salsafan Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 In reply to salsafan, I don't think anyone's suggesting brainwashing children not to accept their gender. Seems to me it's about doing away with labelling book shop shelves as "Boys Books" or "Girls Books" and just labelling them "Children's Books". You seem to see something sinister in that but why is beyond me. Please read the entire thread, and then about the reference to PIE, and then see how this relates to the people of Sheffield. Thanks. In an idealistic world, I would not need to say that, but in this forum and in this city, one has to say the obvious things ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPC464 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 How is it stereotyping a child if a book is written for girls, and if a book is written for boys ? It is outrageous even for her to suggest that this is classed as a "stereotype". This to me is brainwashing children in not allowing them to accept their own gender. If you are aiming certain books at girls and certain books at boys then of course you are stereotyping. By marking books about cars or space as 'for boys' you are limiting the choices that they can make. You are the one that is advocating brainwashing. ---------- Post added 20-03-2014 at 07:13 ---------- wont it make finding abook your interested in harder to find? thats why its done? like it or not in most cases the different sexes do find different things interesting Which came first..... ---------- Post added 20-03-2014 at 07:14 ---------- Please read the entire thread, and then about the reference to PIE, and then see how this relates to the people of Sheffield. Thanks. In an idealistic world, I would not need to say that, but in this forum and in this city, one has to say the obvious things ! Nope - nothing you said makes any sense to make that leap from removing those restrictive labels about who can read which book, and your disturbing assertion that this somehow encourages paedophiles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister M Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Please read the entire thread, and then about the reference to PIE, and then see how this relates to the people of Sheffield. Thanks. In an idealistic world, I would not need to say that, but in this forum and in this city, one has to say the obvious things ! I'm struggling to understand the point you're making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidonica Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Book were not labelled Girls/Boys when I was a child ( Ok it was a long time ago over 50 years), and if I remember correctly not when my kids were small either, THEY chose the books they wanted to read. Now I have grandchildren I have noticed how toys are separated into boys and girls toys and feel this is just as bad. Why should girls toys include vacuum cleaners and such like? They even make boys and girls Lego for heavens sake!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lectrolove Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Please read the entire thread, and then about the reference to PIE, and then see how this relates to the people of Sheffield. Thanks. In an idealistic world, I would not need to say that, but in this forum and in this city, one has to say the obvious things ! I have read the entire thread, you brought up the reference to PIE but I have no idea why as it has nothing to do with gender specific labelling of books. You seem to be misinterpreting the topic to fit in with your rather strange and convoluted world view. ---------- Post added 20-03-2014 at 12:29 ---------- Anyway my experience has been that children are adept at selecting their own books without any need for labels. I didn't push any gender stereotyping at my kids but my daughter never did take to Thomas the Tank Engine books any more than my son showed any interest in stories about ponies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salsafan Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 If you are aiming certain books at girls and certain books at boys then of course you are stereotyping. By marking books about cars or space as 'for boys' you are limiting the choices that they can make. You are the one that is advocating brainwashing. ---------- Post added 20-03-2014 at 07:13 ---------- Which came first..... ---------- Post added 20-03-2014 at 07:14 ---------- Nope - nothing you said makes any sense to make that leap from removing those restrictive labels about who can read which book, and your disturbing assertion that this somehow encourages paedophiles. I am not going to argue with you because you what you seem to advocate are missing a link somewhere and if you have read this forum, then you know what people can be like. Whether you seem to want to be cordial or not and whether you think that some people are aggressive in this city or not, is totally down to you. But I stand by what I wrote, and that is based on my experiences on these forums, and how people think here. They seem to be quite scary to be honest. They do not have any filters in that regards. There is nothing wrong with protecting children, so please do stop your antagonism. Thank you. I am not going to accept your bullying on that point. If you want to read extra more into what I wrote, then that is down to you. Nothing more to add there myself. I just know and can see how children can also easily be manipulated to such a high extent that their own gender would be in danger. That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPC464 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Salsafan – you really haven’t made any sense to anyone else here. Are you suggesting that letting girls and boys read the same books will cause some of them to become paedophiles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliceBB Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 I just know and can see how children can also easily be manipulated to such a high extent that their own gender would be in danger. That is all. But the kind of gender 'manipulation' you fear is exactly what the labelling of books as 'for girls' or 'for boys' does, is it not? It encourages children to accept restrictive models of behaviour based on whether they are male or female. It would be naive to think we can protect our children from all outside influences and in the end, how Waterstones shelve their children's books is very minor influence compared to the role parents, schools and friends play in shaping a child's gender identity and sense of self. So are you saying you would disapprove of a children's book in which girls had adventures with some element of danger, or boys took a nurturing role? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
willman Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I've always positively discriminated against many things for children which are gender specific whilst being a valuable experience to either sex. Books and toys are the to worst examples of 1)making a child go down one direction and 2)making a parent act like an idiot. A childs book is exactly that, a book for children. It isn't like an adult book with mature themes which does often encouraged grown adults into experimentation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwkittie Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Totally confused by this - am I the only one that has no memory of books in childhood that were in any way 'boys' or 'girls' books? I just remember good books, it never occurred to me at all that books had or could have any gender bias at all. There were certainly no girls/boys sections at my library. As a child I played with lego and dinosaurs, and read many dreadful (although I loved them) Point Horror and Goosebumps books, I point blank refused to wear dresses (and still do on most occasions!) I wouldn't consider I was raised in a gender-neutral household or 'as a girl' or 'as a tomboy'.... I was just raised as me. I think kids will like what they like and do what they do, regardless of whether a sign above it says 'For Girls' or 'For Boys' (I for one paid NO attention to such nonsense as a kid), that said I feel the sign is unnecessary and doing away with it is a good thing. If I have a child I'll let them be themselves, and if it's a girl who wants to play with Lego (God I hope so) then great but if she wants to be a girly girl and play with dolls that's fine too, same goes for a boy. Edit - what the hell is PIE?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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