Book choice for 14 year old boys - lesbian novel

[NC29]

I need some distance and other ppls thoughts.
In an all boys school the 14 year olds in english lit will be reading a novel about the hardship of being a lesbian girl in a catholic household.
Why?
I don't object to the topic, or the book (haven't read it yet, just arrived today - hope it's good)
My issue is I don't understand the choice. It feels forced* and there is so much literature that I would consider foundational that they haven't read yet that this is out of place. Maybe in a year or 2 it'll be more understandable to them, but now?
I am happy for them to read all kinds of stuff, but I think you need context and some life knowledge/experience for certain stuff.

*it seems that there is a culture emerging where kids have to be tolerant towards one or other specific trait, not the person. I don't agree with this approach. They should be taught that one trait doesn't matter by itself. A person is not black OR gay OR nice OR nasty. We are all a mixture of many things. Putting colour or sexuality at the forefront without the understanding of why it matters and why it is good that nowadays it's not a stigma (or why it should not have ever been and should not be now) is more logical to me.

I want my kid to be tolerant, kind (and a lot of other things :)) and behave normally with others because he sees the other person as a whole - not their color or their sex preference. And I want him to be in a world where he can say he doesn't like xyz and it won't come down to "oh, you don't like him because he is gay". Tolerance works both ways. **
And let's be fair: how is it any of my (or anyone's) business who another person chooses as a partner?

And this is coming form a person who just gave him Murakami to read. (and he likes it.) So no issues with actually him reading any book. (ok, maybe I would not be too happy if he was reading Dosztojevszkij or the memoirs of a serial killer....).
Not for a second do I think it is going to hurt him, but i think it'll fly past their heads and it would be more value a bit later.

**I honestly get the fierce need of oppressed minorities wanting more respect or just to be left alone to be who they want to be. I also see there is a shift to be too pc. There must be a middle ground where these things can be treated factual and without connotations. (ok, naivety off)

so question is, what do you think the motivation behind this selection could be? And what would your thoughts be on this being the mandatory English lit book of the term?

It's almost like you want to teach him that books depicting the experiences of anyone other than straight white men are not 'foundational'

This.

Honestly OP, what a ridiculous post.

How many teenage girls over the years have been made to read canonical stories of men’s experiences? Why on earth are you complaining about this?

This does read as one big "I'm not homophobic but..."

Treating the existence of lesbians in literature as inherently political is what you are doing, not the school. That's why it feels 'forced' to you.

It's sad that books about straight white dudes are generally viewed as neutral and non political and unforced.

As many others gave said, it’s a modern literary classic coming of age story, it’s wonderfully written and funny.

I've never read Oranges, but it's very highly regarded and your dismissive way of passing it off as a book about a lesbian in a catholic house makes you sound very narrow minded.

And as PP said, your post goes so far to deny you have bigoted thoughts that it comes right back around again and makes it sound like you do.

Besides, they are probably using it because the boys have limited contact with young woman due to being at an all boys school. This will give them ah idea of the female experience.

A bit ironical isn’t it, how you, the person who writes reams about how identity isn’t just one single aspect, and all about the whole etc - then proceeds - to reduce a classic coming of age novel which is about a complex, layered nuanced journey of a young person to one single aspect: that person’s sexual identity. Suddenly — a book which would have been A OK if about a heterosexual young person - becomes in your eyes a “book about a lesbian”. And yet you wax lyrical about identity not being one thing, seeing a whole person, a whole context and then just casually throw in references to your erudite literary repertoire.....

So you only want him to read books you approve of?

That’s entirely not the point of reading at all. My mum loves reading, I love reading. She fostered in me a deep appreciation for books. However while we share some tastes, our reading preferences utterly diverge, and thank goodness. If you want your son to be well-read and to think for himself, your opinion on his reading material needs to not matter.

OP, you say “I’m happy for them to read all kinds of stuff, but I think you need context”

But a well written novel does provide context. 14 year olds can be wiser than you think. And ot’s important for them to learn about homophobia and the dangers of bigotry.

Lesbian woman have hearts too.

This is the difficulty with inclusion in.
We wouldnt view a book with a hetro character as a "hetrosexual" book. Yet as soon as theres a mention of homosexuality it becomes a "gay book" and the rest of the plot becomes forgotten

I recently read a post about why there were "shoe horned in" references of gay characters "where theres no point to them being gay/its not relevant to the story" eg the inclusion of a lesbian couple in the sainsburys ad, as though im only gay when its important and during dull tasks like shopping.

Because of hetronormality you just dont notice how many straight relationships you see every day eg in a whole day of childrens tv programming but can remeber the one gay couple so it seems over represented.

I hit send too soon, complete with typo, sorry. It’s a beautiful book by a talented author and attitudes such as those reflected here demonstrate the reasons why it needs to be read.

Erm because it’s a modern classic???

They should be taught that one trait doesn't matter by itself. A person is not black OR gay OR nice OR nasty. We are all a mixture of many things. Putting colour or sexuality at the forefront without the understanding of why it matters and why it is good that nowadays it's not a stigma (or why it should not have ever been and should not be now) is more logical to me.

Op you are guilty of your own criticism by labelling Oranges as merely a 'lesbian book' and not seeing the protagonist as a complete three dimensional character who also happens to be lesbian. You've not even read it show can you possibly make an informed judgement on it?

Surely in order to raise kind and tolerant DC, as you want, they need to be exposed first hand to accounts of people with very different life experiences and made to think about how gender, race, sexual orientation, religion impact on people's chatacter and place in society. Without that then all the 'people are all equal' statements are without substance and deeper understanding, basically just paying lip service.

@op I echo a PP in that you've negated your own argument with your "I'm so liberal, honest!" Monologue in your op. It's a book, it's a classic. It's relevant. It's a slippery slope from "I don't want my precious boy to have to read about lesbians" to "happy 45th, son, I'll tuck you into bed with a nice book tonight".

Wow, for starters the book’s protagonist isn’t Catholic, she’s been been brought up as part of an extreme pentecostal church in the north of England and its based on the author's experiences. and it is BRILLIANT. its a modern classic, a quite challenging read as it’s all woven around myth and legend and a masterclass in how to be yourself and find your place in the world.
The fact that she realises she’s attracted to another girl is part of it, but it’s not the main theme.
Maybe you should read it before judging?

Here have my first

And a second for the Dostoevsky comment.

If your DS likes it, and he will because it’s interesting, different, clever and funny he should read Wintersons autobiography ‘Why be happy when you can be normal?’ Which is something her mother actually said to her when she came out.
It’s hilarious.

@DamnYankee I read To Kill a Mockingbird as our set text at school - I'd just read it for pleasure and had to go through it all again but in much finer detail!

Like PP I read Junk. I think this is a non issue.

'Oranges are not the Only Fruit' is a modern classic.
The fact that you claim oh-so-hard to be liberal yet have let your own clear and conservative biases about this book overtake you is obvious in your post.

You know nothing about it.
You have assumed it's a nod to 'liberalism' without actually recognising that it is a well written and well recognised coming of age book eminently suitable for discussing broader societal themes with teens students. You claim to want him to be liberal but don't actually seem to be practising that and seem to think that acknowledging minorities and the struggles they experience is 'PC gone mad' what do you think he should be reading at 'an all boys school'? Lord of the flies?

I think you probably need to do some examining of your own unconscious bias. Your post is rife with it.

We read The Color Purple around the same time at school, alongside Jane Austen's Emma. With adult hindsight, I think the English dept might have been making a point.

Nothing to add on 'Oranges' as previous posters have covered everything, but I have to know...

Why wouldn't you be happy if your 14-year-old was reading Dostoevsky?!

haven't read it yet

Quite frankly, anything after this is irrelevant.

YABU, have you read the book?, I suspect not. There has been an attempt at making yourself sound educated and liberal in your OP, it failed, you just made yourself sound the exact opposite.

Oh dear - I was an avid reader of Dostoyevsky when I was 14 ...

YABU.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a classic. It's been taught on many a literature syllabus for years! I can't remember if it was GCSE or A-level but I studied it back when I was at school 16 years ago, so it's not a recent thing.

Knew it would be Oranges, it's a fantastic book adds to reread pile. I'd be very impressed that an all boys school (private or grammar? I'm assuming a degree of privilege in a single sex school) is getting its pupils to read a book about the experiences of a working class northern girl who grew up in an abusive religious fundamentalist household and just happens to be lesbian. Literature's great skill is teaching empathy and so it is vitally important that boys read books written from the female perspective.