Models of Masculinity in Children’s Books and Electronic Prehistoric Resources

Abstract

Prehistoric children’s books (PCB) and electronic prehistoric resources (EPR) are educational tools frequently used in the classroom. Although gender stereotypes and the presence/absence of male and female characters in these formats have been studied, there are still no specific studies addressing the representation of masculinity in these resources. The main objective of this study is to analyze the models of masculinity in the iconographic representations of a sample of PCB (n=5) and EPR (n=2). To achieve this, a categorical instrument is constructed, with the aim of replicability, using a priori data from a thorough and systematic review of the literature and emerging data from the sample. From a socio-critical approach with a feminist perspective and the principles of critical visual literacy, a mixed method is followed. On the one hand, qualitative descriptive and on the other quantitative descriptive statistical. The results indicate the widespread presence of the hegemonic masculinity model, hindering the didactic transposition of recent advances in prehistory and archaeology that emphasize the necessary collaboration between sexes as part of the same community, where maintenance and caregiving tasks were essential for life and survival.