Enid Blyton and the Brownies etc.

[EatsYummySprouts]

These are things which I grew up with and loved. Now the language Enid Blyton used is not acceptable to the woke ways, and the Brownies is name changing to the Embers (in Canada)
These are just two examples of ridiculous wokeness.
I am a very open person, and am open to the beliefs of all, and sexual identity of all. But honestly, all if these rules, and that people cannot decide for themselves any more if something is okay or not is completely bonkers. AIBU???

For all the many, many problems with Blyton, she did have a wonderful imagination. I'd hate to lose the Faraway Tree and Wishing Chair worlds completely. I still quite enjoy the Secret Seven mysteries now my oldest is getting into them, although I don't really like the Famous Five so much.

And Darrell Rivers can fuck right off. I heard she went down for GBH.

I.imagine Darrell,Rivers as a CEO,or NHS,manager ,she had the right temprement,for it 😂
I still.want to.swim in the Malory,.Towers,swimming pool though !

Now the language Enid Blyton used is not acceptable to the woke ways

Imagine starting a thread telling everyone that you want to be racist. 🤣

She may have been racist and sexist but it’s incorrect to say she was a bad writer. She was highly imaginative with superb, original plots. A lot of the earnest and derivative and affectedly “wacky” stuff with lots of references to farts that gets published today for 8 year olds does not come anywhere close to her deeply absorbing universe. The Faraway Tree stories still have to be some of the best children’s stories ever written. Along with the Wishing Chair.

She is dated now in many ways and my DC don’t read her books very much - though they’re not big readers anyway. They did like Malory Towers (though they commented on what bullies Darrell, Alicia and Felicity were which I had never spotted as a child) and, like most children everywhere, they loved The Faraway Tree.

Ah Cross post, I was beaten by other EB fans

Her books are still in print and being read, albeit with revisions, 90-odd years later. She may not have been the greatest writer technically, and there are obvious problems that need to be addresses, but clearly she did something right.

I still read St Clares sometimes when I'm unable to get through anything more cerebral. They go down very easily.

I'm not a fan of editing books, but I think there is a big difference between adult and children's fiction in this regard. Adults can be expected to understand that the language / stereotypes used in the past belong in the past, and that the world has (rightly) moved on in the last 100 years. I also that re-writing them carries its own risk of pretending that rampant misogyny / racism / homophobia never existed. On balance, therefore, I prefer books for adults to remain unchanged.

However, children's books are a completely different kettle of fish. Children absorb cultural norms from all around them, including fiction books. They may have parents who have the time to explain properly to them, but they may not. Therefore, I prefer (where possible) that the old versions are kept, and that edited versions are available too.

As for the name change - I really don't understand the problem. The name stopped a fair number of girls from joining. The people within the organisation decided to change it so that those girls could join. Fair enough, imo.

totally agree with the difference between children and adult fiction

why should kids have to wade through sexist, racist books that make certain groups feel alienated (with their parents stopping to talk about historical context), when they should be just enjoying the magic of reading? @EatsYummySprouts

They contain a lot of spanking as well - she probably had a pretty fucked up imagination and liked nude tennis, apparently.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/naughty-enid-was-jolly-beastly-1.118366

We can’t woke-wash the past! It’s history.

Let’s take the parts about men not laying with other men out of the bible too.

Funnily enough in the 90’s my mum picked up a whole collection of these books. I read them all. I asked my mum what a the g———g dolls were and got a little history lesson on racism.

I still.want to.swim in the Malory,.Towers,swimming pool though !

So do I! I wish I still had my Malory Towers and St Clare's books, it's making me want to read them again!

Children should be able to read books that don't make them feel alienated though, it's not "woke-washing"

I read loads of things without asking my parents to explain every detail (including Enid Blyton), in the 21st century we shouldn't have a generation of children internalising racism/classism/misogny

Different for teen and adult books

They're available on Kindle.

I made a pact with my friends that if we failed our 11+ (back in the day when it was called the Thorn Plan), we'd get our parents to send us to Mallory Towers.

"Woke" = "spouting utter bollocks and claiming that you are morally superior for doing so".

It's all very tedious isn't it? Getting boring and cringey now truth be told. The more they try to change stuff and re-write history, the more pathetic it's getting. and the more ludicrous and laughable people who support this shit are looking.

I thank GOD I still have 100s of 'original' books, and multiple 100s of DVDs from the past 25 years, with the ORIGINAL cut on everything. Nothing has been wokie-fied, and destroyed by the far left. And it never will be because it's all MINE.

Exactly 💯

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

Why is it ludricous? It doesn't take a genius to realise that if "brownie" has been used a racial slur against a minoritised community, it's a) unacceptable to keep using it, and b) hardly suprising that girls of these ethnicities are not going to want to join

I just don't get this backlash to standing up against systemic racism, it's depressing

‘Wahhhh being called out on racism is so boring’

I voted YABU purely for using the work ‘woke’ in a non-ironic way

@TwoLeftSocksWithHoles

The Girl Guides of Canada has renamed its Brownies branch after current and former members said the name caused them harm and prevented or delayed their decision to join.

...it was made based on the fact that past and present members who were Black, Indigenous and other people of color said the name made them "feel extremely uncomfortable, prompted teasing and racist comments and was a barrier to feeling that they belong at Girl Guides."

Some families signed up for the Girl Guides for the first time because of the decision to change the name and become more inclusive for their daughters

**

This. A cheap lazy insult .

The word Brownies (revering to a pixie like creature) is not racist.

If you read all the posts on this you'd see it isn't anything to do with folklore but because the word brownie has been used a racial slur against certain groups in Canada, which stops girls participating in guiding

Unless you're specifically from one of the communities in Canada, I don't think you get to claim it isn't racist or minoritising