Discussion on:

MOTA, António José, LIMA, Eva, PATRONILHO, Fátima, SANTOS, Maria Manuel, BARRIGÃO, Nuno & PEDROSO, Nuno (2022). TOP! Estudo do Meio 1.º ano (First edition in 2016). [Illustration by Adão Silva, Adília Costa, Luís Prina, Rui Mourão, Zaira Costa & Zé Nova]. Porto Editora. pp. 8-11.

Voice 1: “First year, Porto Editora, 2022. We looked at this image, and the image on the following page. Both seem to have more or less clear contexts, but some of the interesting aspects were (one is a more or less school setting, at least in the second image) the absence of older people. Also absent are people showing any disabilities, except for the issue of glasses... However, when we see that, in the other image, which is more (and the children are all facing away)... but here we get the sense of a population representing a more or less middle class. There's an interesting aspect of having a girl with a more alternative appearance playing with a girl who seems to be wearing a uniform or more formal school attire. And then, it seemed to us that in both images, there was some effort to break stereotypes. Here, in the same book, there's a rainbow that isn't coloured in. And then, according to the instructions, the student is to colour the rainbow correctly. But we can also say that the uncoloured rainbow might convey another message, right? [...] Here, there seems to be some effort to break certain stereotypes. For example: showing a male primary school teacher when primary school teachers are still predominantly female; showing a boy with glasses saying that he likes to play the drums, and a boy with a more alternative look and blue hair saying that he likes to read; there also seems to be an attempt to diversify... to diversify skin colour, although it still mainly shows boys; in another image, girls are shown playing football; almost always pairing a boy with a girl.”

How to escape from the stereotypes?

Why should sexuality and gender impose a future?

Are there really separate spaces for each one?

Do you consider an invasion of space if the 'Other' is in your space?

Voice 2: "Good afternoon, we both also analysed some extremely interesting issues related to ethnicity. In the first image, the absence... on pages 9, 10, and 11... and another... earlier one... In this image, we notice that there is one black person and many white people. So, there is an absence here. If they wanted to be inclusive, all races should be represented there. In the next image, we also see an imbalance; there are more women than men and fewer black people than white people... So, there is a racial issue in these images."