determine if the sex differences in interest reported by earlier researchers were still in effect. Found that differences in reading material preferences between males and females still existed. (FL)

To determine the relative importance of four narrative factors in the reading interests of male and female adolescents, 485 tenth through twelfth graders read 32 synopses of imaginary plots involving adolescents. The four narrative factors are: sex of the protagonist, setting, narration, and portrayal of events. Each of the factors was bipolarized…

Contributes to cultural-studies scholarship on ethnographic media studies by examining the reception of imported romance novels among women in postcolonial urban India. Shows that romance novels were found pleasurable because they were an extension of Indian women's childhood English-language reading, and they were viewed as resources to improve…

A study examined gender attitudes toward reading in students enrolled in the six sections of the Developmental Reading program at Kean College of New Jersey in the spring of 1996. The Mazurkiewicz Masculine-Feminine Attitude Survey (1960) was used with a forced choice of "mostly masculine" or "mostly feminine." Surveys of 26…

Following up research by Radway and others on readers of romance novels, a study, employing a reader-response approach, was conducted with 18 female adolescent readers of romances to discover if they perceived and enjoyed the novels in ways appreciably different from other readers. The subjects filled out questionnaires about their romance novel…

Substantiates a positive and significant relationship between high interest and literal comprehension for second grade readers in the Virgin Islands. Asks teachers to consider how this might affect classroom instruction. (FL)

The purpose of this study was to determine if young children recall stories with both male and female characters as well as they recall stories with only male or only female characters. The sample included boys and girls ages 3 to 5 from lower-class through upper-middle class backgrounds. It was hypothesized that boys would better recall stories…

A study was conducted to discover if the stated reading attitudes and interests of sixth grade students were relevant to their self-selected reading materials. Fifty students completed questionnaires concerning their reading attitudes and interests and used log sheets to record information about their self-selected reading materials. The results…