I went through a drive-through at a McDonalds recently with someone ordering happy meals (sic) for children. The voice in the speaker asked "Are those for boys or girls?" I didn't realize that happens. When I ordered my coffee I said, "... for a boy."
I thought of this today when I received a Cokesbury small group catalog.
I will divide my observations by section.
The table of contents lists 14 section headings (Discipleship, Spiritual Growth, Living Well, Topical Studies, Women's Studies, Reading Groups, Marriage, Divorce/Parenting/Men's Studies. Tragedy Recovery, Stewardship, Conversation Starters, Outreach & Missions, Biblical Studies, Youth Small Group).
Counting can be a little messy. I have tried to keep it simple. (I looked up authors I had doubts about and am comfortable with what I found. I don't think I'm off.)
Here is what I counted...
Section I, Discipleship - 10 featured books that are all authored by men. The only female given credit is Jeanne Torrence Finley who cowrote with Rueben Job the study guide to a book that he authored.
Section II, Spiritual Growth - 26 books. 3 are written by a sole female author.
Section III, Living Well - 8 books. 5 are written by a sole male author or a group of men.
Section IV, Topical Studies - 20 books. 6 are written by sole female authors. N.B. A book titled Named: The Disciples features two companion options. The first is The Disciples Participant Workbook/The Disciples DVD with Leader Guide. The second is The Women Participant Workbook/The Women DVD with Leader Guide. The two options are either DISCIPLES or WOMEN. This explains why there are no sole female authors in the Discipleship section and the reason for the next section...
Section V, Women's Studies - 10 books are listed with credit given for an author and they are all women. 1 book is pictured with the cover (Amazed and Confused: When God's Actions Collide With Our Expectations by Heather Zempel) but the written description is for the general series and lists the author as "A Collection of Studies by Women", nothing more. 3 books in this section have no author listed.
Section VI, Reading Groups - 6 books all written by women.
Section VII, Marriage Studies - 6 books: 1 by a woman, 2 by men, 1 by two male/female couples, 2 are written by 2 men (...they are each in heterosexual marriages).
Section VIII is listed as one in the table of contents but each of these headings are divided in the pages of the catalog
Divorce Recovery - 2 books each by a sole female author.
Parenting Studies - ditto, 2 books each by a sole female author.
Men's Studies - 1 book by a man and 1 book by 2 men.
Section IX, Tragedy Recovery - 5 books all by sole male authors.
Section X, Stewardship - 5 books, 1 is coauthored by a man and woman. The rest are by sole male authors.
Section XI, Conversation Starters - 20 books, 7 by women and 13 by men.
Section XII, Outreach & Missions - 5 books, 1 by a women, 2 by a man, 2 by 2 men.
Section XIII, Biblical Studies - this is the most complicated to explain because their are many components to many of the products. However, there are no female authors listed in this section.
Section XIV, 11 books, 1 of which has a female coauthor listed.
To bring this back to coffee...
The cover of this catalog features three sets of hands around coffee mugs on a table. Two of the sets of hands are wearing nail polish. Those hands hold the cup or the saucer.
The third set of hands do not have painted nails. These hands are also not embracing the coffee. They are open, expressive, articulating. It is not hard to picture that this person is the one doing the speaking while the women listen. It's a perfect illustration of what is being sold inside.
I really appreciate this, Will. I'd also like to see the catalog divided by the theology of its authors, whether explicit or implicit. When I'm shopping for something, if the author isn't familiar to me I try to figure out the publisher's likely preference. All of this is becoming increasingly difficult to do, which is one reason I don't shop through Cokesbury very often!
ReplyDeleteI have to admit, I have never purchased anything through Cokesbury. (And I am a book collector with over 3,000 volumes!)
DeleteA young woman I know recently linked to your blog on her Facebook page with the comment: “On sexism in church publications,” and I’m wondering if that was the implication you intended. Were you trying to show that publishers have a bias toward publishing works by men over women, or were you trying to say that Cokesbury (in particular) has a bias toward promoting male writers over female authors? The fact that you commented you have never purchased a book from them leads me to believe you may think they offer an inferior selection of spiritual books, compared to other resellers. If the latter is the case, I’m wondering if you have made a comparative study of other book sellers, like Barnes & Noble and Amazon, to see if their selections are different in any substantive way.
ReplyDeleteI think the title "on sexism in church publications" captures my general feelings. I don't know anything about the variation between publishers who release books and places like Cokesbury who sell them but I'd guess that it is easier for a book to be published and sold if the author is a male. Also my assumption is that Cokesbury and other companies that market to churches are far more sexist than retailers who aren't trying to market themselves as religious. However a few people have suggested that I need to challenge my assumption and that all advertising is in fact sexist. The reason I don't purchase things from Cokesbury though is just because of convenience. I simply don't know how to operate their website. Also I've never really compared or studied publishing and advertising trends like this at all. These are just casual observations drawn from a few minutes with a catalog. What about you? Do you have any observations or further reflections to share?
ReplyDelete