The wonderful George emailed me via Facebook with an astonishing link to some of the pictures from a 1970s children's book called "I'm Glad I'm a Boy! I'm Glad I'm a Girl!".
Here's my second least favourite, I'll leave you to guess which I despised the most.
16 comments:
Omigod! The worst one has to be "Boys are Policemen, Girls are Metermaids!"
Actually, I'd say the one you posted is just about the one that grosses me out the least. My vote for worst goes to Girls needs things fixed.
The most chilling aspects is DEFINITELY the dedication to Bob and Hermione, though. I hope Hermione turned out to be okay - if she has, it must have been one hell of an uphill climb.
I dunno Boys are President Girls are First Lady was pretty irksome
Shudder...
The "girls need things fixed" was the one that got me. What a horrible book.
Couple of side notes: the author of this gem would appear to be a woman, by the name of Whitney Darrow. Secondly, if you're really interested in this book you can buy it second hand - the cheapest copy currently will cost you USD 270 plus shipping, and it's only in "acceptable" condition. Clearly a collector's item.
And this is from the 70s - arguably the high point of second wave feminism.
Giovanni - not absolutely necessarily. Pen names were common and many wrote under names usually reserved for the opposite gender.
And actually, the sex of the author doesn't make a whole lot of difference to how hideous that book is!
While I do agree that the gender doesn't change matters a jot (plus the greatest misogynist I've ever personally met is still my grandma), I may have a bit of a scoop here. Whitney Darrow is *the* Whitney Darrow, the New Yorker cartoonist. And yes, he was a male, I guess Whitney can swing both ways.
Also explains why second hand copies are selling for a gazillion.
I too was most put out by the Girls need things fixed one. Although I did feel like scrawling on it, what about fixing a meal, ala one of the earlier pages that said Boys eat and Girls cook.
I also thought that the division of labour over food was particularly odious. And sadly true in some cases.
Anon, it might well be that the misogyny is because the book appeared at the height of the feminist movement - feminist activity often prompts a popular backlash!
Could this maybe be a parody?
It doesn't appear to be a parody, no. And the link in the post left out my new favourite pair: Boys build houses, Girls keep houses.
I really want a copy of this book now.
I've never known of a boy or a girl to be a doctor or a nurse..or a policeman or a metermaid...in my experience these things are normally done by grown-up people (though kids might do a better job). The book is a load of shit. Any child of the 70's hopefully would have picked up on this point.
My partner wanted me to add a comment on her behalf but it was a string of obscenities, so I'll let you think up your own instead.
Should I be surprised (as I am) that this book was published as late as 1970 or would this have been fairly expected for the time?
I was most offended by the eating/cooking one. Although the evil expressions on the policeman and metermaid did make me chuckle. Then there was the football/cheerleader one that reminded me of the Indian Premier League and that just made me sad.
Post a Comment