Don't push gender ideology at children
Waterstones - stop pushing dangerous gender ideology at children!
Waterstones - stop pushing dangerous gender ideology at children!
Waterstones, a leading global book retailer, has shortlisted a book entitled ‘My trans teen misadventure’ by Lewis Hancock, a transgender-identified female, for its prestigious Children’s Book Prize, due to be awarded on 30 March.
The book is supposedly aimed at 14-year-olds, yet has an ‘adult content warning’ sticker on the back and the illustrations are clearly designed to appeal to a much younger audience.
Books appearing on this shortlist can expect to significantly boost their sales and popularity as Waterstone will ensure that they are foregrounded in stores, meaning that they will be given a prominent position on displays aimed at children and parents, to entice them into a purchase.
My trans teen misadventure plays upon the natural anxieties of pre-pubescent and adolescent girls about their appearance and encourages them to despise their developing bodies and perfectly natural body hair. An image labels breasts as ‘fatty lumps that should be gone’, describes ‘hips from hell’ and even points towards an 'imaginary willy.’
The book also features cartoons of a child being injected with puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones, misleading impressionable young readers as to their harmful side effects, while another transgender-identified girl with a beard dismisses the experience of de-transitioners and says that gender transition is the best thing she ever did.
This cartoon adventure is not literature that will inspire and enrich young minds. It is political propaganda aimed at indoctrinating children and encouraging vulnerable girls to hate their bodies.
Waterstones is the leading bookseller whose mission statement is to give customers ‘expert advice’ from a team ‘passionate about bookselling’.
As supposed literary experts, Waterstones should realise that this book does not contain any kind of balanced discussion about the pros and cons of ‘gender transitioning’ for children and instead contains a one-sided approach, that arguably falls foul of strict regulations governing medical advertising to children.
My trans teen misadventure does not reflect the fact that puberty blockers are being banned across the world and are no longer routinely prescribed for children under 16, due to increasing concerns about their safety.
Waterstones should know better than to promote harmful medical practices to children in a book of cartoons that has absolutely zero literary value.
Sign the petition demanding that Waterstones withdraw my trans teen misadventure from the shortlist and cease all promotion in their stores.
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Strike 'My trans teen misadventure' from the Children's 2023 book prize shortlist
To Florentyna Martin, Head of Children's, Waterstones
I would like to register my disgust at the choice of my trans teen misadventure on the Waterstones 2023 Children’s book list.
Firstly, this book features an adult content advisory warning on the back, which should indicate that it has no place on a shortlist for children.
Secondly, my trans teen misadventure contains harmful messaging for vulnerable adolescent girls, encouraging them to buy into stereotypes surrounding feminine beauty and to despise their developing bodies. One controversial illustration even suggests a child has an ‘imaginary willy’, an impossible and ludicrous idea that sexualises children.
Thirdly, this book that you have thought worthy of commendation potentially falls foul of rules about medical advertising for children because, as you will know, it promotes medical transition for children. My trans teen misadventure features a girl receiving intravenous injections of puberty blockers and explicitly dismisses the potential for later regret.
As a leading bookseller, you have been negligent in caring for young audiences in promoting a book with puerile cartoons with no literary value and could cause actual psychological and physical harm.
Please remove this book from the children’s prize shortlist and take steps to ensure that it is not promoted in areas where there is a high footfall of children in your stores.
Strike 'My trans teen misadventure' from the Children's 2023 book prize shortlist
To Florentyna Martin, Head of Children's, Waterstones
I would like to register my disgust at the choice of my trans teen misadventure on the Waterstones 2023 Children’s book list.
Firstly, this book features an adult content advisory warning on the back, which should indicate that it has no place on a shortlist for children.
Secondly, my trans teen misadventure contains harmful messaging for vulnerable adolescent girls, encouraging them to buy into stereotypes surrounding feminine beauty and to despise their developing bodies. One controversial illustration even suggests a child has an ‘imaginary willy’, an impossible and ludicrous idea that sexualises children.
Thirdly, this book that you have thought worthy of commendation potentially falls foul of rules about medical advertising for children because, as you will know, it promotes medical transition for children. My trans teen misadventure features a girl receiving intravenous injections of puberty blockers and explicitly dismisses the potential for later regret.
As a leading bookseller, you have been negligent in caring for young audiences in promoting a book with puerile cartoons with no literary value and could cause actual psychological and physical harm.
Please remove this book from the children’s prize shortlist and take steps to ensure that it is not promoted in areas where there is a high footfall of children in your stores.
