Monday 25 January 2016

Unsuitable for Boys - Tamsyn Murray

I read a book about football last year. It was called Whatever Happened to Billy Parks by Gareth Roberts and I enjoyed it immensely. The main character was male. There were a lot of other male characters. There was a lot of football detail but that was OK, because I like football. The story was engaging, the writing rich and gorgeous and evocative. I closed the book at the end with a happy sigh and immediately passed it on to a friend. And then another. I recommended it to a few people too. You get the idea: I loved the book.

Now imagine someone had told me that book wasn't meant for me. "That's a book for men," they might have said. "You won't like it."

I like to think I would have told them to stick their gender preconceptions somewhere uncomfortable and read the book regardless. But what if I'd been less confident in my tastes and more swayed by the opinions of others? What if the person who said it to me was someone I should respect and listen to? What then? I might have put the book down and read something else...something safe and expected. And I would have missed out on the fabulous story and great writing. I would have missed that experience.

Now onto a less hypothetical situation. I had an enquiry about a school visit recently. It didn't come directly from a school but via a third party (who shall remain anonymous) and they wanted to know if I was free to visit a school. 'Sure,' I said, and gave some possible dates. A few days passed and I heard back from the very embarrassed third party: the school didn't want me. They wanted an author who was more suitable for boys.

I don't consider either myself or my writing to be unsuitable for boys. The Stunt Bunny series (featuring a female rabbit and her female owner) are popular with boys and girls. My events are (all modesty aside) a smash hit with boys and girls - they love hearing about my (girl) rabbits and the inspiration behind the Completely Cassidy books (my Powerpoint involves photos of my female dog and my daughter). My events are interactive - the kids get up and help me to tell the stories behind my books: they hula-hoop and plate spin and pretend to be rabbits and spiders and out-of-breath authors. And let me tell you, the boys are just as keen as the girls. Blimey, are they keen.

Occasionally, I get asked (usually by a boy) whether I will write a book with a male main character so that they can read it. I always feel sorry for the asker of this question, mostly because they are about to get something they probably didn't expect: a fiery lecture about how books are simply BOOKS, not gender-specific. I try to rein it in a bit - it's not the asker's fault, after all. Kids have always been taught that there are books for girls and books for boys. Thankfully, this is changing but it's definitely still a thing. I know girls will read books with boy MCs more readily than boys will read about girls but I think it's more because people tell boys they won't like books that feature girls. Several authors have told me stories about experiences similar to mine with the school booking (and there were worse stories too) so I know it's not an isolated experience. And I'm not bleating about a lost booking or missed income - I'm sad for the kids at that school. I'm worried that they are missing out on lots of fabulous books because some of the adults around them still think there are books for boys and books for girls. If books allow us to slip into someone else's shoes for a short time, what kind of message does that send - that it's OK for girls to pretend to be boys but heaven forfend boys should pretend to be girls?

When the fabulous Mary Hoffman heard what had happened to me, she said in my situation she would get a t-shirt made up that read 'Unsuitable for Boys'. So I've done exactly that and look forward to wearing it at every available opportunity. And then people will ask me about it. I can't wait to tell them what it means.




15 comments:

Ms. Yingling said...

While this is clearly wrong, it's wrong because I shouldn't have to tell boys that they "can" read books with girls on the covers! After the brouhaha with Shannon Hale, we had all boys check out Princess in Black, and I sent the filled up circulation card to Hale. Every February for the last 6 years, I've had "Guys Read Pink" month in my school library to encourage boys to read anything they want. Girls too, of course, but they are more amenable. It has made a difference, but there are still boys who will physically recoil if I hand them a "girl" book, even if it has lots of action and adventure, like Alanna: The First Adventure.

Tamsyn Murray said...

Only because they've been taught to feel the way about girl's books. If we can stop the notion that books are for boys or girls from taking hold then you won't need to tell them it's OK to read books about girls. And that starts at primary school, which is where I came in...
(Excellent work with your "Guys Read Pink" month)

Emma Barnes said...

I like the idea of "Guys Read Pink"!

I think part of the issue is that there is perceived problem with boys reading - the "reluctant boy reader" and some schools seem to think that the best way to counter this is by only having male authors visit and lots of stereotypically "boy" books about aliens, dinosaurs, computer games etc. But take this too far and it's just reinforcing stereotypes, and it's also unfair to boys and girls who want something different.

I think girls and boys should both be able to find books they can identify with - so yes, they should have access to plenty of books with protagonists of their own gender. But they shouldn't be reading only about kids exactly like them. And what annoys me is when it is assumed that boys won't ever want to and shouldn't be encouraged to read books about girls, yet girls will read about boy characters and themes (and rightly so).

More encouragingly, when I meet boys I find it they like the sound of the book then they are perfectly happy to read about girl characters - and books with pink covers!

Tamsyn Murray said...

Exactly, Emma! When I go into schools boys are happy to read my books. And I've held Frozen parties at schools which the boys loved too.

Jess said...

Hear hear. So fed up with this assumption that boys' reading is so fragile that if they open a book with a girl or a flower in it they might give up on the whole idea. Grr. Blog on the subject from the Let Books Be Books campaign (part of Let Toys Be Toys).
http://www.lettoysbetoys.org.uk/how-do-we-get-more-boys-reading-clue-boy-books-arent-the-answer/

Leila said...

"when it is assumed that boys won't ever want to and shouldn't be encouraged to read books about girls, yet girls will read about boy characters and themes." - this is exactly the issue, I think. It's a sexist attitude. It also reminds me strongly of Sarwat Chadda being told by a bookseller that they wouldn't stock his Ash Mistry series (a fantasy adventure that happens to be based on Indian myths and star a British Asian hero) because they didn't have any Indians living in their town. Again the assumption that all readers have to bend themselves around the a white, male (and one could add, able-bodied, straight, cis, middle-class) perspective. We can do better.
Also, LOVE the T-shirt :)

whispering words said...

Great t-shirt!

And it really is sad so many schools are stuck in this archaic way of thinking. I mean statistics show that boys read less than girls, but then if boys are going to be so limited in their choice of books, what do people expect? Books are for everyone, based on their own personal presences. At the end of the day, it seems both silly and a waste of time to try and TELL boys and girls what they should be reading. Let them discover what they like for themselves!

Nick Green said...

Genderfication is done to suit publishers' marketing departments. They need to know and define their target readership, and their Excel spreadsheet only has a limited number of columns. Give them a break.

Tamsyn Murray said...

The Stunt Bunny books aren't gendered. Boys and girls read them.

Tamsyn Murray said...

It's a great campaign and I'm happy to see change happening!

Tamsyn Murray said...

Such a bizarre thing to say. Presumably they stock Harry Potter despite having no wizards around them? Or LOTR without any Elves.

Tamsyn Murray said...

I should stress that I visit a lot of schools and this isn't normally an issue at staff level. But judging from the interest this post has generated, it isn't an isolated experience.

Tamsyn Murray said...

And I can't tell if you were being sarcastic, Nick. Sorry, my sarcasm detector seems to be on the blink.

Sue Bursztynski said...

You know what? Not my main, but my entire, school library audience for Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books, with their girl protagonists, has been boys. I find reluctant boy readers prefer non fiction. They should be able to read that. I have plenty for them to enjoy. I'm not going to tell kids what they should be reading, whether it's "boys should only read about boys" or even "boys should give female characters a go." If they ask me for a suggestion, I will give them one, of course. But I think I'd lose them if I tried to persuade them to read something that was totally strange to them.

I am sorry, Tamsyn, that you missed out on that school visit because of that attitude - very silly, but we've had a lot of female writers who have had to write under pen names or with initials to make their books sell to both sexes. Even in this day and age. Silly, really, because when I see a novel by A.B. Smith, I strongly suspect the author is female. ;-) To this day, I have a hard time persuading kids that S.E Hinton was a teenage girl.

Nick Green said...

If in doubt, always assume the cat is being sarcastic. (Except now of course.) :-)

Marketers are the bane of my career...