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.
I am getting ready for another day of day camp for Cub Scouts (archery leader). What a flaming bunch of chuckle-heads! Fortunately, the predominately female leadership appears to have no problem with these boys being boys, but the one den with two dads as leaders operates much differently than the ones with moms.
We used to put big green tomato caterpillars in a bag and put the bag in the street and try to guess which car was going to squash them. Then we’d open the bag for a look.
That makes the point. What former little girl could say that?
Let me just take a wild guess here and speculate that Ms. Young has never written an article criticizing the whole “American Girl” series of dolls, books, movies, clothes, stores, etc....
Give me a break—I just bought the book for my son and I am reading it. I love it!!! BUY MANY COPIES OF THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVE BOYS (OF ANY AGE) IN YOUR LIFE!!!
Heck, some of the stories my Dad told about his childhood adventures would have a modern kid locked away faster than you can say Ritalin for even talking about the same stuff.
Yep, that’s what the world has become - everything is co-ed, except what’s for women only. I notice locally that they now have girls in the Cub Scouts. I don’t know if they allow boys in the girls’ equivalent, the Brownies, but I doubt if any boy would want to, anyway.
That's a shocker to me; we don't see that here in upstate NY (yet). But the trend is a testament to the conviction of girls (and especially the parents of girls) that anything female is worthless.
Bought the book for my 9 year old, along with the SAS survival handbook which I owned previously. He loves both of them immensely and every weekend we have done a project from each book together. Excellent (man training) quality time.
HUH!!? I've been a Cub Master for 2 years and I've never heard of that.
Marking
Canada. Wolf cubs. The particular troop I saw this in was on a news report from Nova Scotia, I think. I’m guessing, but don’t know for a fact, that it’s probably Canada-wide. They noted participation by boys was dropping precipitously - gee, I wonder why?
Oh, Canada. Um, well, you know.... ; )
Yeah, and ruin it for everbody else!
Remember this: Kid sister: I wanna play too>
Big bro: No.
Sis: I'm tellin' Mom
Mom: Let your sister play!
Sis: I get four strikes, no five stirkes,and you have to through w/ your left hand and wear your glove on your right hand, and oh yeah throw underhanded when I bat.
Bro; forget it, I quit.
i’m a boy, i’m a boy
but my mom won’t admit it
i’m a boy, i’m a boy
and if i say i am i get it...
(put keith moon solo here)
Hey! I resemble that remark.
At least he got to make one. I've made eight!
My name is Bill, and I’m a head case
They practice making up on my face
Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear
Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair
(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.)
Somehow, I doubt that this book would have become a best seller if it taught boys how to LOSE! There are enough books in public schools to teach them how to do that...or they could turn on CSPAN and listen to some Democrats “supporting” our troops.
I just ran across your post of the chapter headings for your book. We must have grown up in the same neighborhood.
Oh, what memories. I was able to reach adulthood with both eyes and ten fingers and toes. A few of my friends did not.
Possible other chapters:
5 ways to get through a barbed wire fence at full sprint.
Hitting up tramps and hobos for money.
3 good sources for tree house materials.
This a great and fun book! I have bought several copies for my own family and as gifts. Of course there are differences between boys and girls. We celebrate these differences. It certainly doesn’t mean anybody is less valued just something that most people instinctively know. Is a shame people like Ms Young must find fault and sow her seeds of discontent. Her own life must be a constant battle of comparison.
Here is her e-mail if anyone is so inclined to share your thoughts with her.
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