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Is "the boy" a patriarchic stand-in for the word "child", or what? It seems like some kind of in-group slang. Reminds me of the British expression "old boy", me
by dmos62 7y ago
Is "the boy" a patriarchic stand-in for the word "child", or what? It seems like some kind of in-group slang. Reminds me of the British expression "old boy", meaning "man".
- onorton 7y agoThe first thing I thought of was a callback to those old books targeted at near-adolescent boys e.g. The Boy's Own Guide to Fishing. Obviously, it comes off as clumsy and inappropriate today or 16 years ago judging by the date on the footer.
- rpiguy 7y agoI am so glad several other commenters here have pointed out that boy's guides were fairly common and this is a cute reference to that genre of book. There were girl's guides too. It is not the least bit offensive nor meant to cause offense.
- dmos62 7y agoWere the girl's guides about the same things as boy's guides? By cute, you probably meant harmless. You probably didn't mean to say that gender roles are cute. I guess its harmlessness is up for debate. My position on the matter is that there's no place for socially constructed gender roles in this society, and it's not cute.
- rpiguy 7y agoGirls guides were about the activities most girls were engaged in at the time, cooking, sewing, etc. You never would have seen a "Girls Guide to Shortwave Radio," for example, fifty years ago because practically no women were doing it. I am sure it would have delighted a small handful of girls, but that is not how markets work. You don't print a book if it is not going to sell. I generally disagree with your position on gender roles, which I think evolve naturally and are not necessarily bad.
- dmos62 7y agoWe disagree on multiple points, but I appreciate your cool-headed and open approach to conversation.