Bloody hell. Been reading the Famous Five books with DD. On the one hand, it gives rise to a lot of discussion, and she loves the mystery element but on the other I'm wondering whether to stop reading them and turn to something a bit more empowering.... it's not surprising that George "wants to be a boy" (mentioned literally every bloody chapter) because everyone's constantly going on about how Anne loves doing everyone elses' shitwork because she's such a girly girl.
In the last one I read Julian (extremely bossy and annoying, according to DD), Dick and George go off on an adventure while Anne does the washing up, clears up after breakfast and makes the beds. Not bloody surprising George wants to "be a boy". DD and I discussed how George doesn't really want to be a boy she just wants to go on adventures and not have to do the housework (which they've gaslighted Anne into thinking she likes).
It wasn't THAT long ago that these books were written. Scary stuff. What was Enid Blyton thinking? Was it meant to be critical of sex role stereotypes?