Teenage Girls Read Books About Everyone Else. Here’s Why Everyone Else Should Return the Favor
If experiences help develop who we are, then reading different viewpoints will help to broaden our horizons and nurture sensitivity about the thoughts and feelings of others. And why Shoshana Akabas titled her essay for Electric Literature.com, Shopping For a Boy? Give Him a Book About a Girl.
The overabundance of educational institutions required reading lists feature a male protagonist. According to the author, in girl readers’ develops sensitivity to the emotions of others. “Unfortunately, the reverse is almost universally untrue.”
Akabas believes if boys read novels with perspectives outside of their own experience, then they might have a better understanding of what goes on in a girl’s head.
“If reading books about someone other than ourselves is important for building social-cognitive skills, we should more readily embrace the books meant for teenage girls, even make them the centerpiece of the young adult reading experience. And, perhaps, the adult reading experience too,” concludes Akabas.
Read the full essay at Electric Literature.com.
