YAY for us, social media, and kids everywhere:
This from Harrods via Let Toys Be Toys For Girls And Boys
“Good Morning! Please be advised that the children’s books that many of you have tweeted us about have been removed from our shelves…
We would like to apologise for any offence caused and assure you all that these books will no longer be sold at #Harrods.
In case you didn’t see it, here’s the display:
Hooray! Went to their facebook page and read another of their responses, part of which is excerpted here.
“Whilst ‘Gorgeous’ is clearly aimed at girls, ‘Clever’ is aimed at both boys and girls of all abilities and written by a woman. The book is essentially about anyone being able to improve brainpower and study skills and all of the content is completely gender neutral. It is a fairly established part of children’s publishing that covers featuring girls are not appealing to boys, so we went with the image that gave the best opportunity to the book in the market.”
A) Why is “Gorgeous” aimed at girls? Why is health and beauty critical for girls and not for boys? Do they not need to think about their appearance and the way they present themselves? Why is self-worth and value connected to appearance for girls and not for boys?
B) “Clever is aimed at both girls and boys […] and all of the content is completely gender neutral” but we can’t show a girl on the cover because boys wouldn’t like that. Well, if that doesn’t show a preference for one gender over another, I don’t know what does. Besides, educational books are marketed more to parents anyway. What kid chooses to buy themselves a math prep book for instance? A truly gender neutral book should have both a boy and a girl on the cover. The fact that you can’t even FEATURE a girl because it might turn off a male audience is appalling.