Book help, gender/sex etc

[froomeonthebroom]

The library at school has a copy of the book in the picture. The librarian would like to have another book to display alongside this representing gender critical views and is looking for recommendations. It needs to be accessible for teenagers. Any ideas gratefully received!

Hopeful bump

This is a tough one. Teen-accessible "anti-religion" books have never really been a thing. It's the religionists who like proselytising to youngsters more.

Plus, you don't really want it to necessarily be a "gender critical" thing - ie a criticism of their position (Dawkins versus religion style), rather than something expressing its own message.

But then, what is the opposite message to genderism, exactly? To some extent it's humanism - forget the bloody boxes. At the kiddie level there's Rachel Rooney's "My Body Is Me", but what's the more grown-up version of that?

And then the real male/female issues do still remain - the ones that genderism tries to obscure. Which is kind of back to criticism again, but potentially more productive than just having a go at a religion.

So one thing that springs to mind for that is Caroline Criado Perez's Invisible Women - but I confess I haven't read it myself, and don't know how accessible it is.

The thing is that genderism is kind of interesting, with its Pokémon style collection of identities, flags and rituals. Reality can be a bit mundane sometimes, until you actually dig into it. Another thought - maybe something biological? Putting humans into perspective alongside other creatures? Are there any good "Weird and Wacky Ways Animals and Plants Get It On" books to put us into perspective.

I fondly remember Emma Hilton's twitter thread. Is there a book like that?

Juno seems a hack who has given lots of “born in give wrong body” interviews. This book seems to be lots of quote from celebs. You could ask to borrow it, but my first thought is that Titania McGrath seems the antidote?

The new Kathleen Stock book is an obvious recommendation, though perhaps a bit difficult for teenagers. There's also the Abigail Shrier book (very readable) and, if she can wait, the Helen Joyce book, which comes out in July.

This is very hard, I've been thinking all morning.

A damn good book on biology?

Gina Rippon, the gendered brain? I think it's quite easy to read and the cover is beautiful.

Invisible women.

Gina is really good at demonstrating how sexist medicine and brain research has been in the past and how sex stereotypes are self fulfilling.

Her recent discussion with Julian Vigo on savage minds was great.

I agree with @NecessaryScene1 that you probably don't want to be deliberately adding "gender critical" books to a school library.

That seems like quite a negative stance to take and seems like you/ the librarian has some kind of agenda.

Rather you want books that are simply educational with their own positive messages. Books about identity, yes, humanism, biology, developing their individuality. But don't jam negative views down their throats.

Also are you talking about a primary or secondary school? Either way there may be a member of staff designated for PSHE who could be worth talking to about what they would recommend or what links in with the curriculum.

Books about identity, yes, humanism, biology, developing their individuality. But don't jam negative views down their throats.

Mmm. To some extent, yes, you just need other interesting stuff that isn't about gender, or any other religion.

I'd be quite happy with a library that was full of interesting books and had a few weird ideological tracts in it. In a well-stocked library, the ideological tracts' lack of seriousness or intellectual depth compared to other stuff on the shelves should be self-evident.

Then maybe it is worthwhile having a couple of direct anti-woke/anti-gender books - there will be those interested in it - but on the whole you just want the main selection to not be constrained by gender or other religious orthodoxy.

That's the impression I kind of am picking up third-hand - that librarians are once more under pressure to not have "problematic" books. They should continue to resist that.

(I vaguely recall The Naked Ape from a school library making an impression on me at a formative age. I wonder if that helped make genderism self-evidently bollocks to me...)

Invisible women and the gendered brain aren't directly opposing views to the book shown above.

Very scientific and biology based.

A friend's daughter is using invisible women for her gcse oral exam.

Thanks for the recommendations, I will have a look at those.

Books about identity, yes, humanism, biology, developing their individuality. But don't jam negative views down their throats. This is exactly what I want, but couldn't find the right way to articulate that in the OP. I think I'm just trying to find something that represents the 'other side', to give a balanced view. It is so easy for teenagers to find information that makes defining yourself as non-binary and referring to 'the gender you were assigned at birth' seem something to aspire to.

Sorry, meant to say it is a secondary school and I will speak to the PSHE lead, although I'm not convinced she will be much help.