OK this stuff really freaks me out, if they caught this one fine, but what about the ones they don't catch.

http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/3655448

Catching up a bit; Joakim I agree that books that can be read and enjoyed by both sexes is the ideal, but I also believe that girls can read books that are written primarily for girls (Sweet Valley High and the Babysitters Club are the ones I remember as for girls only when I was a boy), and boys should be able to read books that are written primarily for boys.

The situation as it exists seems more about trying to change boys, or lecture boys, rather than just celebrating boys. There are books that celebrate the joys of being a girl and I feel boys should get the same kind of respect. Unfortunately, and this is only from my sampling of modern children's literature (though my sampling is fairly large for a grown man), a lot of the stuff that is ostensibly for boys is often more about lecturing boys about how their personal instincts are wrong. A term that has been used to describe me is an 'Unreconstructed male', and while I think it a clever term I believe it is also an incredibly insulting term; as if either I am broken and need fixing (in both connatations of that word), or men as a whole have been broken and reassembled into a new kind of man and I have avoided the process and maintained my out-moded masculinity. I believe that some writers of children's fiction have had that same thought, as in; what would be the ideal man and how do I convince the boys reading this to become that perfect man?

Nothing inherently wrong with that, I know that a large part of my personality was formed by the books I read as a child and a writer taking that responsibility seriously is a good thing. The problem for me is that I vehemently disagree with their vision of an ideal male and will admit to having an old fashioned view of certain things (like fighting). I'm not saying I'm right on all of those things, though it works for me, but I am saying I can't help but see it as an attempt to stifle my kind of males and stamp us out of existence.

An example: I wrote a story about a werewolf becoming the alpha male of his pack by killing the old alpha male. It was harsh, but funny, and there were no female characters. Partly because there was no space, but mainly because it would get in the way of the theme (boys replacing their fathers). But some friends of mine were insulted that there were no female characters, and that the males were extremely dismissive of the females of their pack. One women set forth a 'solution', introduce a Lady Macbeth type female who manipulates the young male and the alpha male into the fight for dominance. To me that was insulting to men; apparently in her world view men weren't clever enough to scheme well, and also could only end in one logical way; the Lady Macbeth wolf would have to emerge the victor. So I get told I HAVE to change my story because they found it insulting in its dismissiveness, and the solution is to call all my male characters morons and crown an Alpha female. I decided not to do that since it would make an entirely different (and entirely unoriginal, I think there may have been a Lady Macbeth character in a famous play of which I will not name) kind of story. The men who read the story had absolutely no problem with it (other than a worry about how the women would react) and I felt the women were using their sense of being offended as a way to bend me to their will. I just shrugged and said it was a guy story, written by a guy, and meant to be read by guys.

What's wrong with that? And if there is something wrong with that why is there nothing wrong with a girl story, written be a girl, and meant to be read by girls?

Jodi, I've always loved smart girls but after a time I came to realize I valued some stuff more highly. And no, not boobs. Or bottom.

Kindness, compassion, a heart big enough to fit the world with room left over for me. And I got my Angel. My Danielle. There are times when we don't have a lot to talk about since I tend to bore her when I go all intellectual and the like, but the difference seems to work for us

I agree that books that can be read and enjoyed by both sexes is the ideal, but I also believe that girls can read books that are written primarily for girls (Sweet Valley High and the Babysitters Club are the ones I remember as for girls only when I was a boy), and boys should be able to read books that are written primarily for boys.

I think no matter how you slice it girls and boys are just different and I must say the books Chuck enjoys, are completely different then the books I like. I think you hit on an untapped market Steve. There are plenty of girl books, but I honestly don't know of a lot of boy books. There used to be, but now it seems boy books are books that are kind of boy leaning, but can be for a girl too.  Like the Boxcar Children or The Magic Tree House.

Would like opinions on this, positive and negative, a comic strip I've been working on called Dodge the Bullet. Thanks guys.

http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4276& amp;PN=1&TPN=838

Steve I think it is good the way it is, but lawyer jokes have been around too long, so it is nothing really new.  But,  I think if you change the guy to an AIG excutive it would become really funny. This piece seems like it would be a really great topical comic strip. I also think it would be wanted more for the current topic and would stand a great chance to get picked up. Strike while the Iron's hot , as my grandma would say.

You did a great job getting the reactions right on their faces.