problematic book clubs

I'm from a flyover state myself, and I feel that allows me to be dismissive of things that happen in them because it's that sort of place. Here's why I had that dismissive - and, as it turned out, completely accurate - "flyover states!" response today:
I heard about a library that has a book club for children. Actually, it has several. All of these book clubs have "for boys" or "for girls" as part of the name. Slow clap. For those of you who might be confused about why this is incredibly problematic, read on.
It's problematic in exactly the same way that a "book club for white children" would be. (By the way, if there's one of those around, don't tell me. I can't bear it.) Boys and girls like the same kinds of books! Sometimes boy #1 will have different tastes than girl #1, but I'd bet girl #2 will have different tastes, too. Or all three will have the same tastes! One can't assume. But by dividing the children so arbitrarily, it reinforces the idea that some books are for boys, and some for girls.
Now, one can make an argument that girls need a safe space, because boys will, otherwise, dominate a classroom. I've seen that sort of argument, and I see some value to it. But this isn't a classroom. A reasonably capable book club moderator can manage different conversational styles - which, of course, do not fall on gender lines - because a book club is shorter and has fewer students than the average classroom has.
And while we're on the subject of gender: let's hope every single child in that town is cis-gendered, or this is just one more way a child can be hurt.
By the way, I'm not normally so dismissive of flyover states; as I said, I'm from one. But I do think it's easier to forget diversity if you live, say, several hours from a major city. I'd pin these poorly structured book clubs on a clueless person who doesn't think about diversity, not on a whole culture.