SEEN Report Reveals Disturbing Extent of Trans Ideology in Children’s Books
SEEN (Sex Equality and Equity Network) in publishing has produced a damning report – Through the Looking Glass – about the way in which ‘trans-activists’ have infiltrated our schools and libraries with literature designed to indoctrinate children about gender ideology. The report names several books for children that overtly promote gender ideology using inappropriate and harmful imagery. The issue is not just that these books exist but that they have been deliberately and cynically created by companies in order to make money by jumping on a trendy publishing bandwagon. These books are found in schools and in public libraries for teachers or drag queens to read to our children.
One such example is ‘Bodies Are Cool’ (Puffin, 2021, for ages 2-8), which has a page featuring a ‘diverse’ range of people and the line ‘this body, that body, his and her and their body. However you define your body! Bodies are cool!’ Notably two of the characters on this page appear to have mastectomy scars which normalises self-destructive ‘gender affirming’ surgery in a book for very young children.
Another example of a similar book is Grandad’s Pride (Andersen Press, 2023), which is about a young child enthusiastically organising a village Pride march with her grandfather, and includes, for instance, an image of an old man in bondage gear in front of a children. This is clearly not appropriate viewing for children aged 3-6 years old, which is who the book’s publisher recommends it for.
The SEEN report also mentions ‘Introducing Teddy’ (Bloomsbury, 2016). Thomas the Teddy says , ‘I’ve always known that I’m a girl teddy, not a boy teddy. I wish my name was Tilly, not Thomas.’ This book normalises the idea that ‘gender’ is changeable and fluid. This is particularly disturbing given that pre-school aged children, for whom this book is also written, are well known for trying out different identities as part of their natural development.
And finally, perhaps the most disturbing of all of the books listed is ‘Bye Bye, Binary’ (Harper Collins, 2022), which is narrated by a baby character in a pushchair and is obviously aimed at the very youngest readers. The book features a scene where someone asks whether the baby is male or female. The response from the adult pushing the narrator-baby says, ‘What’s it to ya? They don’t need to be EITHER. Besides, we are letting them see for THEMSELVES one day.’
In her introduction to the SEEN report, Anne Fine, Second Children’s Laureate states:
‘Would it be possible to put together a more damning indictment of the world of children’s publishing than we have here? I doubt it. It is shameful. Shameful. Publishers will rush to climb on any bandwagon. But this one? Really? This dismal betrayal of young readers. This unthinking capitulation to a biologically unfounded ideology whose false and troubling messages have damaged so many families. Over the last decade, publishers, booksellers, librarians and a bevy of joyless would-be authors became a major conduit for trans-activist propaganda and harmful lies, while others (whose books sold a good deal better) were bullied into silence, or out of their careers, by positively terrifying campaigns of cancellation and spite.’
The report is indeed damning of the whole children’s book publishing industry. Herewith we have seen a total, morally abject commitment to trans ideology. Publishers have jumped onto this bandwagon with no thought to the detrimental effects on their young readers. Parents must be aware of the kinds of books that are available in public libraries and schools because we aren’t always there to safeguard our children from those who seek to groom them, and to stop them being exposed to such manipulative and harmful material.
ParentPower Team
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