From: mfterman@phoenix.princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire)
Subject: Re: Those damned magazines (was: clearing something up)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Reply-To: Mutant for Hire <mfterman@phoenix.princeton.EDU>
Organization: Mutant for Hire, Inc.
Date: 17 Dec 92 18:25:31 GMT

In article <1gq754INNcnq@agate.berkeley.edu>, bf455@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Bonita Kale) writes:
>But, in my experience, it's too late for the boys.  By the time
>they're old enough to be interested in mature (or any!) sexual
>expression in reading, they aren't reading fiction, or at least, not
>much.  There's a whole bunch of boys (of the ones who read at all)
>who go from kid's sports stories to Playboy or nothing.

Yes. This is supposed to be surprising? Puberty isn't exactly the
easiest time for most men. The amount of humor written about men going
through puberty should be enough to convince people there is a grain
of truth in all of that. Boys are eager for excitement and adventure
at that age, and there are enough hormones surging that the physical
aspects of sex have more interest than the emotional interests.

The above is a blanant generalization, which is not true for everyone,
but there is certainly enough of it to cover a lot of my aquaintances
during that period when I was attempting to grow up.

People have said that teenage girls are more emotionally mature than
teenage boys. I'm not sure I'd argue with that point at all. Most of
my friends and I were simply not quite ready to deal with the
emotional side of things, and so simply ignored it. Emotional growth
for me was certainly a painful experience. I'm sure many had it
easier, but the out of sight out of mind approach worked for many
years.

>In literature, both boys missed a lot of good stuff that my daughter
>read and enjoyed.  They never read about Narnia, or the Black
>Stallion, or Jo March or Heidi, to mention a few books I actually own
>and tried to interest them in.  They seemed to go from picture books
>to nonfiction to Sherlock Holmes and Tolkien--the sexless wonders.
>Now they're adults and read adult books (still, by the way, missing a
>lot of good kid's books that I bring home).

Hmm. Should have tried weaning them on Andre Norton, who was one of my
favorite authors during that period. Wonderful fantasy that while
avoiding sex, did focus on characters coming of age and developing
emotional relationships. Also some of the best evenhanded treatment of
both sexes I've read in fantasy.

Also Narnia was a tad too religious for me. I grew up atheist and so
it took me till adulthood to be actually able to read the things all
the way through. I read Lewis Carroll, Susan Cooper, Lloyd Alexander,
and Tolkein as a kid.

>Sorry this ran on so long.  I don't understand it, myself, but I've
>seen how many eager girls we have coming in, telling their friends,
>"Read this, it's great!" and how few boys do the same.

Well, boys do the same thing, with different literature and its
usually not the stuff found in the libraries. At this point, at the
risk of sounding sexist, I'd say that this period of life is one where
biology counts for a hell of a lot.

--
    Martin Terman, Mutant for Hire, Mean Ol' Top, Priest of Shub-Internet
    Disclaimer: Nobody else takes me seriously, why should you be the first?
mfterman@phoenix.princeton.edu mfterman@pucc.bitnet terman@pupgga.princeton.edu
"Sig quotes are like bumper stickers, only without the same sense of relevance"

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