![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
When an ally doesn't get it right
Mar. 22nd, 2012 03:20 pmPaolo Bacigalupi's piece out on Kirkus Reviews raises some excellent points about how queer youth are treated, primarily in the U.S., in the context of talking about dystopian YA (here - http://www.kirkusreviews.com/blog/young-adult/invisible-dystopia/#continue_reading_post). I think it is a piece that is written with excellent intentions. But it falls short for me as both a writer and reader of various flavors of queer sf/f on a couple of points:
1. The notion that there is no dystopian queer ya because queer kids don't need to read about dystopias, they're living one.
2. That readers can only respond to a reversal of circumstances to empathize with the obstacles facing LGBTQ youth, in this case, by reading the work of another heterosexual male author writing about those obstacles as though they impacted straight people.
3. The implication that the only reason to include LGBTQ characters in dystopian YA is to appeal specifically to those kids, because no one who isn't queer-identified can relate.
To start with, of course there's queer dystopian ya. Check out author Nora Olsen's "The End" for one example or Dayna Ingram's "Eat Your Heart Out." Or the several pages of reviews in this site - http://www.yareads.com/category/book-reviews/dystopia. As for the assumption that LGBTQ kids don't need to read about themselves in the same areas that their peers do, haven't we been here before? I can think of few groups of people who never want to see themselves represented in the mediums used by their culture, especially if the characters are positive. Bacigalupi missed a prime opportunity to plug a lot of good fiction in a forum where it could have gotten more exposure.
As for the notion that the experiences of LGBTQ have to be mediated through the lens of the dominant culture to be relatable, let's try a few substitutions there, shall we? Misogyny can only be written about effectively if some or all of the main characters in a story are portrayed as men experiencing a role reversal. Because, you know, readers have been totally unable to relate to "The Handmaid's Tale" or "Parable of the Sower" or Suzy McKee Charnas' work or...but you get the idea. Being invisible and discriminated against doesn't help anyone.
Will straight readers read dystopian ya with LGBTQ characters? Um...yeah, they do seem to be. And buying it and enjoying it, as far as I can tell from the reviews, the book recommendations and the fact that some publishers keep buying it.
The last time I checked in, readers read dystopias in part because many of them show humans building new societies. The dystopian event is what clears the way for a new beginning. Telling LGBTQ kids or adults, for that matter, that they have no place in that is like telling them they have no hope. And that's just wrong, regardless of intent.
3/23 Note: Having a conversation with Paolo Bacigalupi and some others about the original article. He's being quite open to discussion on the subjects of queerya and visibility stuff. My opinion of the article is unchanged since that's what's out there, but perhaps something better can come out of this. Which would be outstanding.
1. The notion that there is no dystopian queer ya because queer kids don't need to read about dystopias, they're living one.
2. That readers can only respond to a reversal of circumstances to empathize with the obstacles facing LGBTQ youth, in this case, by reading the work of another heterosexual male author writing about those obstacles as though they impacted straight people.
3. The implication that the only reason to include LGBTQ characters in dystopian YA is to appeal specifically to those kids, because no one who isn't queer-identified can relate.
To start with, of course there's queer dystopian ya. Check out author Nora Olsen's "The End" for one example or Dayna Ingram's "Eat Your Heart Out." Or the several pages of reviews in this site - http://www.yareads.com/category/book-reviews/dystopia. As for the assumption that LGBTQ kids don't need to read about themselves in the same areas that their peers do, haven't we been here before? I can think of few groups of people who never want to see themselves represented in the mediums used by their culture, especially if the characters are positive. Bacigalupi missed a prime opportunity to plug a lot of good fiction in a forum where it could have gotten more exposure.
As for the notion that the experiences of LGBTQ have to be mediated through the lens of the dominant culture to be relatable, let's try a few substitutions there, shall we? Misogyny can only be written about effectively if some or all of the main characters in a story are portrayed as men experiencing a role reversal. Because, you know, readers have been totally unable to relate to "The Handmaid's Tale" or "Parable of the Sower" or Suzy McKee Charnas' work or...but you get the idea. Being invisible and discriminated against doesn't help anyone.
Will straight readers read dystopian ya with LGBTQ characters? Um...yeah, they do seem to be. And buying it and enjoying it, as far as I can tell from the reviews, the book recommendations and the fact that some publishers keep buying it.
The last time I checked in, readers read dystopias in part because many of them show humans building new societies. The dystopian event is what clears the way for a new beginning. Telling LGBTQ kids or adults, for that matter, that they have no place in that is like telling them they have no hope. And that's just wrong, regardless of intent.
3/23 Note: Having a conversation with Paolo Bacigalupi and some others about the original article. He's being quite open to discussion on the subjects of queerya and visibility stuff. My opinion of the article is unchanged since that's what's out there, but perhaps something better can come out of this. Which would be outstanding.
