FUCK OFF FUCK OFF FUCK OFF

[thedivinegoat]

So Cullyn brought home a booklet from school - one of these Help your Child to Read (cos if you don't do this you're a shitty parent) and please make use of this voucher to buy one of our fine products (50p off if you spend £50) things.

Page 7 read thus

Let boys be boys and girls be girls

Until the day your daughter expresses an interest in rocket science or your son gets into show jumping, you won't go far wrong if you try them out with these kinds of books...


Boys...

• ...enjoy books about their interests - especially dinosaurs!
  
• ...like books that are a bit scary, funny or have silly jokes.
  
• ...often have a shorter attention span, so books you can dip in and out of may work better for them. Try comic strip books and non fiction.
  
• ...prefer big, bold, colourful illustrations or things that can be moved or touched.
  
• ...like reading to have a purpose, for example books that show you how to make things.

Girls...

• ...enjoy series of books about the same characters.
  
• ...like to listen to talking books and watch DVDs of favourite books.
  
• ...enjoy a bit of fantasy, magic and make believe - princesses, castles, etc. like sparkle and glitter on the pages.
  
• enjoy books that have props with them - dolls, soft toys, dressing-up clothes.
  
  
  RAGE HULK KILL SMASH
  
  
  I will of course be complaining to the school, and to the fuckhead at the local education authority who thought it would a good idea to send this crap out, so any suggestions for good turns of phrases will be gratefully received.
  
  I need a feminist rage icon.

Comments

[helens78]

OH ICK. >_< Wow, way to be insulting to both genders!

[thedivinegoat]

Yep.

I was speechless when I first read it.

[eleanorjane]

Wow, that's offensive. Nice to see gender stereotyping for the next generation!

Wait, wait, not nice, the other one. Ugh.

[thedivinegoat]

I'm having a hard enough time combating the negative messages my sons pick up from their school friends, (oldest son once said to me in all seriousness, "Boys are better than girls aren't they Mummy?") without this officially sanctioned shit.

?!?

[purpleduck]

Oh dear God that makes me so angry!

Re: ?!?

[thedivinegoat]

As you can see, it did me too. ;-)

[brilliantblaze]

Oh my god! That's awful!

[thedivinegoat]

Isn't it?

[the_changeling]

"I so enjoyed your instructions on letting little boys be boys and little girls be girls. Personally, I'd always felt it was more appropriate to let them be people. I can see the depth of my mistake now, as I'd failed to notice that hegemony wasn't to blame for gender stereotyping, but as you say, it is somehow biologically innate. I do confess to being perplexed however, on how to follow through on these suggestions, without letting my children in on the secret that they can no longer choose their reading according to personality, as opposed to gender. For instance, that hugely noted and distinguished series of books with the same characters and magical creatures by J.R.R. Tolkein, a man, is on my 'male' bookshelf. Whereas my book selections on females who've won the Nobel Prize in Sciences, must, alas, be tranferred into the 'male' section as I swap J.R.R Tolkein out to the 'female' shelf.

I don't suppose you could send someone round to advise me on which books should be in the pink bedroom, and which in the blue? Somewhat akin to the pink and blue shelving units in a certain toy store? I'd hate my daughters to catch me reading the wrong book to them, after all they might get a totally inappropriate view of what roles are open to them in society? Must dash, my little princesses are on top of the garden tree, pretending to be pirates: can't have them letting the side down like that."

[thaddeusfavour]

That's pretty brilliant. Funny too. :P

[thedivinegoat]

I think I might actually have to send that in. That is awesome.

[lauredhel]

Huh. Turns out my (rather masculine, hopefully through no fault of my own) 6yo is a guuuuurl. He loves long-winded series-style chapter books involving dragons and magic and mysterious maps and quests and castles. Oh, and he loves dressing up, and listens to talking books at bedtime. Longwinded chapter talking books about magic and bunnies.

I shall fire his teacher forthwith.

[the_changeling]

Hello little girl... can I interest you in this community....? ;-)

lactavist_central

[lauredhel]

Sure.

Wow, the communities are really proliferating already - but most of them without so much as an intro/welcome post by the maintainer.

[thedivinegoat]

My oldest son is rereading the Cressida Cowell's How to Train Your Dragon series. Which being a series of long, involved (for children's books) stories about the same people and fantastical creatures obviously he shouldn't be reading it.

And I won't mentions that younger son's current bedtime reading material, (as n we're reading it to him) is the Faraway Tree series. Or that the girl's favourite (boldly coloured) picture books are currently Bob the Builder.

The stupidity burns.

[lauredhel]

Ooh. *heads off to library catalogue website*

We're reading The Magic Tree House series right now. And Harry Potter, and Eragon, and the Dark Is Rising sequence, and Calvin & Hobbes, and Narnia, and a Scooby comic, and a few other things. He has taken after his mum in wanting to have quite a few books on the go at once.

How does younger son like the Faraway Tree? The lad liked the Wishing Chair last year. Lashings of ginger beer, very gay, tally-ho.

[mecurtin]

And there I was thinking you lived someplace civilized, not like one of the Republican parts of the US (where such a thing could be expected).

[thedivinegoat]

So did I.

Although I was taken back by an incident at the toddler group, when showing my latest vid (Torchwood) to a couple of fellow mums, two were completely freaked out by the Jack/Doctor kiss in Parting of the Ways. (That man kissed a man!). We're pretty rural here, and there's not much diversity. Of any kind.

But I did expect better of the LEA

[the_changeling]

So is Jack the only omnisexual in the village?

[fairestcat]

OMG RAGE.

That's just... I can't even be coherent I'm so angry on your behalf.

[thedivinegoat]

I'm trying to write a letter to the LEA and all I want to write is "How are you so stupid?"

[dancesontrains]

Oi >:(

Have this icon? I'm not sure if it's angry enough, but it's a start. Jesus.

[thedivinegoat]

Hee, I like that icon.

(Sadly I have this weird thing, whereby I can only use icons I've made myself.)

[thaddeusfavour]

That is so wrong. I have no answer immediately, but words like short-sighted, ignorant, and crap are coming to mind. You should probably strive for more coherence and less assualt weapons. (Though honestly, assault weapons properly wielded by a person of the female persuasion might get the message across to the gender-blinded fool's brain.

[thedivinegoat]

(Though honestly, assault weapons properly wielded by a person of the female persuasion might get the message across to the gender-blinded fool's brain.

I like the way you think.

[telesilla]

Gah! How infuriating!

[thedivinegoat]

That is a very appropriate icon.

[sohotrightnow]

>:(

[thedivinegoat]

I KNOW!

[nicole_anell]

*waves* Mostly testing the whole Dreamwidth thing, but also SHARING YOUR GENDER STEREOTYPE RAGE.

[lithiumdoll]

But what about multi-chaptered non-fiction books that instruct you how to make glittery fairy castles? WHAT THEN?!

*stabbitystabbitystabbity*

[sarah]

Until the day your daughter expresses an interest in rocket science or your son gets into show jumping...

...oh my god. This is an actual quote. I thought you were making some sort of pithy, sarcastic joke until I realized you were /actually quoting the booklet/.

[used_songs]

Wow! That's awful!