The Blogosphere

Part of my independent study into young adult literature has been to follow the online blog discussion. I have found some great ones to follow. My favorites are: http://yzocaet.blogspot.com/ and http://theundercoverbooklover.blogspot.com/, but there are many good ones. This weekend the blog community was engaged in quite a debate. How timely that I wanted to write about Sisters Red as it has become the subject of much debate this weekend. The simplist way to explain what happened is that Bitch Magazine made a list of the top 100 books for feminist girls. It got negative comments about three books, these books were then removed from the list. It's very well documented here: http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2011/02/how_to_not_stand_up_literature.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ChasingRay+%28Chasing+Ray%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

I was very interested in this debate because I particulary seek out what I like to call "damsel-free" YA literature (http://damsel-free.blogspot.com/) ; so, a feminist YA booklist would normally be very exciting for me.Though I was not able to read through all of the blog discussions on this matter, I do have some opinions about what went down:

1. In defense of Sisters Red: Sisters Red was removed from this "list" because of one particular passage in which Scarlett, one the protagonists, supposedly engages in "victim-blaming" the "dragonflies"- girls who the Fenris prey on because they draw attention to themselves. While I can see how one could read that idea into that passage, I don't think that was the initial intent. Scarlett is a very angry girl. Her angers manifests itself in different ways and who she blames for the life leads and her own physical mutilation shifts throughout the novel. In this particular case, it falls on the girls she is trying to protect, who are not aware, and therefore not appreciative of what she is doing to protect them. The passage is not really about the other girls at all. It is about Scarlett's own personal demons and the regret and resentment she feels from being attacked.

Furthermore, I believe there is a big difference between an opinion a character states in the book and what the author is trying to say. It is very clear, from the rest of the novel, that the author does not agree with the statement Scarlett uses that is causing so much fury. A book should not be judged for one passage that the rest of the book pretty much negates.

2. I have not read Tender Morsels or Living Dead Girl (though I now intend to), so I cannot really speak for them. However, I am very uncomfortable overall about how this whole situation went down. Many posters have said it is analogous to censorship or banning books from libraries. While removing books from a list, is not nearly as extreme as the cases above, I can see these posters view. It is always disheartening when a book is removed from any list or shelf because of a few peoples' opinions. It shows a lack of openness to a diversity of ideas and, quite frankly, dismisses the credibility of those removing the literature.

3. In terms of the other authors wanting their books removed from the list after the 3 other books were removed, I say more power to them! I would not want to be associated with this situation either. Scott Westerfield (author of the wonderful Uglies series) is particularly sassy in his reply: http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2011/02/bitchfest/. But I loved it! I was so proud of how other members of the YA community came to the defense of their fellow authors. It made me very proud to be sort of finding my own place in this community.

I will follow this story more, but for now, these are my thoughts. And please, everyone, give Sisters Red a chance. It reallyis such a lovely book!