For centuries, no one was concerned that books weren’t girl-friendly, because no one really cared if girls read; but even so, we persisted for long enough that literature has slowly come to accommodate us. Modern boys, by contrast, are not trying to read in a culture of opposition. Nobody is telling them reading doesn’t matter, that boys don’t need to read and that actually, no prospective wife looks for literacy in a husband. Quite the opposite! Male literary culture thrives, both teachers and parents are throwing books at their sons, and the fact that the books aren’t sticking isn’t, as the nature of the complaint makes clear, because boys don’t like reading — no. The accusation is that boys don’t like reading about girls, which is a totally different matter. Because constantly, consistently, our supposedly equal society penalises boys who express an interest in anything feminine. The only time boys are discouraged from books all together is in contexts where, for whatever reason, they’ve been given the message that reading itself is girly — which is a wider extrapolation of the same problem. .Foz Meadows
About This Quote
More than just books, there are several things that are boy friendly. The most obvious choice is video games. Video games are something that boys love to play. However, what is also boy friendly is football.
Football is something that boys can play with each other. The point of this quote is not to say that boys should be encouraged to read books instead of playing video games or playing football. It's saying that if boys are not given the opportunity to play football or enjoy video games they will not be able to grow up to be a happy person.
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