To read a few other reactions to the book, click here. I may have done this well, or I may have done it badly but at least I had a go at it in the face of such poisonous opposition, and I’m proud of the book for that reason alone. They and millions like them aren’t dirty, they aren’t bullies and they don’t need that sort of attitude being brought to bear on them. The sheer venom with which Anne regards them and their private jokes convinces me all the more that they deserve the validation that can come from reading about their own type. They treat their girlfriends by and large with respect and regard themselves as being better than them in no way whatsoever. Sex is enormously important to them, but it is certainly not a leisure activity – it’s far too important. They may make the crudest type of jokes imaginable, but only amongst themselves. The boys in Doing It are, in my opinion, nice boys – not sexist, not bullies, certainly not the vile, dirty, disgusting little toerags that Anne sees.
This is changing these days, and Doing It is my go at trying to bring young male sexual culture into writing. I wrote Doing It because I do believe that we have let young men down very badly in terms of the kinds of books written for them – more or less none, with very few honourable exceptions, such as Aidan Chambers. I thought readers might like to have a look at this, my original entry after Anne Fine’s scandalous attack on Doing It in the Guardian, that earned her the nick name of, The Mary Whitehouse of Children’s literature….
Not recommended for those over 21.” - Siobhan Parkinson, Innis
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