Readin' Stuffs and Gender Norms

Prepare for a bunch of thoughts - some good and some not - all thrown together and mixed up.  Maybe if I start outlining my blogs I can form a coherent message.  But really who wants that?

So back in July, I posted this gem of a book list.  It was very ambitious and had so many great books to choose from.  And I started to read some of them.  I read some more of Everything Happens Today.  (So good.  So slow.)  I took a gander at Nathaniel Philbrick's stuff.  I read a bit of Red China Blues. 

But mostly, I neglected the list and read other books.  Namely, The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring.  

Let me tell you, I was a fool for never reading Lord of the Rings.  A fool.  I always kind of shook off any idea of reading it because it was in the sci-fi/fantasy section.  "I am not into sci-fi and fantasy."  And really, I usually do enjoy other genres more.  But I think my distaste for it started right around the time my inability to do math started: middle school. 

In retrospect, I don't think I had anything against science or math.  I don't think I was inherently bad at either.  Sure, I enjoyed social studies and English way, way more.  But the idea that I sucked at math and science (and therefore couldn't possibly enjoy sci-fi or fantasy), I think that was an idea I gave in to, not an idea I conjured.  

I was alright in science class.  I am just fine at math, thank you very much.  Those subjects don't make my soul dance quite like sociology does (Except astronomy.  Astronomy is out of this world. AHAHAHA, SEE WHAT I DID THERE?).  But I manage.  And I have absolutely no reason not to venture over into the fantasy section when I'm looking at books.  The idea is absurd. 

This is coming out all sorts of jumbled and unorganized, but that's my life right now so I'm gonna roll with it.  I wanted to write about what I'm reading, and then I realized what I'm reading is what I've stayed away from for years, because I was told to.  When kids get to that vulnerable (and hella awkward) age where they just want to fit in and be cool and have friends, they go with the crowd.  I'm not saying this is good or anything, just that it happens.  And it seems like adults, probably unknowingly, go along with the gender norm thing.  I can't count the amount of times I've heard, "Boys are just better at math and science, and girls are better at social studies and English."  And that's sad, and detrimental to kids and to society. 

Now probably, this is because men were the ones who went to work and paid the bills and went to school and women stayed home.  They were the bankers, the teachers, the doctors, the scientists, the engineers.  Women were the moms.  Now, it's incredibly hard work to be a mom, and I am like in awe of parents who take care of their kids.  I'm not dissing parenting and especially not stay at home moms, as long as it's what you feel you are meant to do, not what the government or society wants you to do.  I think math and science were the subjects geared to work (or, what the capitalist society calls "work,") and thus were thrown into the box labeled "manly," whereas the social sciences and literature - you know, the fields of study deemed "useless" by capitalist America - are given to girls. 

He's not choking her.  Really.

I have like 23847 younger siblings.  These three are in kindergarten, first, and fifth grade.  I hate the idea that those girls will never pick up Lord of the Rings because someone told them they weren't meant to like science or fantasy.  I hate the idea of that boy not picking up Little Women for fear of being mocked. 

I don't know that these gender norms are changing;  I work with kids in a before school program, and the older kids seem to be falling into these categories.  It isn't a good thing for souls or for society.

And so instead of this being a post about how awesome my reading lately has been, this turned into a post about gender norms.  We need to tear them down.  I want my sisters to read The Hobbit before bed and then have dreams that they're going on epic adventures all night.  If they choose to not read it, that'll be fine, so long as it's really their choice.   

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Charlotte