"Our teacher said reading about Anne Frank’s feelings in the diary made boys in past classes feel..."

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Our teacher said reading about Anne Frank’s feelings in the diary made boys in past classes feel uncomfortable. The play provided distance from the interiority revealed in the diary. This made the play more appropriate.

I was upset and read the diary on my own, probably trying to find the juicy internal thoughts that made boys feel  so uncomfortable. Of course I came up short. Anne Frank doesn’t describe anything particularly titillating or scandalous. She has thoughts and feelings and crushes and parent problems. She thinks about her body. She worries about her future, which, as we all know, was tragically cut short. Anne is a person. That it was more acceptable to discuss a character than an actual human being sent a strong (and I’m sure unintended) message to the boys in our class: it’s okay to ignore the experiences of women, especially if they make you uncomfortable.

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- from Boy Books, Girl Books, and Missing Out on Anne Frank
(via bookriot)