Posted on 06/20/2007 2:54:58 PM PDT by 68skylark
A British import called The Dangerous Book for Boys has soared on American bestseller lists. Is it a new beacon for real boyhood—or a throwback to 1950s-style ideas of sex roles, "dangerous" in a different way than its title suggests?
The book, by English brothers Conn and Hal Iggulden—already a big hit in England and Australia—revels in retro, conjuring up a pre-computer, pre-videogame idyll of hunting, skipping stones, making paper airplanes and bows and arrows, and stories of battlefield heroics. Unlike some works in the "boys will be boys" genre, such as The Big Book of Boy Stuff which treats rude gags as the essence of boyness, The Dangerous Book... expects its readers to be gentlemen; it endorses good manners, cleanliness, and knowledge of Shakespeare, Latin phrases, and history. (The U.S. edition replaces culture-specific British material from royalty to cricket with American equivalents, but otherwise keeps the spirit of the book intact.) Many see it as a welcome antidote not only to the narrow and sedentary interests of the digital age but to the safety-obsessed, anti-competitive mindset of "politically correct" schooling and to feminist scorn for all things male.
But are initiative and adventure "male"? Some people who like the call to initiative, adventure, and outdoor fun have asked why the same fare could not have been packaged as "The Dangerous Book for Kids." Yet the gender-specific nature of the message, which includes a chapter on how to deal with the alien creatures known as girls, is quite deliberate. Indeed, The Dangerous Book... is being treated as something of a political manifesto—a repudiation of the idea that boys and girls are basically alike.
Thus, Rush Limbaugh has praised The Dangerous Book... in an rambling rant against "feminazis" ("How to make the best paper airplane in the world, just things that boys do ... for the last ten, 15 years, feminists have tried to wipe 'em out") and liberals intent on denying differences between the sexes: "Nobody can be better than anybody else, nobody can be different than anyone else." The Dangerous Book, Limbaugh suggested, was an answer to this madness.
Christina Hoff Sommers, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of The War Against Boys, offered a similar if far more coherent take in a New York Post column. Sommers praised the book as a "delightfully instructive anachronism" that "valorizes risk, adventure and manliness," a challenge to modern educators steeped in gender neutrality and a rediscovery of common sense about innate differences between boys and girls, supported by "neuroscientific evidence."
Interestingly, despite this portrayal of The Dangerous Book... as a culture-wars battlefield, it has not been the subject of any significant backlash. What feminist critiques of the book have appeared—including a cogent, balanced, and largely sympathetic review on the Feministe blog—have not disparaged the "boy" activities the book promotes but argued that girls should be included in the fun as well.
On blogs and Internet forums, readers complaining about the book's exclusionary message have been dismissed as angry feminist whiners; a standard rejoinder is that no one is stopping girls from reading it if they want. Yet my friend Dana, a graduate student who holds no brief for angry feminism or political correctness, shares the concerns about the gender-specific focus of The Dangerous Book. "I would have loved this book as a kid, and it really bugs me how people are saying 'this is such a great book for boys, and it's so wonderful that it's aimed at boys,'" she says. "Where is the book for girls who did stuff like make their own chain mail as kids, or cracked rocks with sledgehammers in the driveway both to see what was inside them and to see if you could get sparks?" Dana is not convinced by the argument that girls can read the book too, given that it is geared so explicitly to boys. Indeed, the message to girls seems to be either "This stuff is not for you" or "You can enjoy this cool stuff if you want to be like the boys."
Less attention has been paid to the boys who are not particularly into "boy things," who may be more interested in reading than in catching snails and may prefer art to stories of battles. The fact is that for both girls and boys, biologically based gender differences—which some feminists have been far too dogmatic in denying—are considerably attenuated by individual differences. Moreover, gender-neutral educators notwithstanding, social pressure to conform to "appropriate" norms and interests remains a reality.
Is The Dangerous Book... sexist? While it encourages respect for girls, it does seem to treat them more as "the weaker sex" than as equals. In one grating passage, boys are encouraged to carry a handkerchief, among other things, for "offering one to a girl when she cries." Boys are reminded not to make a girl feel stupid if she needs help, but nothing is said about the possibility of accepting help from a girl, or losing gracefully if bested by a girl at some "boy" activity.
Partly in response to queries about a companion volume for girls, HarperCollins is now bringing The Daring Book for Girls, scheduled for publication in November. There's nothing wrong with having separate books aimed at girls and boys, each with a somewhat different focus. The trouble with The Dangerous Book for Boys is not that it seeks to restore the old-fashioned charms of adventurous boyhood but that it's being treated as a restoration of old-fashioned wisdom about boys and girls. The "free to be you and me" message of 1970s feminism was often naïve in its assumption that all differences between the sexes were the result of social conditioning. But it also had a liberating message of celebrating individuality. And it would be a shame to throw out that baby with the bathwater, at a time when girls and boys have more options open to them than ever.
Cathy Young is a contributing editor of reason.
When God made little girls
He made them out of lace
He did’nt quite have enough so
He left a little space
Raising beer mug in toast - TO SPACE
What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That’s what little boys are made of !
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice and all things nice
That’s what little girls are made of!
I was among 2,000 family at a dance studio recital..kids pre-school to high school. Out of about 100 students in 15 groups performing, there were two boys. Each of the boys stood out, not for their sex, but for their enthusiasm and performing skills. The girls were MUCH more passive, altho possibly more accurate and refined. The boys “brought it” to their performance with energy, the biggest smiles, and showmanship. Nobody in the audience was surprised.
The apostle Peter already did
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. 1Pe 3:7
I confess, I did not read the whole article but a GOOD Boy Scout Troop is the book in real life.
Its not only young boys that have become prisoners of political correctness and technology.
Up until high school the girls in my neighborhood played outside right along with the boys all year long.
They played Stick Ball, Tag, Ring-A-Leeveo, helped build tree huts, snuck out to the creek to go swimming, went sleigh riding, and joined in a lot of the other activities.
But they didn’t like playing cowboys and indians, war games and BB gun fights.
It’s weird that all that ‘boy’ knowledge a lot of us have stored away could have made us best-selling authors. I bet he left out the really dangerous stuff we did.
I don’t know if I want to be responsible for writing the “Near-Suicidal Book for Boys.”
Chapter One: How to hop trains without losing your legs.
Chapter Two: How to make really loud noises with shotgun shells.
Chapter Three: Hopping car bumpers on snowy days. (Oh crap, they don’t have bumpers any more.)
Chapter Four: Shooting bows and arrows around your neighborhood.
Chapter Five: Bomb making
Chapter Six: How to take a 10-hour bike ride without being molested.
Chapter Seven: Jumping off high places without breaking your legs; featuring “Fire escape tag.”
Chapter Eight: How to hang around kids that get arrested without getting arrested.
Chapter Nine: Doing things in lakes, river, and sewers without drowning or dying of sewer gas.
Chapter Ten: How to sabotage the neighbor’s car so it won’t start.
Chapter Eleven: How to use a starter’s pistol to shoot screws.
Chapter Twelve: How to hitchhike and live to tell about it.
Chapter Thirteen: NO kid would EVER write a Chapter 13.
Chapter Fourteen: How to make fun prank calls without getting arrested.
Chapter Fifteen: How to dig 20-foot-deep holes without getting killed and what to do if you find a main sewer line.
Chapter Sixteen: How to burn model cars and get rid of those little black things fast!
Chapter Seventeen: How to raise mice and turn them into astronauts.
Chapter Eighteen: Winter bike riding made easy: getting the tires unstuck from the ground; melting snow on the seat fast!; how to accelerate on ice.
Chapter Nineteen: Playing hardball in your neighborhood without a field.
Chapter Twenty: How to revive your dog from experiments that went wrong.
Chapter Twenty-one: Ten things to do with molten lead.
Chapter Twenty-two: How to make devices to inflict pain— featuring springs, rubber bands, hairpins, drapery hooks, and electricity.
Chapter twenty-two: Where to find girls who will actually enjoy these things and NOT tell on you.
I’m sure we could fill up about 50 chapters knowing some of the people on FR.
Well, for ~3/4ths of each month, that's true.
Cathy Young is generally fair-minded and opposed to the anti-male feminist crowd. Often writes in favor of Fathers’ Rights,etc. This piece seems to reflect her appreciation for the book.
It’s already on my shopping list for two of my nephews.
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in the last month.
I agree that overall the piece isn’t damning. I didn’t like that quote about including girls though...they can have their own book! ;-)
I just re-read it and laughed a bit myself. That is about 1/4 of my biography as a boy.
I am a long time decrier of the feminization of boys.
I bought the book and my boys love it.
We also watch “Johnny Quest” together. This old show is powerfully incorrect.
“Chapter Seventeen: How to raise mice and turn them into astronauts.”
Oh man. Memories of “Zenith 1”, “Zenith 2” and an Estes rocket with payload section.
I shall not elaborate further.
So, what's the deal? You were eavesdropping on my supposedly respectable childhood?
Dibs on the chapters on molten lead and shotgun shells.
How to vacuum out the toilet bowl (twice) without getting electrocuted.
You GO!! My kind of tutor!
I luuuuv being a woman. And my boys, who I am raising really alone, are what you call “all boy” type boys.
Thankfully, each one sort of helps raise the one after him.
I think i’m going to start a War on Boys ping list.
Yeah! I’m going to do that.
Now...how do I start it????
On another note, 2 of my grandchildren are going to the most wonderful day care facility this summer. They shoot targets with BB guns, they do archery, they build forts, they ride horses and of course they do arts and crafts.
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