Discussions

Something Needs to Change: A Feminist Rant

07:30


I am sick of YA books ignoring feminism. I am sick of YA female protagonists having so much internalised misogyny that it is teaching other girls to be that way. I am sick of the ‘hot abusive bad boy’ trope. I am sick of YA love interests controlling their girlfriends, and teaching younger audiences that this is acceptable, and even something to aspire too! I am sick of sexism being ignored and overlooked, or sometimes even praised. I am sick of anti-feminist YA and I demand change.
I recently read What’s A Girl Gotta Do? By Holly Bourne; it has changed my life, and made me realise just how much books - and the world - need to change. In the book, Lottie sets out to call out every piece of sexism she sees, and it was just so inspirational. We follow her struggles through it - because what she did would have pretty tough! - and it empowered and uplifted me so much that I want to change things. And this starts with YA books.
YA books are pretty progressive in their ideas about social justice. There’s books about race, class, feminism, gender, mental health that I don’t think you would find in any other genre, and I think this is a great thing! It’s one of the reasons why I love YA books so much. Obviously, they are targeted towards teenagers, and what better way to start to change the world than with the next generation? YA readers are often very open minded, so making books more feminist would teach people just how important the political movement is.
It’s pretty hard being a feminist - pretty much everything we do is over-analysed and criticized (which in itself is pretty sexist!). Everyone who added to #IAmAFeminist a few weeks ago got hate and people trolling them, just for sharing their opinion. It’s clear that either people don’t know the true meaning of feminism, or just plainly dislike women (I think it’s a bit of both!).
In addition to this, I point you towards a recent interview with Sarah Jessica Parker. In this, she said that she wasn’t a feminist because she believed that all genders should be equal. (Personally I believe people like this aren’t the biggest problem - we’re all fighting for the same cause, and while their ignorance does annoy me, I think we should be focusing on bigger problems, like FGM and rape culture, as well as actually doing things about it). But I think this shows that she needs to be educated, because I’m sure she isn’t the only one who feels like this. (You can see the interview here). Kim Kardashian has also recently said she isn’t a feminist (which you can see here).

I am so angry because so many books just ignore feminism, even if the authors claim to be feminists. I believe (as controversial as this may be!) that just calling yourself a feminist isn’t enough - ask most women and they will tell you they’re a feminist (I hope!). (Obviously, it’s better to identify as a feminist than not, but I still don’t think it’s enough). I think that to make change, we need to use our voices and not be silenced, and authors can do this through their books.

It doesn’t have to be specifically discussing the feminist movement. I think that just talking about feminist ideas is super helpful and will really go a long way to enlightening people! If all authors chipped in, it would change the world! For example, in Trouble by Non Pratt (yes, yes, I can’t write a discussion without mentioning this book!), feminism isn’t outright discussed, but Hannah talks about how her being ‘easy’ doesn’t denote her self worth. She is proud of who she is! I love the way it talks about slut shaming and misogyny during sex, and it changed the way I thought about feminism slightly. I know it will do the same for so many other people who read it too!
YA books need to show that no always means no. There’s so many romance books (especially in the paranormal genre) where the girl is telling the guy she doesn’t want to kiss/have sex with him, but he keeps persisting, sometimes even to the point of physically grabbing her. The girl finds this hot and irresistible, and it’s so wrong - we should not be teaching people that assault is attractive. This is so toxic and is just adding to rape culture! So many books are guilty of this - Hush Hush, Obsidian, A Court of Mist and Fury, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Shatter Me are just some examples.

Something needs to be done, and awareness needs to be spread. I believe feminism is essential for everyone, and the time when the whole world becomes feminist is when sexism might finally be destroyed, and the patriarchy might be taken down. Awareness will help the movement so much and if authors are able to help spread it, they would be doing so much for the feminist movement. Everyone might be able to be made aware, and it would create a generation of feminists!
That’s why What’s A Girl Gotta Do? is so important. It’s empowering, and really inspired me to follow in Lottie’s footsteps to call out sexism! I think I’m already quite aware of modern everyday sexism, so my experiences of the book will be different - for me, it inspired me to do what Lottie did, and I could really relate to her experiences. For others, it will ‘enlighten’ on how much sexism there is everyday, and inspire them to do further research on the feminist campaign. It’s such an important book, and I really hope Holly Bourne inspires authors to do what she’s done so fantastically well.

If you want to do more reading on feminism, I would recommend:
Fiction:
  • All the Rage (tw rape)
  • Asking For It (tw rape) and Only Ever Yours
  • Trouble
  • Spinster Trilogy (Am I Normal Yet?, How Hard Can Love Be?, What’s A Girl Gotta Do?)
  • Needlework (I haven’t read this one yet, but I own it, and it’s meant to be amazing!)
  • An Ember in the Ashes (this is fantasy and doesn’t really talk about feminism, but I loved the ideas of gender and women and thought it was so feminist)
Non fiction:
  • I Call Myself A Feminist (I would recommend this if you are looking for more reasons to be a feminist or a recently one - I rated it not too highly because I found the ideas to not be too progressive, but I think that was just me, because I think I’ve become a lot more used to it, and maybe even a little desensitized with the environment I’ve grown up in and the liberal circles I tend to be more active in)
  • Bad Feminist (more on intersectional feminism, and feminism and race)
  • Everyday Sexism and Girl Up (I haven’t read these yet but I really want to, and they’ve been recommended to me so many times!)
  • We Should All Be Feminists

5 Stars

Why TROUBLE Will Be Your Next Favourite Book

14:10

Trouble
By Non Pratt

 Source: Second hand, paperback
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary,

In this dazzling debut novel, a pregnant teen learns the meaning of friendship—from the boy who pretends to be her baby’s father.

When the entire high school finds out that Hannah Shepard is pregnant via her ex-best friend, she has a full-on meltdown in her backyard. The one witness (besides the rest of the world): Aaron Tyler, a transfer student and the only boy who doesn’t seem to want to get into Hannah’s pants. Confused and scared, Hannah needs someone to be on her side. Wishing to make up for his own past mistakes, Aaron does the unthinkable and offers to pretend to be the father of Hannah’s unborn baby. Even more unbelievable, Hannah hears herself saying “yes.”

Told in alternating perspectives between Hannah and Aaron, Trouble is the story of two teenagers helping each other to move forward in the wake of tragedy and devastating choices. As you read about their year of loss, regret, and hope, you’ll remember your first, real best friend—and how they were like a first love.


Why TROUBLE Will Be Your Next Favourite Book:

1. It explores family themes like no other book. When you start this book, it’s pretty obvious this will explore families (I mean, there’s fucking sperms on the cover, what do you really expect?), but I never knew it would do it just so well. I loved the dynamics between everyone because they were so realistic, and family life was captured so well. Hannah’s family really became my own while I was reading this. 

2. I adored all the characters! Trouble is told with 2 POVs, and I cared about each of the characters completely equally. I was really rooting for them all the way, and I found their story so captivating. I was hooked throughout the whole book, and found it really hard to put down, because of how much I just wanted everything to be okay! They had so much depth, and were so complex. Everything became too real, so I just didn't want the book to end!

3. SO. MUCH. FRIENDSHIP. This might have been one of the biggest ideas, and I loved it! It showed how much a true best friend can mean to us, and this was the aspect that really helped me. The platonic relationship between Hannah and Aaron made me realise so much about my own life, which was one fo the reasons I found this book so touching. It hit really close to home, and although this won't make it everyone's favourite book, I think it was really moving, and important for everyone. 

4. It’s feminist. If you’ve read this, you might be thinking: “What on Earth is she talking about?!”, but hear me out. It doesn't explicitly deal with gender politics. But I found that the way this dealt with issues like slut-shaming, and misogyny in sex, really opened my eyes (and will do to so many other people). Let me explain further:

Hannah is known for being ‘easy’ in her school. Everyone has the idea that she’s slept with loads of guys, so she’s worth less. (Bear with me for this bit). The other protagonist, Aaron, doesn’t believe in any of this. He doesn’t think of Hannah any differently, even though his ‘friends’ are miming her giving them a blow job, and being really horrible about her behind her back.

I liked the way this was shown to be not true. It’s a really big issue for teenage girls today, and it was explored so well, if you want to look for the themes. It's another really important message that I took away from this book, and I think if you're willing to think about it a bit, it's really educational. Also, Hannah's self esteem and self worth is not dictated by these disgusting men. She knows it isn’t true, and that’s one of the reasons why I love this book so much.

5. It’s emotional af, but in a good way. There were sad points (yes, I did well up in the school library. I was having a tough day, ok?! *sniffs*), but there were also times when this book was so uplifting. I loved how happy it made me feel (the ending... it was perfect!). SO MANY FEELS HERE. It was sad and happy all at once, but overall, it was light-hearted (even if it dealt with some really hard topics), and such an enjoyable read.

6. It’s super meaningful, and has so many brilliant messages for you to take away. There’s some pretty heavy themes in the second half of the book, but they were dealt with so well, and the book was still kept light and enjoyable. These dark feelings a character had were really important, and weren’t glorified in any way. It was real, dark, yet uplifting because of how well they were dealt with.

7. It’s a sex positive YA, and deals with it really well. Although this won’t appeal to everyone, I think if you’ve made it this far, you’ve seen the cover, and you’ve seen the sperms! I think you’ve probably twigged that this book is (to some extent) about sex. I liked how it was shown, as it wasn’t the typical fade to black scenes. There certainly wasn’t any “and then I didn’t know where he ended, and I begun” crap that seems to be in 50% of the sex scenes I’ve read. It was so honest, which I think is so important in YA fiction.

As you can tell, I adored Trouble! I didn't expect for it to be one of my new favourite books right until I finished it. It's UKYA, so it very British, but I'd highly recommend it to everyone, from every country, because it was absolutely fantastic! Also, this is a new format of review for me, so let me know what you think!