The Gay Ya 'Problem'
Sep. 18th, 2011 12:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glitter_n_goreRemember Wicked Pretty Things? Well, buckle your seatbelts, because someone's thrown more fuel on this fire.
The basic story is this: Authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith wrote this article for Publishers Weekly, detailing their decision to walk after a certain agency asked them to A) marginalize, B) de-gay, or C) entirely remove a pivotal character from their YA novel.
Agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe (although not the agent in question, at least not as far as sources can tell so far) caught wind of this and put out a response to the internet, saying that the conversation about the character, and what should be done about him, was taken out of context, misconstrued, and these authors are taking things the wrong way and making the agency look bad. Her full rebuttal is here.
It got complicated as more authors, editors, and agency reps hopped onto the comment train, and added their tweets to the conversation.
As usual, the magnificent Cleo has all the details.
The real issue is not truly who said what to whom and for what reasons in this particular incident. Oh, no. The issue is what place queer characters currently occupy in the YA market, and how that needs to change.
Particularly telling is this anonymous comment on Brown and Smith's original article:
"I'm so tired of the reactionary nature of the internet. This is a case in point of that.
As a reader, I don't want to be force-fed something I'm not comfortable with reading or dealing with. This goes for anything, not just homosexual content.
Do homosexuals exist? Do rapists exist? Do drug addicts and drug dealers exist? Do dark and scary things exist?
Yes. But that doesn't mean I want to read about it. I read to escape and if a book leaves me feeling enraged or depressed or anything that isn't a feeling I want to have hanging over my day or week, it's not a book for me.
It has nothing to do with homophobia or bigotry of any kind." (Source)
Take a moment and let that sink in. I want you to note how this person equates rape and drug-dealing with homosexuality. This right here is why we call it homophobia--it all comes down to fear. And it's a fear that, unlike that of rapists and drug-dealers, is completely baseless. I really wonder where these people get their information, and how they draw their conclusions about what makes non-straight people so "dark and scary."
So what do we do about it?
If you're a reader, you can follow the suggestion to vote with your dollars--prove to the marketplace that the readership for queer characters and their stories is out there, especially in YA where all the really important changes seem to be happening these days. That is the best and most impactful way to make something happen.
But what about me? What should I, as a writer, do about this?
Here's the internal struggle that I have when I see stories like this, and find myself nodding along and saying, "Yes, they're absolutely right, we need more prominent non-straight-white-MAIN-characters in YA, and in all books really." I stop and think about the MCs of my various projects, and start looking at them through this same lens. Are any of my MCs anything but straight? And of my queer characters, are any of them in a relationship at the time of the plot, or do I mention their orientation at all?
As some of you know, I have a strong revulsion to love stories generally. Time paradoxes, Evil Corporations, a re-tooled Sleeping Beauty myth, a sorcerer-in-training, a school with evil secrets literally buried in the backyard--these are the things I think about when I put my stories together. I keep various aspects of my characters' personalities--including orientation--on a mental checklist somewhere in the back of my mind (or in one of my many, many notebooks), but romantic subplots are THIN on the ground here, so most of the time it doesn't enter into the narrative at all.
So, what do I do? Do I have a responsibility as an aspiring author with a vested interest in these things to make my characters' orientations more prominent? If I try to do too much, will it come off as hackneyed and preachy, or like I'm trying to fill a certain quota? Should I do nothing, continue writing the stories the way I always have, and let the characters have their adventures regardless of whether their sexuality comes into play? And what about the other minorities--are my genders and races realistically represented and balanced? And how important is it for me to be worrying about this stuff when I'm not even published or contracted with an agent yet?
And that's the slippery slope I find myself on. I lean towards the "do nothing and let them be who they are" option, because that's the only way to treat my characters fairly. Pushing them in one direction or another in the name of balance, while noble in theory, just seems like a bad idea, and cause can a whole new set of problems.
But I do like having these things in the back of my mind when the plot bunnies start nibbling, and my characters are still cooking. And actually, now that I think about it, I do have a couple of non-straight POV characters in my current projects. I won't say which ones or who they are. But maybe I could make their voices a little louder.
The basic story is this: Authors Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith wrote this article for Publishers Weekly, detailing their decision to walk after a certain agency asked them to A) marginalize, B) de-gay, or C) entirely remove a pivotal character from their YA novel.
Agent Joanna Stampfel-Volpe (although not the agent in question, at least not as far as sources can tell so far) caught wind of this and put out a response to the internet, saying that the conversation about the character, and what should be done about him, was taken out of context, misconstrued, and these authors are taking things the wrong way and making the agency look bad. Her full rebuttal is here.
It got complicated as more authors, editors, and agency reps hopped onto the comment train, and added their tweets to the conversation.
As usual, the magnificent Cleo has all the details.
The real issue is not truly who said what to whom and for what reasons in this particular incident. Oh, no. The issue is what place queer characters currently occupy in the YA market, and how that needs to change.
Particularly telling is this anonymous comment on Brown and Smith's original article:
"I'm so tired of the reactionary nature of the internet. This is a case in point of that.
As a reader, I don't want to be force-fed something I'm not comfortable with reading or dealing with. This goes for anything, not just homosexual content.
Do homosexuals exist? Do rapists exist? Do drug addicts and drug dealers exist? Do dark and scary things exist?
Yes. But that doesn't mean I want to read about it. I read to escape and if a book leaves me feeling enraged or depressed or anything that isn't a feeling I want to have hanging over my day or week, it's not a book for me.
It has nothing to do with homophobia or bigotry of any kind." (Source)
Take a moment and let that sink in. I want you to note how this person equates rape and drug-dealing with homosexuality. This right here is why we call it homophobia--it all comes down to fear. And it's a fear that, unlike that of rapists and drug-dealers, is completely baseless. I really wonder where these people get their information, and how they draw their conclusions about what makes non-straight people so "dark and scary."
So what do we do about it?
If you're a reader, you can follow the suggestion to vote with your dollars--prove to the marketplace that the readership for queer characters and their stories is out there, especially in YA where all the really important changes seem to be happening these days. That is the best and most impactful way to make something happen.
But what about me? What should I, as a writer, do about this?
Here's the internal struggle that I have when I see stories like this, and find myself nodding along and saying, "Yes, they're absolutely right, we need more prominent non-straight-white-MAIN-characters in YA, and in all books really." I stop and think about the MCs of my various projects, and start looking at them through this same lens. Are any of my MCs anything but straight? And of my queer characters, are any of them in a relationship at the time of the plot, or do I mention their orientation at all?
As some of you know, I have a strong revulsion to love stories generally. Time paradoxes, Evil Corporations, a re-tooled Sleeping Beauty myth, a sorcerer-in-training, a school with evil secrets literally buried in the backyard--these are the things I think about when I put my stories together. I keep various aspects of my characters' personalities--including orientation--on a mental checklist somewhere in the back of my mind (or in one of my many, many notebooks), but romantic subplots are THIN on the ground here, so most of the time it doesn't enter into the narrative at all.
So, what do I do? Do I have a responsibility as an aspiring author with a vested interest in these things to make my characters' orientations more prominent? If I try to do too much, will it come off as hackneyed and preachy, or like I'm trying to fill a certain quota? Should I do nothing, continue writing the stories the way I always have, and let the characters have their adventures regardless of whether their sexuality comes into play? And what about the other minorities--are my genders and races realistically represented and balanced? And how important is it for me to be worrying about this stuff when I'm not even published or contracted with an agent yet?
And that's the slippery slope I find myself on. I lean towards the "do nothing and let them be who they are" option, because that's the only way to treat my characters fairly. Pushing them in one direction or another in the name of balance, while noble in theory, just seems like a bad idea, and cause can a whole new set of problems.
But I do like having these things in the back of my mind when the plot bunnies start nibbling, and my characters are still cooking. And actually, now that I think about it, I do have a couple of non-straight POV characters in my current projects. I won't say which ones or who they are. But maybe I could make their voices a little louder.
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Date: 2011-10-13 09:09 pm (UTC)To continue to support YA fiction with LGBTQ characters, I have proposed creating Permanent Floating YA Diversity Book Clubs. If you wish to participate, the link will explain how to begin one, join one, or simply pass on the word.