Social Satire or Helpful Guide?

Debate weather or not this cartoon published in the 1970's was intended as satire or not rages on at this point. Irregardless images are from a book called I’m Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl!, written by Whitney Darrow. You can buy it used on Amazon for the bargain price of $269, if you want to be sure your kids don’t get confused about their roles. Author Whitney Darrow was a humorist, and that this book was intended as a satire of gender roles: although— it doesn’t seem to have been pitched that way. Which could just be a weakness in analysis, of course

Discussions at the time include:

From School Libraries, published by the American Association of School Libraries, 1969: ”This warmly humorous book makes everybody glad they are what they are.”

From The Horn Book Magazine, 1970: ”He’s glad he’s a boy and she’s glad she’s a girl. In this warmly humorous book, they tell each other why and conclude that the best reason of all is — because they need each other!”

From the “Books for Children” section in Childhood Education, 1970: ”Simple drawings with line captions designed to help the young child discover his or her appropriate sex role.”

So social satire or life guide? Either way an interesting commentary on life 35 years ago.

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