This dude is a super wanker.

carnivaloftherandom:

fozmeadows:

Cards on the table: I had never heard of Joel Stein until five minutes ago. Nonetheless, having just read his oh-so-condescending op-ed for the NY Times on why, in his estimation, adults shouldn’t read YA, I feel qualified to make the above assertion.

Why a sexist ass, you ask, instead of…

I’m going to add the following: if you think the argument Joel Stein makes is in any way reasonable, especially if you’re a woman, ask yourself how it’s any different from telling a grown woman not to love Star Wars toys. Ask yourself how this is any different than gendering LEGOS by not only pinkifying a line specifically marketed to little girls, but changing minifigs within that line so that female minifigs are to some degree sexualized. 

We have to stop gendering play, we have to stop gendering imagination, and we most definitely have to stop the idea that what girls and women like is somehow invalid for consideration by men, no matter the line of reasoning. 

We also have to stop treating kids and young adults as though they’re not an equally valid audience. You can’t consign works for kids and young adults to the pile marked, “Inconsequential,” and things aimed at adults to the pile marked, “Important.” 

The Westing Game is just as important The Girl with A Pearl Earring. Harry Potter is just as important, (if not nearly as impenetrable as) The Lord of the Rings. 

Twilight is important (regardless of your opinion of its quality) because it proved that young women and women as a whole, are a demographic to be reckoned with. 

We’re still fighting for that recognition, even as The Hunger Games is breaking box-office records. 

I know Stein is generally a snarky prat, and this is possibly meant to be satirical. Maybe I’ve just had quite enough snark, tyvm.