Because being a they/them isn’t special enough nowadays, it’s one step further to making them extra special"She/they"....er, what? Am I the only one who is completely befuddled by this? Female pronouns but only sometimes?
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Does Roald Dahl (from the grave) consent to his intellectual property being tampered with?!I saw something equally ridiculous earlier on. All Roald Dahls books are now being changed by the publisher so that words such as "fat", "crazy" and "ugly" are being completely removed from all his books.
But the best one is the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; they're now gender neutral
The world has gone absolutely mad
If I were a parent right now i’d be buying second hand versions of the original classic kids books, so that I could have a selection of proper kids books for them to read rather than these 1984 like redcated/censored doctored versions.
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Someone in my team has just put she/they on their signature…"She/they"....er, what? Am I the only one who is completely befuddled by this? Female pronouns but only sometimes?
She goes by she, as normal but for some reason, on her signature, gives the alternative of they, for allyship. She doesn’t say anything about being non binary though, I think she’s just trying to look kind.
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I’d imagine the original books will still be in print though. Certainly all the RD ebooks on my kids library app are still all originals (I’ve just checked). Whoever has decided to edit these books is already facing major backlash. I saw David Baddiel condemning it the other day. All authors should be quaking in their (gender non specific) boots in case they put a foot (word) wrong ðŸ«
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Also just to say it is great to see new names posting. If you’re lurking then feel free to post and say hello. There are more of us than you know. We’re just not allowed to say it anywhere else apparently!
Thank goodness for the United Kingdom's Tattle forum.
I’m new to this thread and love it here so please don’t kick me out 
but, with the Roald Dahl stuff, I kind of saw the importance of some of the changes (bear with me) but it makes no sense why only he has been targeted when you can’t change everything in existence or the way society is. Basically, I saw an interesting perspective from someone who is disabled and they said how all of the bad or dangerous characters in traditional kids stories are mostly disabled, obese or ugly and it kind of subconsciously teaches you these things are the criteria for bad people. Of course it’s down to parents to teach differently. But it’s like pedos, if I ask you to think of what one looks like you think of a certain type of man with a certain aesthetic or maybe a couple of variations because that’s what we’ve been taught to imagine when in actual fact ANYBODY can be one.
That’s just my perspective on it, I don’t agree with it, I think it should stay as it was. From what I see in society, kids don’t pick up books anymore anyways, they’re looked after by their iPads
but, with the Roald Dahl stuff, I kind of saw the importance of some of the changes (bear with me) but it makes no sense why only he has been targeted when you can’t change everything in existence or the way society is. Basically, I saw an interesting perspective from someone who is disabled and they said how all of the bad or dangerous characters in traditional kids stories are mostly disabled, obese or ugly and it kind of subconsciously teaches you these things are the criteria for bad people. Of course it’s down to parents to teach differently. But it’s like pedos, if I ask you to think of what one looks like you think of a certain type of man with a certain aesthetic or maybe a couple of variations because that’s what we’ve been taught to imagine when in actual fact ANYBODY can be one.That’s just my perspective on it, I don’t agree with it, I think it should stay as it was. From what I see in society, kids don’t pick up books anymore anyways, they’re looked after by their iPads
So I'm Jewish, and I loved reading Enid Blyton's books when I was growing up in the 1990s. I definitely picked up on the sexism, classism, snobby Englishness, and downright racism in the books. Brown people were always either dirty, ridiculously superstitious or childish, etc etc
Yes, it bothered me. I knew it was wrong, and thought that it was stupid and cringy when I was reading the books. I also remember wishing it wasn't in the stories because I knew deep down that the Famous Five would judge me or not want to hang out with me. I still loved and love the books. They're fun and exciting, and the atmosphere is wonderful.
Where does this leave us? I would personally argue to leave the books as they are. Most children who are raised right will pick up on the racism and conclude it's stupid on their own, just like I did. Those whose bigotry is reinforced by the books have bigger problems, most likely racist parents and environments.
And I wish there were more adventure books in the style of Enid Blyton that are more, eh, truly "inclusive". Where girls do dangerous stuff, where brown, Black and Asian people are just part of the group without it being super obvious or constantly discussed.
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Also, I'm curious why the TRAs haven't yet picked up on George, "the girl who wants to be a boy". Wouldn't she be a poster child for the entire trans kids thing? I'm surprised there are no debates raging on about her.
Yes, it bothered me. I knew it was wrong, and thought that it was stupid and cringy when I was reading the books. I also remember wishing it wasn't in the stories because I knew deep down that the Famous Five would judge me or not want to hang out with me. I still loved and love the books. They're fun and exciting, and the atmosphere is wonderful.
Where does this leave us? I would personally argue to leave the books as they are. Most children who are raised right will pick up on the racism and conclude it's stupid on their own, just like I did. Those whose bigotry is reinforced by the books have bigger problems, most likely racist parents and environments.
And I wish there were more adventure books in the style of Enid Blyton that are more, eh, truly "inclusive". Where girls do dangerous stuff, where brown, Black and Asian people are just part of the group without it being super obvious or constantly discussed.
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Also, I'm curious why the TRAs haven't yet picked up on George, "the girl who wants to be a boy". Wouldn't she be a poster child for the entire trans kids thing? I'm surprised there are no debates raging on about her.
I was in Waterstones the other day and I noticed that the children’s displays have more and more books about other cultures with characters that are not white. I didn’t see any titles with disabled main characters so that is a gap in the market. So much more choice that parents can choose to avoid authors they are concerned about, like Dahl or Blyton. They should do that rather than edit an author’s work. I have one Blyton story book I loved as a kid, ting a ling the little fire engine, but I have kept it from my kids as it has a golly character.
Apparently Dahl's estate has approved the changes. I suspect it could be something to do with Netflix buying the company that owns all the rights to Dahl's characters and stories back in 2021.
George already been transed. Along with every other formidable historic woman. Because women cannot be formidable, apparently. And anyone who cannot see the inherent sexism, misogyny and patriarchal thinking in that is bloody insane.
Writers should be incensed by this. That anyone can change their published works after death - it’s an outrage. They are taking ownership of copyrighted material away from their originators and changing words. Burning books. How fascist of them…
Can you imagine if this craziness continues for years and when JK dies!?
Think I’m going to be buying the complete Roald Dahl collection for my sons birthday next month as I don’t want him to have to read some fudged edited version …
ETA - I think this was in 2014/2015
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Wendy is a Terf - of course she is. She’s the voice of reason.
I agree. I was shocked to read in the Guardian online that Philip Pullman has said he agrees, and that Dahl should just be let go of, to allow for new modern writers to take the space.
I doubt he’d say the same about his own work, or Shakespeare who you could argue was antisemitic. It’s mightily disappointing that the Dahl family have accepted the editing as so many of the edits are random and poorly written in some cases.
As a primary teacher of 20 years, you take opportunities to talk and learn when you encounter language or ideas that might be seen to be unkind or unusual in texts.
Tolerance and kindness are taught throughout the curriculum and tbh we ram it down their throats, yet you still get kids making comments about each other about their bodies, their glasses, their teeth, whether they smell or are pretty. Kids will be mean and we all know it.
I taught in London in a very multicultural school, the kids did not tolerate racism as a rule, but because of differences in religious beliefs we did get instances of homophobic slurs, but we dealt with them, as we did with fat shaming or any other comments.
I am optimistic though that the pushback against this Dahl story and general wokery will help to slowly stop the cancel culture and censorship issues we are currently in the midst of. Ordinary people are sick of it! I channel hop on the radio and read loads of different articles via Twitter and the consensus is that it’s all gone too far. ( I took early retirement because I was not willing to teach gender identity and worried that my new boss would impose it).
Academia has been one of the worst offenders in terms of wokery and cancel culture, but universities are beginning to pushback. One eminent university has started inducting their first years by saying that they are there to hear challenging views, that that is what university is for. This is a good start. But there’s no denying it will take years to undo all the harm done by recolonising the curriculum, banning authors, putting trigger warnings on literature etc etc etc
Ps: is anyone calling for Nanny McPhee to be cancelled as it’s on every bloody month on tv and she starts off ugly but ‘improves’ as the kids start to behave.
Thankfully there is more diversity in kids books these days although main characters are still far more likely to be white boys. It is slowly changing though. I try and choose books for my son with girls as the main character if I’m buying a book but he gravitates towards stories with boys like him (Tom Gates is an example, written by a woman Liz Pichon).
So do we need to use a frying them to cook in so as not to cause offence? Have we just gone through a themdemic? What about the children’s character, is he now Peter Them? Madness
When I opened the chrome app this morning I was greeted by this headline:
In other news: water makes things wet.
In other news: water makes things wet.
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