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Author Of The “Princess Academy” Illustrates How Adults Instill Misogyny In Little Boys And How It Robs Them Of Amazing Experiences
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Author Of The “Princess Academy” Illustrates How Adults Instill Misogyny In Little Boys And How It Robs Them Of Amazing Experiences

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Shannon Hale is a best-selling author of over thirty books. Her bibliography includes graphic novel memoirs Real Friends, Best Friends, and Friends Forever, and multiple award winners The Goose Girl, Book of a Thousand Days, and Newbery Honor recipient Princess Academy.

During the many, many presentations she has given on her works throughout the years, Hale not only met her readers but also got an understanding of how they view her books and what shapes these opinions in the first place.

More info: shannonhale.com | tumblr | Twitter

RELATED:

    Best-selling and award-winning author Shannon Hale has written plenty of wonderful books about girls

    Image credits: shannonhale

    “[I] found I did in fact have many boy readers — most likely hundreds of thousands of them at this point, but they’d been reading in secret because they were embarrassed,” the author wrote in The Washington Post. “I got better at noticing the myriad ways adults teach boys that they should feel ashamed for taking an interest in a story about a girl, from outright (‘Put that down, that’s a girl book’) to subtle (‘I think you’ll like this book even though it’s about a girl’). There is peer shaming as well, but it starts with and is supported by adults.”

    Hale has written numerous texts on this phenomenon but this time let’s take a closer look at one of her tumblr posts that explains it through a real-life example.

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    But she realized that boys are reading them in secret as they are ashamed

    Image credits: amazon

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    Image credits: carousell

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    In the before-quoted essay from The Washington Post, Hale said that identifying and addressing this problem is important because this kind of thinking not only prevents boys from learning empathy for girls, it also prescribes narrow gender definitions: there is only one kind of boy, and any boy who doesn’t fit that mold is wrong.

    “Stories make us human. We form bonds by swapping personal stories with others, and reading fiction is a deeply immersive exercise in empathy … The bias against boys reading about girls runs so deep, it can feel daunting to try to change it. But change can start with a simple preposition swap: When talking to young readers, we can communicate that a book is about girls without prescribing that it’s for girls,” the author said.

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    Hale never thought that Disney’s Snow White was a real person. Nor was Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. According to the author, they’re just an idea of a certain kind of femininity. But they don’t feel to her like any girl or woman she knows. So whenever Hale is writing characters, her goal is always to make them feel like real people. And if they do, everyone can relate to them.

    People think Hale’s insights are spot-on

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    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

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    Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

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    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Rokas Laurinavičius

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Rokas is a writer at Bored Panda with a BA in Communication. After working for a sculptor, he fell in love with visual storytelling and enjoys covering everything from TV shows (any Sopranos fans out there?) to photography. Throughout his years in Bored Panda, over 300 million people have read the posts he's written, which is probably more than he could count to.

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

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    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

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    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Ilona Baliūnaitė

    Author, BoredPanda staff

    I'm a Visual Editor at Bored Panda since 2017. I've searched through a multitude of images to create over 2000 diverse posts on a wide range of topics. I love memes, funny, and cute stuff, but I'm also into social issues topics. Despite my background in communication, my heart belongs to visual media, especially photography. When I'm not at my desk, you're likely to find me in the streets with my camera, checking out cool exhibitions, watching a movie at the cinema or just chilling with a coffee in a cozy place

    What do you think ?
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    Martha Meyer
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I constantly feel that my childhood in the 80ies and 90ies was significantly LESS gendered than the childhood of kids now. We had toys and clothing for just CHILDREN available in addition to gendered stuff, nowadays it's hard even to find a memory game or a colouring book that doesn't come in a pink and a blue version with different prints and images on it. COLOURING BOOKS, for God's sake.

    Leo Domitrix
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think it was less gendered in the 1970s and 1980s. I can say that b/c the doctor play kit was a black bag, no matter who got it. Other than Erector sets, it seemed to be fairly well "whoever plays with it plays with it" ---- balls, bats, bikes, whatevers. Now, I can't walk int oa store without it being "GIRLS!" vs "BOYS!" and I'm thinking, "Um.... girls and boys can like same things!"

    Load More Replies...
    Hans
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For the fourth birthday of my daughter, we threw a party. As we expected not everyone would like unicorns, we themed it "unicorns and dinosaurs" and ordered paper masks. Fast forward: prancing boys and roaring girls. And roaring boys and prancing girls. All united as happy children.

    RP
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Reminds me of my supervisor telling me about her experience at an interview for a professorship when she was starting out. One of the interviewers said something along the lines of "I notice you research mainly female writers, what are the boys in your lectures going to do?" to which she (with more presence of mind than I will ever have) replied "the same things women in lectures have been doing until now with all make authors". This must have been in the 2000s.

    Load More Comments
    Martha Meyer
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I constantly feel that my childhood in the 80ies and 90ies was significantly LESS gendered than the childhood of kids now. We had toys and clothing for just CHILDREN available in addition to gendered stuff, nowadays it's hard even to find a memory game or a colouring book that doesn't come in a pink and a blue version with different prints and images on it. COLOURING BOOKS, for God's sake.

    Leo Domitrix
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think it was less gendered in the 1970s and 1980s. I can say that b/c the doctor play kit was a black bag, no matter who got it. Other than Erector sets, it seemed to be fairly well "whoever plays with it plays with it" ---- balls, bats, bikes, whatevers. Now, I can't walk int oa store without it being "GIRLS!" vs "BOYS!" and I'm thinking, "Um.... girls and boys can like same things!"

    Load More Replies...
    Hans
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For the fourth birthday of my daughter, we threw a party. As we expected not everyone would like unicorns, we themed it "unicorns and dinosaurs" and ordered paper masks. Fast forward: prancing boys and roaring girls. And roaring boys and prancing girls. All united as happy children.

    RP
    Community Member
    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Reminds me of my supervisor telling me about her experience at an interview for a professorship when she was starting out. One of the interviewers said something along the lines of "I notice you research mainly female writers, what are the boys in your lectures going to do?" to which she (with more presence of mind than I will ever have) replied "the same things women in lectures have been doing until now with all make authors". This must have been in the 2000s.

    Load More Comments
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