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megwrites90% of books for kids in the U.S. written by white authors about white protagonists.
I articulated some of my thoughts on twitter, but I wanted to do so in more than 140 characters, so here goes.
Back when the #GayinYA discussions came about, particularly from this post and suggestions were being given as to how to make YA more "diverse", I came across quotes like this:
And, frankly, it made me very uncomfortable as well as dubious about how successful such a strategy could ever be at achieving real and meaningful inclusivity for young adult readers.
My first doubts about the suggested strategy is that it relies on the "vote with your pocketbook" tactic. This tactic is inherently exclusionary to those who's pocketbooks are busy voting for which food stuffs and necessities they'll get, much less what books they can buy.
And when speaking of using this to improve the YA genre in the U.S., it means leaving out a very large chunk of the kids who are the ostensible audience you're trying to reach with these books. Especially the kids who are living on the margins and thus deserve more than anyone to have great literature that reflects and respects them as they are available and accessible.
There are plenty of statistics showing that LGBTQ youth are more likely to end up homeless, abused, and direly lacking in resources and support than their straight-cis counterparts. As are youth of color. Once you start looking at intersections, well, you get the idea.
As for asking librarians, that too is filled with problems for these same kids. For one, marginalized kids have learned early in life that the system is dangerous for them, that even merely asking for something is read as being angry and a problem which results in bad consequences. And if a queer kid (of any color/gender) is trying to keep their identity secret for fear of what the adults around them will do, I think expecting them to march right up to the librarian and ask for more books by and about queer folks or trans folks is unreasonable. In fact, such an act could be deeply unsafe for them.
So these two methods increase the likelihood that the voices being heard most will be those of privileged adults - especially affluent, white ones who have the privilege of being able to trust the system and vote with their pocketbooks.
And that's where we get into problem number two. Even the best meaning privileged person cannot truly understand what it's like to be on the other side of the fence. What affluent white adults who involve themselves in this genre think is a good book may actually be the last thing a kid needs foisted on them or passed off as something that's meant to be for them. A well meaning white
This not to say that adults reading and writing YA is somehow inherently bad. There's nothing at all wrong with adults enjoying YA books, or young folks enjoying adult books. The problems arise when adults don't just read, but exercise the dominant voices not just in production, but the marketplace so that the ability of kids to have a say in what they want and what they feel best suits them.
The third problem, and perhaps the biggest, is that any of these solutions relies on appealing to the very system that caused the problem in the first place. Appealing to the system of publishing and distribution as it stands in the U.S. now is empowering it in one way or another. As the saying goes, the system isn't broken, it's doing exactly as it was designed to do - which is streamline the process of giving those who can pay the most what they most want, regardless of whether they're the majority or the product being put out is actually any good.
Which is why I'd like to see discussions of YA that center around the voices of young readers (because they do have voices, and they deserve to be heard and centered, especially in their own genre) and around ways to give those readers the literature they deserve, the literature that respects and represents them as they are, not as privileged adults imagine them to be.
I articulated some of my thoughts on twitter, but I wanted to do so in more than 140 characters, so here goes.
Back when the #GayinYA discussions came about, particularly from this post and suggestions were being given as to how to make YA more "diverse", I came across quotes like this:
If You’re A Reader: Please vote with your pocketbooks and blogs by buying, reading, reviewing, and asking libraries to buy existing YA fantasy/sf with LGBTQ protagonists or major characters. If those books succeed financially, more like them will be written, represented, and sold.
And, frankly, it made me very uncomfortable as well as dubious about how successful such a strategy could ever be at achieving real and meaningful inclusivity for young adult readers.
My first doubts about the suggested strategy is that it relies on the "vote with your pocketbook" tactic. This tactic is inherently exclusionary to those who's pocketbooks are busy voting for which food stuffs and necessities they'll get, much less what books they can buy.
And when speaking of using this to improve the YA genre in the U.S., it means leaving out a very large chunk of the kids who are the ostensible audience you're trying to reach with these books. Especially the kids who are living on the margins and thus deserve more than anyone to have great literature that reflects and respects them as they are available and accessible.
There are plenty of statistics showing that LGBTQ youth are more likely to end up homeless, abused, and direly lacking in resources and support than their straight-cis counterparts. As are youth of color. Once you start looking at intersections, well, you get the idea.
As for asking librarians, that too is filled with problems for these same kids. For one, marginalized kids have learned early in life that the system is dangerous for them, that even merely asking for something is read as being angry and a problem which results in bad consequences. And if a queer kid (of any color/gender) is trying to keep their identity secret for fear of what the adults around them will do, I think expecting them to march right up to the librarian and ask for more books by and about queer folks or trans folks is unreasonable. In fact, such an act could be deeply unsafe for them.
So these two methods increase the likelihood that the voices being heard most will be those of privileged adults - especially affluent, white ones who have the privilege of being able to trust the system and vote with their pocketbooks.
And that's where we get into problem number two. Even the best meaning privileged person cannot truly understand what it's like to be on the other side of the fence. What affluent white adults who involve themselves in this genre think is a good book may actually be the last thing a kid needs foisted on them or passed off as something that's meant to be for them. A well meaning white
This not to say that adults reading and writing YA is somehow inherently bad. There's nothing at all wrong with adults enjoying YA books, or young folks enjoying adult books. The problems arise when adults don't just read, but exercise the dominant voices not just in production, but the marketplace so that the ability of kids to have a say in what they want and what they feel best suits them.
The third problem, and perhaps the biggest, is that any of these solutions relies on appealing to the very system that caused the problem in the first place. Appealing to the system of publishing and distribution as it stands in the U.S. now is empowering it in one way or another. As the saying goes, the system isn't broken, it's doing exactly as it was designed to do - which is streamline the process of giving those who can pay the most what they most want, regardless of whether they're the majority or the product being put out is actually any good.
Which is why I'd like to see discussions of YA that center around the voices of young readers (because they do have voices, and they deserve to be heard and centered, especially in their own genre) and around ways to give those readers the literature they deserve, the literature that respects and represents them as they are, not as privileged adults imagine them to be.
