Homosexual parenthood in children’s literature

• Main Author: Miroslav Jindra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lodz University Press 2019-06-01
• Series: Acta Universitatis Lodziensis. Folia Librorum
• Subjects: homosexuality; children; same-sex parenthood
• Online Access: https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/librorum/article/view/5175

Homosexuality in children’s literature is still a controversial topic in many countries of the world. Not only are people afraid to talk about this theme with children, they do not know how. The history of this topic in children’s literature dates back to the 80s of the 20th century, when the first books were published. In 20th century, human society went through many changes which were reflected in all the fields of art (theatre, fine arts, literature, etc.). Writers had a need to familiarise children readers with ‘taboo topics’ such as homosexuality, death, drugs, etc. They wanted to introduce homosexuals as ordinary men and women, who live their own lives with their joys and worries. Today, we can find three main themes in children’s literature: coming out, the life of homosexuals and homosexual parenthood. Each theme has its own specifics and typical reader age group of children or youth. This characterisation can help us to deeper identify the topic. The literature offers children and youth better and easier cognition of the world with its differences. The aim is to learn about the history of homosexuality in children’s literature and go deeper into its individual themes, especially homosexual parenthood. Children need to know everything about life and have no taboos. Why are we afraid to talk about it?