Or Borders, as the case may be. I went there this afternoon to finish up some gift shopping. I generally prefer to go to Book People, but I was feeling lazy and decided to gamble on the corporate behemoth having what I wanted in stock.
One of the books I was looking for was THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH. I couldn’t find it in the independent readers section, so I used the computer kiosk and did a search. The computer told me to look in the “Fantasy/Horror” section of the independent reader shelves. I looked and didn’t see that header on any of the shelves so I asked a worker where I should look. “Oh, that’s probably in our new ‘Books for Boys’ section.” (Excuse me, your what?) And there it was, the “Books for Boys” section, filled with science fiction and fantasy books. And there next to it was the “Books For Girls” section, which seemed to consist of pink-spined books on various topics like friendship and sewing.
Me, to worker: “So, if I’m buying this alleged “boys” book for a girl, am I going to get stopped at the door?”
Worker: (Blank stare.)
I’m not even a half-assed feminist but it really bothers me that in this day and age, books are being categorized this way. Savvy girls and boys will read what they want but I know that at least some won’t dare cross the Borders-sanctioned gender lines and that makes me angry. What do you think, America? Am I overreacting or is this as bad an idea as I think it is?
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November 30, 2008 at 8:49 pm
harri3tspy
I think you’re right and I hate the gender marketing, but I also think they’re trying to respond to something they perceive as a customer need. AJ will tell you that the children’s books section at our local large bookseller (which does not have sections labeled by gender) mostly sells books for girls in the independent reader section and he has to look for the books for/about boys. He’s a little bit right. There is a lot more display space given to things like the American Girl and Hannah Montana series. There are, however, plenty of series aimed at but not labeled for boys — Matt Christopher’s sports books, for example. And plenty of things that he perceives as gender neutral — The Mysterious Benedict Society, Blue Balliett’s books, Harry Potter. But there have been studies identifying boys as reluctant readers. And the people who buy books for them are usually their mothers, who may not be as familiar with series that appeal to boys. I know I’m not. I wanted to read all girl books all the time when I was a kid once I hit a certain age. AJ will read books about girls, but he will balk at them at first and they have to be twice as good as the books about boys. So in terms of boy interests, at least as exemplified by AJ, it might not be a bad idea. But in terms of trying to create gender equity, having a boys only shelf is not, I think, the message we should be sending.
Strangely, the place we run into this more is at our local public library. They got a grant from the state of Illinois to create programs designed to get boys reading. The programs, though, rarely involve books. They bring boys to books by having Lego building nights at the library. I’m not sure that bringing boys to the library is the same thing as bringing them to books. Some of the programs sound great — they had a Froebel blocks class that AJ was desperate to do, but it was for older kids. But the programs simply seemed to play into the stereotypes that boys like trucks and building things and sports. And that seems pretty narrow minded. But again, their heart was in the right place. The execution, though, is problematic.
November 30, 2008 at 9:12 pm
The Lass
As a kid, I was a voracious reader. I do remember favoring “girl-themed” books around 3rd-4th grade but that passed quickly. Both of my parents were readers and almost nothing was off-limits to us as far as what was considered appropriate reading material. I always read far beyond my grade level, which may have something to do with my willingness to read books on “boy” subjects. Or not. I dunno. I just know that I loved Henry Huggins as much as I loved Beezus and Ramona and I wish that could be the same for everyone.
November 30, 2008 at 10:18 pm
harri3tspy
Agreed about Henry Huggins and wishing it to be the same for everyone. There are so many great books that AJ is not interested in because they are about girls or he thinks they are too girly. He was eventually won over by Roald Dahl’s Matilda, which he tolerated initially because of his other books. But I haven’t been able to get him to listen to Mary Poppins or the Sisters Grimm, both of which I think he’d love. I had a free rein at the library too. I got my adult library card when I was 7 (our public library card had separate cards for the separate sections and I had to get special permission). My mom let me check out whatever I wanted on our weekly trips. I remember reading a lot of Colette when I was in second and third grade and loved it. I read it again in college and was shocked that I’d read it so young. But at 7 or 8, I didn’t get the shocking parts and glossed over them and focused on the things of interest to me. My favorite books were still mostly from the kids’ section, but having access to all made me more of an explorer. Roping off areas for boys or girls only does not encourage exploring. Except, perhaps, by reverse psychology. I would have been all over the boys’ shelf.
December 1, 2008 at 8:52 am
Lass
It sounds as if we had similar reading experiences in childhood – I got an adult card at about the same age. I remember reading To Kill A Mockingbird in 2nd grade and being told by my teacher that I couldn’t do a book report on it ostensibly because it would be required reading in 5th or 6th grade…but then she added the comment that she didn’t think a kid my age should be reading that book. My mom was livid. Like you, I have always revisited books as I’ve aged because I read so much advanced lit at such a young age. It’s fun to go back and remember what drew the young me in…and to enjoy the myriad other levels that flew over my head on first reading. Makes them familiar, yet new, and that’s always fun.
December 1, 2008 at 8:56 am
crankygirl
I will lower the level of discourse to say No wonder the Texas born and bred women are such pin-heads. They aren’t allowed to read anythibng except Sweet Valley High or whatever passes for ChickieLit these days. As a whole-assed feminist, this doesn’t bode well for anyone.
December 1, 2008 at 9:05 am
The Lass
Oh, lower away! I was in a hurry so I didn’t take a really close look at the titles, but there were a bunch of H@nnah Montana “books” and other series books like SVH. I want to go back and take a photo and/or write down some titles and fire off a letter to Borders.
December 1, 2008 at 9:10 am
freshhell
Phantom Tollbooth is one of my very favorite books and it aggravates me that it would be put in a “boys only” section because there aren’t many girls who would go looking for it. I wonder what would happen if book stores that felt the need to gender stereotype books put the many of the same books in each section? If PT was in both the girls and the boys section. Basically, I think separating books that way is stupid. Neither gender is, on their own, likely to take a risk. They’ll think “oh, that’s something only boys like” because it’s in a shelf marked “boys”. And vice versa. I had free reign as a kid. I can’t ever remember my mother even noticing what I was reading much less steering me to one book versus another. I remember reading her copy of The Princess Bride in 6th grade. The cover had a naked woman on it and I had to hide it from view for fear someone would notice or a teacher would take it from me. The cover had zero to do with the story.
December 1, 2008 at 9:12 am
freshhell
And I didn’t mean to generalize there. I think there are boys who may not pick up a book simply because its in a “girls” section which they might avoid and the same with some girls. Not all. I do think if I worked in that Borders there might be a LOT of cross pollination. And I doubt anyone in management would notice.
December 1, 2008 at 9:19 am
The Lass
I understood what you meant – you generalizer. And funny you mention cross-pollination – when I told my sister this story yesterday, she said, “Please tell me you mis-shelved a few things before you left.” I didn’t, but there’s always another day…
December 1, 2008 at 6:06 pm
s
As long as we’re on the subject of categorization, and women, amongst other items of discourse, I must mention that I was raised by two generations of Texas born and bred women who have read and will read whatever they damned well choose… same goes for the young’ns, under the upstanding guidance of additional bright and well educated Texas women. In fact, any notion of them being told that they were “not allowed” to do anything, no matter what it may be, would be returned to sender in a memorable fashion, to say the least. I also do not agree with the gender-categorization of these books at Borders, or anywhere else. My mom worked at the public library in our town for most of my childhood, and I just about read my way through the place.