Book that was so close yet so very, very far

[CremeEggsForBreakfast]

Browsing a bookshop yesterday, I came across this book. It was under the "graphic novels for children" section and there was more than one copy so unlikely that someone returned it there by accident.

I paged through it out of curiosity and was really pleased with its straight-talking language and the message that gender is but a box full of assumptions and expectations. I was on the cusp of buying it until I literally turned to the next page and found the line "if you don't get put in the right box you're trans".

The bloody book acknowledges that the only people who benefit from "gender" is men and still tells young girls that of they don't fit a stereotype then they must be boys!

There's a "game" on the previous page of match the sad vagina to the boy things and the happy vagina to the girl things with a joke at the bottom saying "Hahaha! Just kidding! Your genitals don't define what you enjoy"
The cognitive dissonance makes my brain hurt and the illustrations and use of genitals as an illustration also made me question what age group this book is even for.

I'm wondering if I would be unreasonable to write to the bookshop and point out the absurdity of it all and that it is a very inappropriate message to send to children - whether it's aimed at 8yr olds or 14yr olds.

Absolutely bloody awful. And some of the ugliest illustrations I've ever seen. Ew.

I mean, that's garbled even for genderism. No acknowledgement of gender non-conformism at all? If I was trans I'd find that offensive. I'd probably complain on that basis

'as a trans nonbinary person this book is erasing me and I wish to complain'

That is truly awful. How can they be so sexist and not see it.

You almost get the impression that this sort of thing just has to "look convincing".

It's got to have lots of waffle about gender and stereotypes, a few stripey flags, bad cartoon art, and someone will put it in stock under "LGBTQ".

It doesn't have to actually have a coherent message.

Indeed, not having a coherent message is probably a benefit, because it's less likely to be called out for being problematic if no-one can pin down what it's actually saying.

I’ve seen that book on the shelves where I work, although I’ve never looked closely at it. There’s so much of this garbage in children’s books, it’s depressing. Complaining to the manager won’t [imo] achieve much: go higher, contact their head office or buying department.

Terrifying artwork.

A lot of "feminist" children's books published post-2015 is (t)ripe with woo.

Yes, but this means criticisms/complaints can also be incoherent and equally valid.

'Please remove this cis-heteronormative oppression from your shelves before young asexual nonbinaries are harmed'

Oh no, don't worry!

The book points out that there are not, infarct, two biological sexes because I tersex conditions exist. It says you can be intersex and a woman, intersex and a man, and intersex and non-binary so enbys also get their shout out!

Funny how this is bringing back all the oppressive gender roles which I thought could never be returned in their entirety after the second wave of feminism and its aftermath. The only difference is that in the GI system you can pick your box if you are also willing to undergo medical treatments for the rest of your life.

I don't think declaring a nonbinary status for female people will achieve equality with male people as the rest of the society doesn't check preferred pronouns before possibly engaging in sex discrimination, sexual harassment and worse.

This trend seems to me also perhaps quite bad for small children who are told that their biological sex is really wobbly and might collapse under them at any point in the future unless they spend enormous amount of time doing introspection on if they like to play with trucks more than with dolls. Seems to me that this process truly WILL create much stronger sexist stereotypes about women and men.