laurashapiro

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I want to post about approximately 37 things, but at the moment, this is what I have time for: A Mighty Girl: The world's largest collection of books and movies for smart, confident, and courageous girls.

I've only scratched the surface of the collection, but they list works featuring girls of color, not just white kids. They also have a sub-category of books called "Social Issues", with several hundred books on topics like prejudice and discrimination, war and conflict, and environmental issues. Plus tons of fun fiction. (:

Mothers of daughters, writers, readers, YA enthusiasts: this looks like a great resource and a fun project to get involved with.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Posted by

norah

It does look awesome! But I would just like to say, even though you already know this, that those are not just books for girls! They are books for everyone, the way books for boys are books for everyone. And until boys start reading (and being read) books with strong female heroines, we're failing to address half of the issue. We need to raise feminist boys AND feminist girls!

...This post brought to you by clicking on the link and seeing Mr. R's favorite book on the front page.

Posted by

laurashapiro

I do indeed know this, and I agree 100%. The "for girls" part is in the site's tagline, and I posted in part because I am responding to friends in my dwircle/flist who lament the lack of female role models in their daughters' media. Hence the framing. But of course these books are for everyone, and of course boys could and should enjoy them too!

Posted by

norah

I just..I can't decide if I'm violating the "it's not FOR you" argument of disadvantaged groups or banging my head against a brick wall. Why on earth would you only want to read awesome books about women to women? ... I just, I feel (in a knee-jerk sort of way) that that's the sort of response that wants to raise "smart, confident, and courageous" girls and forgets about raising empathetic, tender, and emotional men. It privileges the traditionally male values - I mean, I know the site isn't about boys. AND THAT'S FINE, I totally get that. I just want it to...I don't know. Not exclude boys. Maybe it feels different when it's kids, because boys aren't men yet, they don't need to be excluded as the clueless and privileged potentially oppressive other - they're kids, and they need to be given all the opportunity and range they can get to be everything they can become.

I like the site. I don't know, though, something in me says it's not ...reaching far enough in its vision of what raising empowered girls means? In a weird way? IDEK I don't even make sense to myself.

Posted by

laurashapiro

I don't think it's "we only want to read these to girls". I think it's "girls need media about themselves". Boys have that need fulfilled everywhere you look.

It doesn't preclude boys engaging with girl-centered media, the same way girls engage with boy-centered media (though they have few other options). But it's trying to fill a gap.

I hear your arguments, but I think a less girl-specific framing might have the unintended consequence of making girls feel even more marginalized -- or at least, not as special. You know, the way 95% of other media makes girls feel not as special.

We do need boys to embrace stories about girls. And maybe that's not even a lower priority than needing girls to feel embraced, as themselves. But given that we don't start with a level playing field, I understand why the site chose to go in the direction it did.

Posted by

norah

ASK ME ABOUT MY OPINIONS ON DORA THE EXPLORER.

I dunno, mothering has certainly done interesting things to my feminist perspective. Not dimmed at all, but reframed in areas, certainly.

Posted by

laurashapiro

Hey, I'm the aunt of three nieces and the mother of no boys, so that's gotta color my perspective, too. I am mostly approaching this as a woman who desperately needed Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jill Pole, and Harriet the Spy and wonders where all those cool girls wandered off to.

Posted by

norah

I guess that was another element in my weird reaction - I mean, I had plenty of books with strong female heroines. There ARE plenty of books with strong female heroines, in the mainstream even. I just...that never pinged as a lack for me at all until I got out of YA and into "adult" fiction. There are a lot of things that are underrepresented in YA, but girls just never struck me as one of them. The issue as I see it is that because of the way we acculturate boys, sometime in elementary school they stop being willing to read books with female protagonists. (There's research on this). Which then gives the patriarchal-industrial complex that runs film, TV, and "adult" sci-fi the excuse that girls don't sell, so they have to make shows about men and boys - and they're not totally wrong, because girls DON'T sell to half the population by then.

ETA: I'm not dissing the site, or arguing with you really! I am dashing off my responses in small windows of time and maybe not editing for tone, so I disclaim - I'm just trying to work through my weird reaction to the site - ten years ago I would have been totally thrilled by it, and so I'm trying to articulate some of what's going through my head.

Edited on 2012-04-11 12:10 pm (UTC)

Posted by

laurashapiro

I think there were plenty of YA books for adolescent girls but not as many for wee girls. I remember that until 5th grade or so, all the books seemed to be about boys.

The problem in movies and TV is, of course, much more dire, so I'm glad the site is tackling both. And you're right, of course, that adult women have even more to be angry about as far as media representation.