New Children’s Traditional Gender Book Placed Upstairs in the Adult Section, Meanwhile Gender Fluid Books are STILL in the Children's Section.
New Children’s Traditional Gender Book Placed Upstairs in the Adult Section, Meanwhile Gender Fluid Books are STILL in the Children's Section.
Shouldn't we be consistent?
The brand-new library book God Made Boys and Girls: helping children understand the gift of gender by Marty Machowski has been cataloged, and surprise, surprise, guess where they put it? Our library administrators put it in the adult section.
I couldn’t agree more with this placement. Why? Because my copy certainly isn’t on a low shelf for my kids to grab for a bit of leisure reading! No, my copy is on a high shelf for me to get down when I am able to discuss this topic with my children.
There are many books that fall into this category. Abuse prevention books that discuss “red flags,” the “the birds and the bees” books, and various other sensitive topics should be placed out of reach of children, for parents to pick up to read to their child.
Tell me, why did it take a challenge for the sex education book, “It’s Perfectly Normal,” to be moved to the adult section? This book was on the children’s shelves for any child to pick up a year ago. Also, why are the gender fluid books STILL in the children’s section too? Books like It Feels Good to Be Yourself, a book about gender identity by Theresa Thorn, which is still in the children’s picture books, on a low shelf for kids to pick up independently. Hmmmmmm… Interesting.
I don’t believe the book God Made Boys and Girls was placed in the adult section because it would be more appropriate for parents to pick up. I believe this book is in the adult section because some librarians want to protect children from the “dangerous misinformation” that there are only two genders. This basically proves my point that there is significant bias, maybe even activism, in our libraries.
Let’s quickly recap Queer Theory, defined.
Remember that Queer Theory probably doesn’t mean what you think it means.
“Whatever is at odds with the normal, the legitimate, the dominate.”
Queer Theory as defined by David M. Halperin in Saint Foucault: Towards Gay Hagiography
In an article Halperin (as many Marxists do) claims that Queer is indefinable, but he goes on to define it.
“Even to define queer, we now think, is to limit its potential, its magical power to usher in a new age of sexual radicalism and fluid gender possibilities.”
“The moment that the scandalous formula “queer theory” was uttered, however, it became the name of an already established school of theory… Marxist theory.”
Don’t believe me? Read it here:
JH 45(2)(3-4) journal online.pd.PDF (transreads.org)
I dig into this in my substack titled Define Queer:
Want to see Queer Theory discussed in a children’s book? Check out Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino.
Let’s make a comparison between these two picture books:
Back to the topic at hand, how did God Made Boys and Girls end up in the adult section? Let’s compare, God Made Boys and Girls to It Feels Good to Be Yourself.
First let’s take a look at the descriptions.
In It Feels Good to Be Yourself, the book seems to be written for any child to just pick up and leisurely read on their own? You know what other book was written for kids to be picked up on their own? It’s Perfectly Normal, which is now cataloged in the adult section, thankfully.
This is a good place to point out that Marxists believe that conservatives are unfairly taking “ownership” of their children as “property” when conservatives want to reserve parental consent for book content. Children are, of course, autonomous but dependent individuals under the protection and authority of their parents. Marxists see this parental protection and authority as a view of children as private property. Of course, this is outrageous, but it’s important to understand where they are coming from. Marxists want children to be “free” from the oppression of parents. This means - parents do not have the right to protect their children.
Were you confused as to why these books were being placed in the reach of children, and why parent’s beliefs are often not respected? Now you know. Why don’t librarians want to label the books? Why do some want a child to accidentally run across these books (and blame parents lack of vigilance if they do?) Marxists believe children have the right to this information, and parents don’t have the right to keep it from them.
Read about this belief straight from the source here:
Oppression, inheritance and private property: Marxism and the family (marxist.com)
Just to clarify: Is every librarian a Marxist? Absolutely not. Are some librarians influenced by Marxist ideas without realizing it? I think that’s reasonable; what do you think?
Now, notice the description from God Made Boys and Girls. It’s a note to parents from the author. He wrote the book for parents to discuss the topic with their kids because that is what is appropriate.
God Made Boys and Girls:
(placed in the adult section)
In God Made Boys and Girls, Maya prefers to play sports with the boys, rather than jump rope with the girls. One of the boys, Lucas, tells her (out of spite) that if she keeps playing with the boys, she will turn into a boy. Mr. Ramirez, their teacher, tells the children that this is not true and asks Lucas to apologize.
Back in the classroom, Mr. Ramirez explains to the children about gender, and that there are two genders as God made us. He explains about the XX and XY gender genetic codes as well. He goes on the explain that girls and boys have different talents, for instance, some girls like to cook, while others like to fix cars, but this does not change their gender.
Mr. Ramirez continues to explain what the bible says about creation, sin, and God’s plan through Jesus to rescue us. The book concludes with a discussion about loving our neighbors, even those who we disagree with. Mr. Ramirez reiterates that God wants us to love others and be kind.
After the story there is a discussion guide that includes the difficult scientific genetic disorders that a very tiny part of the population has. For instance, those with Turner Syndrome or Klinefelter Syndrome.
It Feels Good to Be Yourself:
(placed in the children’s section)
This book teaches children that sex can be assigned at birth, but that’s just until the child is old enough to tell everyone what gender he/she feels like.
Transgender is explained to be when someone is born a girl but feels like a boy inside.
Cisgender is explained to be when you feel like the gender you are assigned as.
Non-Binary is when a person doesn’t feel like a girl or a boy, or both, and the singular they/them is introduced.
There are many ways to be non-binary, “too many to fit in this book.” This is where the spectrum comes into play. Gender can also change often, even daily.
Finally, children are encouraged to consider if they are not the gender they were assigned at birth. They are encouraged to think about this and tell their parents if they feel they are a different gender.
At the end, all the terms are defined, and intersex is defined as a child not being clearly a boy or a girl at birth because their body doesn’t match either sex. This is very rare, but the book makes it sound like this is common.
Conclusion
After this comparison, here is my question: Why are all of the gender fluid books not also in the adult section? Shouldn’t there be consistency? The commissioners made a resolution to move these books, but the books are still there, in the children’s section. We are challenging them one-by-one. Meanwhile, a traditional gender book is immediately placed in the adult section: Again, where it should be.
We need the commissioners to follow through on their July 11th decision to protect children.
Be on the lookout for a children’s gender fluid library book list update here on this substack, coming soon. Many titles have been added.