Daughters and Sons

'Daughters and Sons' is a study of the ideas and experiences of parents committed to non-sexist childraising in which June Statham shows that most parents do not simply reverse traditional sex roles, but they try to come up with new combinations of 'masculine' and 'feminine' qualities that encourage girls to seek new opportunities and boys to be more sensitive and aware. Even so, some stereotypes are difficult to shift, whether for psychological, social or economic reasons. Most important of all is the child's own active role in learning what it means to be a girl or a boy. This book shows that non-sexist childraising is really about encouraging children to be aware and critical of sex-role stereotyping for themselves.