A Note About Gendered Gift Lists
When we do our holiday gift lists every year on Tumblr, we try to create lists that will appeal to the widest range of interests possible - this year alone, we’ll be posting lists of Star Wars books, cookbooks, audiobooks, feminist books, music memoirs, craft books, sci-fi/fantasy books, and many, many more.
We’ll also be posting lists labeled “For Him,” “For Her,” For Mom,” and “For Dad.” And we know that those labels are pretty reductive! And that’s not great. So we wanted to talk a little bit about that.
Our intent with gender-specific lists isn’t to say that these are the *only* books you should buy for people of a particular gender identity or age group or demographic, nor is it to say that *only* people of a particular gender identity/age/demographic will enjoy those books. The way we hope you’ll use those lists is to pick out books for people you might not know well, or whose interests aren’t super-specific or clear. If you’re meeting your significant other’s family for the first time and you draw a cousin neither of you know very well for the gift exchange, then the Gifts For Him list can be a helpful place to start. Or if you need a gift for your landlady, who you only ever see with her kids, then maybe start with Gifts For Mom.
On the other hand, if you know someone really well, you probably don’t need the gender-specific lists at all. If you have a brother in college who’s recently developed an interest in gender studies, you might want to refer to our Diverse Reading List. If your mom’s best friend is her set of whiskey stones, then you might want to pull up Books For Dad. If your genderqueer niece is working on hir art therapy certification, you might want to look at the Coloring Books for Grown-ups list. All of our lists will be linked here as they go live - we hope you browse!
We know it’s not a perfect system, but we’re trying to get better. And if you have ideas, suggestions, or complaints, send us a chat. We’re listening.
tl;dr: gender-specific gift lists aren’t meant to be prescriptive - they’re just meant to be a place to start.