This seemed strange to me but pointed up the fact that unless the owners liked the book or someone asked for it, it would not appear. So should we ring and ask for books even if we have no intention of buying them, just to get them on the shelves? We devised a letter which we sent to 50+ bookstores across Australia and enclosed a CBE mini catalogue and a list of egalitarian books which Australian distributors carried. Not one store answered so we don’t know if that has had any positive outcome or not.
Apart from small, local bookshops there is one large firm which is represented in all states and does their ordering directly from America. Their buyer told me that they buy whatever is selling in the states so the catalogues which go out to thousands of people are full of the gender sterotypical books for women and men, and lately, boys and girls. Seems it’s so hard to break into the market.

At university, I was definitely into the student/slacker look: old blue jeans and t-shirts. I never wore make-up and kept my hair short so I wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time on it. In fact, I remember my Mom saying to me once, “You’ll never catch a husband if you keep looking like one of the boys!”

Then it happened. For some reason, within the last few years I just felt that I didn’t want to be “masculine” anymore. I let my hair grow long. I started wearing pink clothing and loving Victorian things. I even bought a dried flower wreath at a medieval fair I attended!

Now, I must hasten to add that I’m not a total “girly-girl.” I still wear jeans and t-shirts most of the time, and I definitely love sports. I don’t know how to express it, though, but to say that I feel more “feminine” now.

I have been pondering this for quite a while. Why the big change? Was being a tomboy just an extended phase of my life? Is there some gene for the color pink that suddenly kicked in later in my life? I told my mother-in-law about this, and she said, “In other words, you finally accepted that you’re a girl and not a boy,” as if to imply that I had somehow grown up, like a reverse Peter Pan.

I have no idea if that’s true or not, if this was some godly predispostion waiting to come out. I do know, however, that there are times when I don’t feel “feminine enough” according to the Christian standards of today. I mentioned above that I love sports. My husband and I love watching the Cowboys, but according to the prevailing wisdom, I should be a “football widow.” I love finding out how things work, from atom bombs to airplanes. I love politics, math, and science, but everyone knows that only men are hardwired to like these things.

So what am I? Feminine? Masculine? Or just myself?

However, I must confess that I love the color pink. Therefore, I don’t think that’s a strictly complementarian thing!

Ahh, but do you think that, as a female, you’re predisposed by God to like pink? That need not be a complementarian thing, but frankly seems to be the order of their level of argumentation.

However, I must confess that I love the color pink. Therefore, I don’t think that’s a strictly complementarian thing!

And I have to confess that when I want a Christian book, I usually order it from CB, for the same reason that I use Amazon instead of going to a secular bookstore. Huge selection, cheap prices, and it’s much more convenient having it shipped to your doorstep. With CB, however, I also don’t feel out of place browsing for books that aren’t in the Women’s section!

Needless to say, I am not often in a Christian bookstore. My money is not going to support a view of Christianity that is so un-Christlike. And anyway Amazon.com always has better prices.