I love to read. At any given time, I have a half-finished novel and/or memoir in my backpack -- occasionally I also carry a Gillian Flynn thriller, just in case I’m not in the mood for one of the first two and feel like rereading "Gone Girl" for the ninth time. This has been my system for as long as I've been literate, so I never have to ride public transit, eat lunch, or even walk down a hall without a book to hide behind.

As you might have guessed, I was an incredibly popular child who was never beat up on Bus 17 in both fourth and seventh grade.

I was encouraged by my parents and elementary school teachers to read anything I could get my hands on - "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH," "Junie B. Jones," "The Trumpet of the Swan," "Chronicles of Narnia," "The Babysitters’ Club"....I may be dating myself. I knew not everyone read as many books as I did, but I assumed it was because they were spending their free time playing sports adequately or something. Well, that may have been true to some degree, there was another factor at play.

Recently, I went out for a wild night on the town. “A wild night on the town” is Halle-speak for “blowing $50 at Barnes and Noble, and then maybe getting a coffee from the Starbucks next door.” While sitting on the floor with a Sarah Vowell nonfiction, I saw a boy of about seven walk up to his mother with a few books from the children’s section that he’d picked out. She leafed through them and then set one on the bench next to her.

“You don’t want that one, it’s a girl book.” She said dismissively, before adding the others to her own stack and pulling her son towards the checkout line. The discarded book, I discovered after they’d walked far enough away for me to peek, was "Ramona the Brave," by Beverly Cleary.

I then proceeded to have a tiny rage stroke.

See, for all the things that suck about growing up as a girl in a patriarchal society, one thing we’re not harassed about is the ability to read whatever books we want as children. You like “girly” books (which I assume means books about and/or written by females)? Great, you’re a girl, you’re supposed to. Do you like “boy” books? Also good, because girls are also expected to like everything boys like.

But we tell our sons and brothers that a whole section of literature is closed off to them. We even have a name for it -- Chick Lit. This in itself is all sorts of insulting, like women have to have "their books" specially labeled and separated, but putting aside my own offense, I fear it's also troubling for men. Girls are experts at relating to male characters in books and movies because that's usually what we're presented with as the default. Boys don't learn that skill.

If a guy expresses interest in reading a romance novel, a memoir by a female comedian, or even a book written by a woman, he’s mocked and dismissed, even when he’s seven years old. J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, famously goes by her initials rather than her name, Joanne Kathleen, because her publisher told her that her real name wouldn't sell books - boys wouldn’t want to read something written by a woman.

I loved and related to Harry Potter just as much as I did Hermione Granger. I don’t know a single guy I grew up with who would agree with that statement. They’re not allowed to, without ridicule. Not only is this a form of toxic masculinity and sexism, it teaches boys from a young age that women’s voices aren’t worth listening to. And do you know who those boys grow up to be? Meninists who start online petitions against the new "Ghostbusters" movie. And the world certainly doesn’t need that.

The world needs people of all genders growing up inspired by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Claudia Kishi and Luna Lovegood, so that one day they'll want to read the adventures of Katniss Everdeen and Bernadette Fox and Amy Dunne -- and perhaps even more importantly, connect with and respect the female authors who created them. They'll understand, right from the get-go, there is nothing inherently degrading or beneath them about relating to women and girls, both fictional and in their real lives.

"Ramona the Brave" is a fantastic children’s book, about growing up and all the challenges that may bring, such a parent losing their job, getting bullied and the daily temptation to punch your sister in the throat. Ramona Quimby is awkward and curious and completely

relatable -- why shouldn’t boys see themselves reflected in someone like that? And if your only answer is because she’s a she, then I feel sorry for you. That kind of close-mindedness just proves someone didn’t read to you enough as a child.