To a T

I was presenting an assembly for kids grades 3-8 while on book tour for the third PRINCESS ACADEMY book.

Me: “So many teachers have told me the same thing. They say, ‘When I told my students we were reading a book called PRINCESS ACADEMY, the girls said—’”

I gesture to the kids and wait. They anticipate what I’m expecting, and in unison, the girls scream, “YAY!”

Me: “'And the boys said—”

I gesture and wait. The boys know just what to do. They always do, no matter their age or the state they live in.

In unison, the boys shout, “BOOOOO!”

Me: “And then the teachers tell me that after reading the book, the boys like it as much or sometimes even more than the girls do.”

Audible gasp. They weren’t expecting that.

Me: “So it’s not the story itself boys don’t like, it’s what?” The kids shout, “The name! The title!”

Me: “And why don’t they like the title?”

As usual, kids call out, “Princess!”

But this time, a smallish 3rd grade boy on the first row, who I find out later is named Logan, shouts at me, “Because it’s GIRLY!”

The way Logan said “girly"…so much hatred from someone so small. So much distain. This is my 200-300th assembly, I’ve asked these same questions dozens of times with the same answers, but the way he says “girly” literally makes me take a step back. I am briefly speechless, chilled by his hostility.

Then I pull it together and continue as I usually do.

“Boys, I have to ask you a question. Why are you so afraid of princesses? Did a princess steal your dog? Did a princess kidnap your parents? Does a princess live under your bed and sneak out at night to try to suck your eyeballs out of your skull?”

The kids laugh and shout “No!” and laugh some more. We talk about how girls get to read any book they want but some people try to tell boys that they can only read half the books. I say that this isn’t fair. I can see that they’re thinking about it in their own way.

But little Logan is skeptical. He’s sure he knows why boys won’t read a book about a princess. Because a princess is a girl—a girl to the extreme. And girls are bad. Shameful. A boy should be embarrassed to read a book about a girl. To care about a girl. To empathize with a girl.

Where did Logan learn that? What does believing that do to him? And how will that belief affect all the girls and women he will deal with for the rest of his life?

At the end of my presentation, I read aloud the first few chapters of THE PRINCESS IN BLACK. After, Logan was the only boy who stayed behind while I signed books. He didn’t have a book for me to sign, he had a question, but he didn’t want to ask me in front of others. He waited till everyone but a couple of adults had left. Then, trembling with nervousness, he whispered in my ear, “Do you have a copy of that black princess book?”

He wanted to know what happened next in her story. But he was ashamed to want to know.

Who did this to him? How will this affect how he feels about himself? How will this affect how he treats fellow humans his entire life?

We already know that misogyny is toxic and damaging to women and girls, but often we assume it doesn’t harm boys or mens a lick. We think we’re asking them to go against their best interest in the name of fairness or love. But that hatred, that animosity, that fear in little Logan, that isn’t in his best interest. The oppressor is always damaged by believing and treating others as less than fully human. Always. Nobody wins. Everybody loses. 

We humans have a peculiar tendency to assume either/or scenarios despite all logic. Obviously it’s NOT “either men matter OR women do.” It’s NOT “we can give boys books about boys OR books about girls.” It’s NOT “men are important to this industry OR women are.“ 

It’s not either/or. It’s AND.

We can celebrate boys AND girls. We can read about boys AND girls. We can listen to women AND men. We can honor and respect women AND men. And And And. I know this seems obvious and simplistic, but how often have you assumed that a boy reader would only read a book about boys? I have. Have you preselected books for a boy and only offered him books about boys? I’ve done that in the past. And if not, I’ve caught myself and others kind of apologizing about it. “I think you’ll enjoy this book EVEN THOUGH it’s about a girl!” They hear that even though. They know what we mean. And they absorb it as truth.

I met little Logan at the same assembly where I noticed that all the 7th and 8th graders were girls. Later, a teacher told me that the administration only invited the middle school girls to my assembly. Because I’m a woman. I asked, and when they’d had a male author, all the kids were invited. Again reinforcing the falsehood that what men say is universally important but what women say only applies to girls.

One 8th grade boy was a big fan of one of my books and had wanted to come, so the teacher had gotten special permission for him to attend, but by then he was too embarrassed. Ashamed to want to hear a woman speak. Ashamed to care about the thoughts of a girl.

A few days later, I tweeted about how the school didn’t invite the middle school boys. And to my surprise, twitter responded. Twitter was outraged. I was blown away. I’ve been talking about these issues for over a decade, and to be honest, after a while you feel like no one cares. 

But for whatever reason, this time people were ready. I wrote a post explaining what happened, and tens of thousands of people read it. National media outlets interviewed me. People who hadn’t thought about gendered reading before were talking, comparing notes, questioning what had seemed normal. Finally, finally, finally.

And that’s the other thing that stood out to me about Logan—he was so ready to change. Eager for it. So open that he’d started the hour expressing disgust at all things “girly” and ended it by whispering an anxious hope to be a part of that story after all. 

The girls are ready. Boy howdy, we’ve been ready for a painful long time. But the boys, they’re ready too. Are you?

I’ve spoken with many groups about gendered reading in the last few years. Here are some things that I hear:

A librarian, introducing me before my presentation: “Girls, you’re in for a real treat. You’re going to love Shannon Hale’s books. Boys, I expect you to behave anyway.”

A book festival committee member: “Last week we met to choose a keynote speaker for next year. I suggested you, but another member said, ‘What about the boys?’ so we chose a male author instead.”

A parent: “My son read your book and he ACTUALLY liked it!”

A teacher: “I never noticed before, but for read aloud I tend to choose books about boys because I assume those are the only books the boys will like.”

A mom: “My son asked me to read him The Princess in Black, and I said, ‘No, that’s for your sister,’ without even thinking about it.”

A bookseller: “I’ve stopped asking people if they’re shopping for a boy or a girl and instead asking them what kind of story the child likes.”

Like the bookseller, when I do signings, I frequently ask each kid, “What kind of books do you like?” I hear what you’d expect: funny books, adventure stories, fantasy, graphic novels. I’ve never, ever, EVER had a kid say, “I only like books about boys.” Adults are the ones with the weird bias. We’re the ones with the hangups, because we were raised to believe thinking that way is normal. And we pass it along to the kids in sometimes  overt (“Put that back! That’s a girl book!”) but usually in subtle ways we barely notice ourselves.

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This is fraud. Should be treated like fraud. Those involved should get sentences like they committed fraud. Why? Because they committed fraud!

How to check this out?

👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 https://badcomments.attorneygeneral.gov

Clickbait sites are painting today as the definitive “end” of it all, but it’s not. This shit’s still got to go through the courts.

The FCC has tried to repeal net neutrality twice before, and both times it got repealed by the courts.

The voting public’s support for Net Neutrality is overwhelming. Last I checked, 83% of polled voters nationwide are in support of Net Neutrality staying.

Republican politicians and lawmakers are aware of this overwhelming support and have been voicing their support as well.

Doug Jones victory in Alabama was a wake-up call for Republican politicians, letting them know they are not invincible. 

Join the millions of Americans making their voices heard. Contact your representatives. Call them. Email them. Tweet at them. Anything you can do helps. Use the links provided on this website:

https://www.battleforthenet.com/

This is something that is very important to pay attention to, and if you are an American I implore you to do everything that you can! Contact your representatives, research your ISPs, and keep a vigilant eye on this! The FCC is likely to make this ruling close to Thanksgiving in an attempt to squeak it by without anyone noticing.

Net neutrality is the reason why you can visit any website confidently. It’s why you don’t have to pay a premium to be able to access YouTube. It’s why you don’t have the internet bundled into different packages like TV is.

If they remove net neutrality protections, then there is no benefit to the consumer. Put simply, your ISP could choose to charge you more in order to visit specific sites, and not every town in the United States has the option to switch to a new ISP because some ISPs hold a monopoly in some areas.

This is what the internet looks like without net neutrality:

In prison they will have food but not be fed well, if it’s a private prison such as Florida or Wisconsin it’s more likely the food will be rotten and maggoty.

Warmth and cleanliness are not guaranteed - particularly for female prisoners whose hygiene products are rationed or not provided. 

Under the 13th amendment of the Constitution slavery is still legal in the case of prisoners. 

Prisoners who refuse to work for whatever reason (for Victoria’s Secret or Whole Foods or Walmart all companies that have insourced to prison labor which the companies on the outside cant compete with ) can be sent to solitary confinement which is considered torture by international law (which used to be a very rare occurance) is now used frequently as a form of punishment. 

Increasingly prisoners are dying because they have no access to healthcare and in a case in California just a few years ago women prisoners were sterilized against their will,

Instead of being sent to detention in school, children with disabilities and children of color are being arrested and put in prison, often into adult prisons, and two judges in Florida were convicted of sending more children to jail because they were being paid by private prison contractors.

President Obama stopped private prisons in the federal system because prisoners were dying, faced violence, rape and assault, but of course, Trump brought back these contractors because they literally bribe him with trips to his golf courses and holding events in his hotels.

Twitter thread can be found here.

If the President fires Robert Mueller, especially if he fires Mueller after charges or arrests happen, it is outright obstruction of justice. 

If it happens, there will be protests en masse, across the country. 

The closest thing to a plan for that event is what MoveOn is organizing. Which you can read about here. 

Rallies will begin hours after news breaks of a Mueller firing:

- If Mueller is fired BEFORE 2 P.M. local time —>  events will begin @ 5 P.M. local time - If Mueller is fired AFTER 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day

It used to be a non-zero chance that the President would fire Mueller. Based on the tantrum thrown this weekend, it seems likely. 

I just wanna talk to whoever thought this was a good idea

Cutting base operating funding by $132 million, affecting at least 90 percent of parks. This includes cuts to law enforcement, health and safety, natural and cultural resource projects, and volunteer and youth programs.

Cutting 1,242 staff positions.

A 37 percent cut to the Historic Preservation Fund.

A drastic cut to federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which helps parks purchase private lands within park boundaries from willing sellers that would otherwise be vulnerable to inappropriate commercial or residential development.

Elimination of the National Heritage Area program, which preserves large historic landscapes managed through innovative partnerships.

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