It's a SIMPLE FACT.

[slemslempike]

There's an interview on Parent Hacks with the authors of The Dangerous Book For Boys. Parent Hacks asked them why they aimed it specifically at boys, what about girls? Their answer:

I suppose you could argue that heroic characters like Douglas Bader are inspiring for girls and boys, but that would be to come at it from the other side. It's not how we parcel them out - it's what works best that matters. The simple fact is that boys are inspired by stories of men being courageous and self-sacrificing much more than Jane Goodall and her chimps. That's part of accepting that boys are different to girls, really. No doubt some heroes are suitable for both, but in the main, boys take their values from stories about the men they could one day be. It's not just Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tensing conquering Everest, it's the fact that they refused to say who reached the top first. That's what will get a boy, every time.

Yeah. Girls hate stirring human interest stories like that. Why the hell is he comparing Edmund Hilary to Jane Goodall? Could they not have both? Could they not write an interesting and exciting book for all children. Well, of course they couldn't. That would be madness. There is a sort of companion volume for girls, apparently, but it's not The Dangerous Book for Girls, it's The Daring Book for Girls. Arguably slight but important semantic difference there. We can't really strengthen the campaign to make women understand that they must avoid danger or risk attack/rape if we're encouraging them to seek danger. Also, daring is transgressive for girls. Knowing how to change a tire? Man's work! But they might let us play for a while.

If you absolutely squint then you could pretend that he's trying to say something about needing to promote homosociality, and cooperation instead of competitiveness. BUT HE ISN'T. It's the same stupid shit about the "innate" differences of boys and girls, and oh look, it just so happens that boys don't like girls, and girls will have to make do with whatever's left over. And in case we accidentally leave them something good, let's make it so that anything girly is automatically rubbish. Yeah!

Oh I hate everybody. When we went to see Sandi Toksvig and Bonnie Langford, Sandi Toksvig said that she was writing a book about great women in history to try and inspire girls, and the publishers insisted on bringing out an equivalent book for boys. Argh.

Comments

[notmarcie.livejournal.com]

I don't know many boys (as in under the age of 16) who got that book. The people I do know who have it are all over the age of 30, including my boyfriend. I thought it was mainly bought as a joke-y sort of present, just like the Jackie re-issued annual.

I don't know that lots of boys these days are especially interested in Hilary and Mount Everest. It sounds as if they're stuck a bit in the 1960s to be honest.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

James Miranda Barry offers to fight a duel with someone or anyone. Codfish at ten paces would work.

[majea.livejournal.com]

I hate everybody, too. This is the logic I face every year when we choose books. We should only choose dark, masculine books because the boys will respond well to those, and the girls will go along with it. If we choose a girl's book, all the poor boys will be bored senseless and will fail.

Fuck 'em. I taught Pride & Prejudice this year, anyway.

[tornyourdress.livejournal.com]

It's not just Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tensing conquering Everest, it's the fact that they refused to say who reached the top first. That's what will get a boy, every time.

Um, what? DUDE.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I spent most of my childhood playing Hillary and Tensing on the stairs with the small girl next door, mostly because her name was Hilary. As far as I know neither of us grew up into a boy.

I think we'd probably have also played Jane Goodall and A Gorilla if we'd heard of her, as it would have been handy when we got chased off the stairs.

Anyway, yes. You are right and they are pushing the whole very tiresome old 'if girls are doing better at school something is wrong with the school, whereas if boys are doing better at school there is something wrong with the girls' agenda.

[sinsense.livejournal.com]

I managed to work myself up into a white-hot rage yesterday when I read an article about this book for NPR. (Of course, then I googled the book and read more, so I'll admit I brought it on myself.) Of all the foolish gendered misrepresentation! There's also a section on girls, shown in the excerpt here.

[serrana.livejournal.com]

I always figured they didn't say who'd gotten to the top first because it was the Sherpa, not the white guy. *shrug*

[sdn.livejournal.com]

gah! horrible. but i am going to buy the book and do dangerous things regardless, the same way i read those kinds of books and did dangerous things as a child.

[tiniago.livejournal.com]

OH I AGREE WITH YOU SO MUCH. Imbeciles. (I also hate Roger Scruton and approximately seventy percent of the people on the Big Brother forum. YOU WOULD THINK MY HATE WOUILD BE SPREAD THIN BY NOW. But no.) Although I have to admit that my biggest issue with that book is that IT ISN'T DANGEROUS AT ALL. I leafed through it in Waterstones making sneering noises. It is at best pedestrian. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure a lot of this stuff was covered in my Brownie guide book. There was more emphasis on housework and making cups of tea in the brownie guide book, mind you. But yes. LAME.

needing to promote homosociality

AHAHAHAHA! I know you didn't mean it like that. But AHAHAHA. *heart*

[serriadh.livejournal.com]

Hey, I found this browsing friends' friends, and I think we've 'met' over on glovelove?

Anyway, I hope you don't mind me chipping in:
What I find utterly hilarious about this debate is the right-on teachers who claim 'The Dangerous Book for Boys' is brilliant because it gets boys reading (because obviously boys' books have to be incredibly macho or boys will be bored), but they don't seem to realise that it is this very sort of book (to be male = to climb trees, kill things, shoot bows and arrows) that leads to the idea that boys shouldn't read in the first place. Reading is for sissies and girls. BOYS should be doing DANGEROUS things.

*rolls eyes*