To try and find some good teens books that don't push the LGBTQ agenda?

[Lifeofthepartay]

Trying to get some books for my daughter who is in S1, books are either too young or they all have a blurb that alludes to the main character's sexual preferences. Would love it if anyone could recommend something your pre-teens, or young teens are reading that don't include those topics? They already get enough information about it in school and the internet.

The Miseducation of. Cameron Post is a great book.

I just think that's if a parent said to their child "I don't want you don't read books with a lot of foul language in them" then nobody would bat an eyelid . I don't see why this is different ? ’

Well, comparing gay relationships to ‘foul language’ is pretty shitty to begin with but what if someone said ‘ no books pushing rhe race agenda’? No black characters as main characters please? No Asian characters?
No stories that have interracial marriages.
No Muslims shown please …
still okay?

Again, I think the point, having read the OPs further posts is that she's looking for things that just aren't about relationships, or sexuality, straight or otherwise. So in the same way that someone might ask for recommendations that aren't about magic or dragons. Her dad isn't interested in the topic of sexuality and doesn't want to read about it yet. Which is fine.

Daughter not dad!

I don't have an issue with LGBT characters in books but I don't think books should always have to be a teaching moment. I hate preachy books that try too hard, especially when they take a setting which is not very diverse realistically and then try to cram in as many "diverse" groups as a token seems a bit naff to me. I find it a bit tokenistic, but maybe that's just me.

I am also a little bit sceptical of books that imply a child can choose their gender, it would seem to me like pushing a theory e.g. Evolution or creationism as fact. Perhaps that doesn't matter? It just all seems a bit virtue signalling for me, this obsession with gender. Gender dysphoria affects a tiny tiny fraction of the population and has always existed without a need for puberty blockers, surgery etc. Certainly we didn't need pronouns. I think whether people use pronouns for themselves or others should be a choice, no social pressure either way. Chances of children being trans/non binary or knowing someone who is seems extremely small, even these days.

Well, firstly the reply was in response to the suggest you can't know someone's sexuality unless you see them have sex...

You can also be with more than one person. It's called Polyamory. Or a threesome/orgy. But that's also beside the point

I know I am Bi because I have sexual interest in both men and women. Irrespective of any current partner. Because, as you say, I'm not defined by my partner.

It's also not my whole "identity" but it is part of it.

👏👏 you expressed my exact feelings. Sadly, as you can see front the comments tokenism is alive and well. I am part of a minority group in the UK, I have never seen my culture represented in any books, or school events ,whilst other races and cultures do, however I know mine is not very common so why would I expect that they represent me just to be politically correct? Like you said transgender people have existed forever is nothing to be ashamed of, however shouldn't kids be able to find out what their preference is naturally rather than having a disproportionate amount of information about it and make them feel pressured? To me protectingvkids and giving them information/freedoms according to their level of maturity trumps political correctness. Let's not even get into the fact that kids are allowed to go on puberty blockers at such young age, only to then regret about it a few years down the line.

How do you know that? Do you have scientific proof that they were gay all along but covered it up? Are you a doctor or a psychologist or do you just make assumptions based on your own biases? What makes someone gay or transgender and why can this not be fluid? So you believe there are people that are biologically male or female and despite this they feel they are a different gender but you don't think someone can like their opposite sex and then change their preference? Why?

Well good on you for being such a cool perfect mum 👏👏🤣

My kids learn about interracial marriage at home so also no need for them to read tokenistic books about that when they can see it first hand at home.

So at what age should people loose the freedom to choose what they read at risk of being accused of being discriminatory?

Yes, that's right. I did.

I thought girls were pretty and wanted to hold their hands. I played with dolls and had them marry each other rather than Ken dolls. I wondered why Belle and Jasmine didn't have girlfriends and not just boyfriends. And it remained. And I got crushes on girls in my class as I grew up.

And there were no books or TV shows telling me to do it. And it's the same story for most other bi and gay people.

Look at your homophobia seeping out of every word. You should be ashamed of yourself.

This! Also I am sorry but for example I don't believe Angelina Jolie has 2 transgender kids, how? Statistically impossible and again just pushing this narrative to be cool and be different. Letting kids decide their gender and change their name when they've not even finished primary school. Kids allowed to go on puberty blockers, only to regret it later in life after they butchered their bodies? But no one could have advised these children to wait? Probably too scared of people calling them homophobic 🤣 line another Mumsnet here was saying the representation is disproportionate. A other example, a teacher in my kid school has a LGBTQ in the classroom and when they introduce themselves the first thing was my name is x, my pronouns are X and I identify as X.....imagine a male teacher going my name is Billy, and I am heterosexual, I'll be teaching you this class....🤣 . In my opinion if it has zero relevance to what their job is, why even mention it? Who cares?

Well your logic presumes that sexuality is a ‘choice’. People don’t choose their sexuality, they just are. Fluid sexuality doesn’t mean at one point someone is gay, the next they’re straight. That’s called being bisexual/ pansexual or genuinely gay and either suppressing it to fit with expectations or not fully realising it until later. It doesn’t mean someone was straight and all of a sudden they are gay because it’s not a choice.

Same as I don’t believe that people choose their gender either. I think people can go through identity crises, hence people who are ND frequently have gender identity issues, for instance. It’s still not a choice to feel that way, and reading about such things isn’t going to turn people gay or transgender.

Put it this way, the fact I am still attracted to men despite my awful experiences of them is proof enough to me that sexuality is not a choice 🤣

@Lifeofthepartay Angelina Jolie doesn't have any transgender children as far as I know.

I am from a minority race in the UK and I can tell you I've never read a character of my nationality in any books in English, that doesn't enrage me, neither does it make me think that people are racist to me because they have not included my nationality in books, I also have no interest in forcing kids to read about my culture if they are not interested, they will probably travel to my home country when they are older and learn about it then and I am absolutely fine with that ❤️

And it's a race to the bottom, is it? Do you experience racism? I hope not, but if you ever have I am honestly shocked you find it so easy to demonise people who are different.

Your thread fucking stinks. You know what you're doing, and I'm annoyed I've even got involved. It's a pity and it's a damn shame.

I hope, for your daughter's sake, that she's every inch the heterosexual girl you want her to be.

I'm done with this thread, the comments are disgusting.

@PureBoggin my reply was to the vegetarian/bi analogy, not the original OP.
being bi is not really a prominent part of my identity either, I hardly ever think about it unless it (rarely) comes up in conversation.
but it’s not like saying I’m a vegetarian and then eating meat 🤷‍♀️

Imagine forcing people to read about horticulture or buying recipe books when they haven't switched their oven in 2 years 🤣

Er, did you not read fiction when you were a teenager? Seems odd that you are utterly unaware of the huge range of books for YA written even before they were called YA, from the late 19th century onwards!

@Lifeofthepartay I had interpreted your first post as you were asking for book suggestions for books that were basically not romantic ones - which is what many teen books are.
I am now wondering if I was wrong.
If your daughter reads some of the suggestions I have made I hope she enjoys them but I'm leaving the thread as now I am not comfortable with your comments.

If she had meant purely non - romantic books she would have said that. She didn’t. She said specifically LGBTQ books, followed by the word ‘’agenda’’ and then said in a separate closely following post that she felt that kids were ‘’impressionable’’, implying that she didn’t want her DD to end up gay by reading such books.

It was pretty obvious all along. I’m quite shocked people didn’t realise. She claimed she meant all romance themed books in later posts but that was a clear attempt to back pedal after people called her what she is - a homophobe.

Listen, I really couldn't care less about being labelled homophobic because the gay people in my life know I am not. However I still don't necessarily want my kids to be given so much information that i feel they do not need at a young age. The same way I don't give them books about war, or murder or other sexual preferences that some people would argue are natural (as LGBTQ). And yes as parents we make decisions for our kids ..shocker huh?! People in this thread are advocating for LGBTQ rights yet their knowledge and assumptions seem pretty bad tbh.

You don't know, but I know because she has never expressed any interest. However, like I said before she gets plenty of information about LGBTQ in school these days.