I love Robert Webb a little bit more

Another one who’s off to buy his book

My experience of toddle groups etc is that at preschool age, 2ish, they all pretty much tear around, climb things, like pushing things (eg trolley, buggy). Boys are very quickly told to leave the buggy alone and praised for climbing and girls are encouraged to calm down and do some colouring. And so it begins...

Dh is from a Scandinavian culture and is of the opinion that kids generally are high energy scamps who as a default like stuff like cars because ‘they zoom’. The first time someone did the ‘such a typical boy’ thing he was because it’s not so much a thing where he’s from. Kids just play with stuff, and wear clothes, and like what they like. So much healthier.
Ds is very into cars, lego, dinsosaurs and space. Just like I was at that age. So I’d imagine that his preferences aware a mix of what he finds fun and things I may have introduced him to.

PLus it seems obvious to me that difference between them are not down to gender but simply personality!

It's heartbreaking, isn't it? I try very hard to be gender critical in front of my children but I feel like it's a bit of a losing battle. The number of comments I've had about DS being "such a typical boy" has really surprised me. He's not very different from DD and he's only 18 months!

So much this, Only.

My daughter was TWO when another girl in Kindergarten pointed out her Bob the Builder socks were "actually for boys".

My son was THREE when he wore his hair in a bobble, pineapple-style, to Kindergarten and came home without it because "the boys laughed at me".

This really terrifies me. When I was pregnant with DD, part of me thought that life was going to be so much harder because she was a girl. I was completely unaware of the problems little boys face because of our society's narrow definition of masculinity. Then I had DS a few years later and realised he would have to go through his own set of difficulties. I think DH was that sensitive boy who had to crush himself into a version of manhood that didn't fit and I'm so sad at the thought that DS might have to do this too.

His book is really worth reading. Very touching and honest, made me cry too. It really shows how the pink and blue boxes harm all of us, how sensitive, kind little boys have to crush themselves to fit in.

Link to the tweet where he posts the text of his planned, then abandoned preface:
twitter.com/arobertwebb/status/1043128413186347008

Yep, NoSquirrels. RW's comment about the reason the author's note was left out of the book in the end was interesting ("because I didn’t want to kick off the book with a semi-apology").

It seems likely that it was also because the reviews and reception of the whole book would have got bogged down in picking holes in those thoughts on gender, pronouns, erasure and the rest of it. I think he gets it, and he also gets that he won't get the full wrath but the disappointed headshake, and why.

I’m willing to bet real money that no one is threatening to rape and murder him for his views.

Yes he was brilliant - it’s a good film and a nicely written character who starts off as a lazy racist idiot and then grows into someone rather more interesting.

Nuance isn’t these people’s strong suit...

misses bowlofbabelfish's point

because his character was an asshole

Gosh, I thought his character was brilliant - he looked like he was going to be a stock villain, then turns it all around towards the end.

There were people saying Sam Rockwell shouldn’t have got the Oscar for Three Billboards because his character was an asshole 🤦🏻‍♀️

the telly isn’t real, people...

It's funny because it's like when soap stars get hit with handbags by people in the street because they play villains. It takes a special kind of stupid to not be able to seperate TV and reality, and not only that but not actually bother checking who has written the script

I really want my doubts to be proved wrong...keep forgetting that the men don't get anything like the abuse women get for coming out as GC so perhaps he'll go for it - think he retweeted Lily Maynard a while back and got shit for that so perhaps had a taste of what to expect.

He knows the score. He knew it before he posted earlier this week. The. He posted what he wanted to put in his book but was advised not to by his publishers.

I’ll bet you a pound to a penny he’s been advised to stay out if the rows whilst promoting the book (paperback out fairly recently) and now most of the promotion is over he’s feeling like he can afford to...

Betcha Abi Burdess is a big GC feminist too.

Also without a full recantation of his heresy, they won't relent. I'm not sure he'd be prepared to do that.

I like Robert. But I think he will lose courage and run away from this. I honestly don't think he could cope with a full-on TRA onslaught.

I think its been on his mind for a while, and he - this might be my imagination - DID backtrack once.
However, I saw him tweet to someone gender critical about 6 weeks ago, saying how much he admired them and he felt he personally should stand up and say more.

I think he's aware of the consequences.

Hopefully Graham Linehan would have his back.

Sadly I think you're right...

No way to do it without being prepared for confrontational maniacs forcing you into confrontations. He's not that type of person, is he?

Ahhhh note to self - never post on a moving bus...

I like Robert. But I think he will lose courage and run away from this. I honestly don't think he could cope with a full-on TRA onslaught.

Sadly I think you're right...

I like Robert. But I think he will lose courage and run away from this. I honestly don't think he could cope with a full-on TRA onslaught.

I know, its lunacy to assume a written character portrays the views of the shows writers. I watched a drama last night containing a neo nazi, racist antagonist. Does this mean the writer is a neologism nazi racist? 🙄