Time for a rant.

I'm tired of people writing off "chick flicks" and "chick lit". I think it's just another way of devaluing women and devaluing emotion. Granted, avoidance of sappy sentimentality is understandable, but I have recently finished teaching The Poisonwood Bible to Grade 12 boys. (Sorry, Barbara, but I love it and wanted them to too.) AARRRRGGGHHH. There is more to life than hockey, gentlemen!

Yes, yes, Nathan is seen through the eyes of the women and the Africans. That doesn't mean he isn't SEEN. His voice is present, as much by quotation as by absence. Everything doesn't have to be first person to be true.

It's so easy to be dismissive of what we don't understand or have time for (and so easy to generalize....) But really, is all that boys want to do is watch dick flicks? Is that all there is?