It feels odd to say I want to raise my sons to be feminists. I don’t want that to be a thing. I don’t want to have to. I just want their worlds to be ones where men and women are equal. But there’s nothing like hearing your then two year old explain to you that mummies stay at home and daddies go to work to remind you that it’s just not. So I guess I’m trying to. Not in a major, shouty activist, burn your breastfeeding bra way. Just in a trying to show them that women are strong and brilliant way.
One thing I’ve found to be helpful for this is books.
Jamaica and Brianna is an example of a book that does not show women to be strong or brilliant. My son brought it home from school last week. It gets very good reviews on Amazon. It has two girls on the front cover. Don’t be fooled! It goes on to feature a girl getting upset because she has to wear “boy boots” (they’re grey; they’re not for putting an male anatomy in) and falling out with her best friend because of the said boots. But it’s ok. She makes a big hole in them so they need to be replaced. So yes. A big drama about girls and shoes and shopping and gender specific colours and it made me very cross. This book got sent back to school with a post it note on it asking for more kick ass girl books please.
Following post-it gate, we got this one: The Pirates Next Door. This book is one of my favourites. It’s a regular story book. The girl isn’t anything special; she’s a normal girl who just happens to become friends with pirates. It shows that girls can be kind but adventurous. It’s so normal it shouldn’t be amazing but it is because it’s just not normal to find books like this. I like this book a lot so don’t mind that school have now given it to us twice.
Other books I like that have girls coincidentally as the/a main character are Monkey and Me and the Pip and Posy books. This Story Path book is also great because you can choose to have a female main character. And my son often does! Proof that kids really don’t care (until we make them). I like books that have a brilliant, fun, adventurous story and just happen to have a girl in the lead. It doesn’t feel like this should be a special thing. If I’m completely honest though, when I start thinking about our bookcases, I realise that’s pretty much what we have. Everything else is very male led. The odd female animal may appear (Hello What the Ladybird Heard) but on the whole, people are boys.
And it’s probably because of this bias that I want to more seek out “feminist” books, books that intentionally and unapologetically show girls and women to be awesome. Books like My First Book of Girl Power. The only superheroes Boy 1 has ever seen are women. Oh to be able to keep it like that! I also like the look of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, but I don’t know what it’s not called Good Night Stories ABOUT Rebel Girls? And I’m interested in this: Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, but I think it might be a bit old for a 3 year old.
So I need more. Either great stories with main characters who just happen to be girls or loud and proud feminist books to inspire a 3 year old. What would you recommend?
Sticks and diggers 