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Hello friends on this chilly Sunday morning.
This thread is a little more personal than I usually am on here, so if it isn’t your thing please feel free to wander off, I shan’t mind a bit.
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This thread is a little more personal than I usually am on here, so if it isn’t your thing please feel free to wander off, I shan’t mind a bit.
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It doesn’t relate to this week’s court ruling, but is in some ways adjacent, and concerns something that happened a year ago today. What happened was this.
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I found out about a children’s book published by Transgender Trend, a transphobic organisation campaigning to infiltrate schools and undermine support for trans, NB and gender-enquiring young people.
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-warned-over-new-harmful-transgender-trend-stickers/
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https://schoolsweek.co.uk/schools-warned-over-new-harmful-transgender-trend-stickers/
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For me that’s not a children’s book; that’s propaganda. I challenged it, as would any normal person. But these aren’t normal times.
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Stirred up by the above-mentioned (and a national newspaper no less) I was subjected to a huge amount of threats and abuse. I block early and often, but my email was full, my website overrun, my agent contacted.
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They failed on both counts, though. The book has all but disappeared (do they take teachers and librarians for fools?) and I don’t scare easily.
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I did feel out on a limb, and quite exposed. The people who vocally supported me, well, they know who they are. I am forever grateful. But most importantly…
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it was a revelation about what it must be like for those who have no choice but to face this obsessional prejudice, day after day. So I continue to speak up (as you might have noticed).
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But this year, with the Black Lives Matter movement especially, everything has changed. Inclusion and diversity aren’t a desirable extra, they are essential and urgent.
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What does this all mean in relation to the book and events I have described? I am a fierce defender of children and of children’s books; so this is what it means to me…
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Children need books, from reputable publishers, in which they see themselves, and are seen; not to be afraid or excluded, but to feel safe while they work things out, to be listened to and believed.
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If children can be brave, then so can we. When we see adults acting in a manipulative or covert way we must step up and call it out.
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