Malinda Lo
Blog
Jun 11, 2010
Avoiding LGBTQ Stereotypes in YA Fiction, Part 5: Resources
In today’s post, the last of my 5-part series on avoiding LGBTQ stereotypes in YA fiction, I’m listing a number of resources you might find helpful for further research. Here are the other posts in this series:
Part 1: Major LGBTQ stereotypes
Part 2: Gender
Part 3: Words to watch out for
Part 4: Secondary characters and gay jokes
Part 5: Resources
General References
GLAAD Media Reference Guide — This is a guide for mainstream journalists published by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. It includes a glossary of LGBT-related terms and includes summaries of key issues, such as same-sex marriage, hate crimes, and religion.
GLBTQ.com — This is an online encyclopedia exploring countless aspects of LGBT culture and history. This is a great place to start your research; be sure to check out their references at the end of each entry for further reading.
NLJGA Stylebook — This is the style manual issued by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association to help all journalists report fairly and accurately about LGBT issues. It is a list of terms related to LGBT issues and their connotations.
Bibliographies
Christine Jenkins’ YA bibliography, 1969-2009 — An extensive bibliography of YA LGBT books from the co-author of The Heart Has Its Reasons.
GLBT-RT Resources — A list of bibliographies about a number of LGBTQ issues are available here from the American Library Association’s GLBT Round Table.
The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature With Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004 by Christine Jenkins and Michael Cart — This book contains an extensive bibliography as well as chapters that examine the evolution of queer YA fiction over the decades. Find it at your local library.
Rainbow Project Bibliography — The American Library Association’s Rainbow Project is a growing bibliography of recent children’s and YA books about the LGBTQ experience, dating from 2005 to the present.
Websites
Lambda Literary Foundation — The LLF’s website includes features and interviews about queer fiction and nonfiction. You should check out their Lambda Literary Award archives, especially their finalists in the children’s/YA category, for book recommendations.
Queer YA: Fiction for LGBTQ Teens — Librarian Daisy Porter’s book review blog focuses on YA fiction with LGBTQ themes and characters. Very up-to-date.
I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? — Lee Wind’s blog provides long lists of LGBTQ YA titles; readers are invited to add their reviews in the comments.
Articles
“On Spies and Purple Socks and Such” by Kathleen T. Horning (Horn Book) — A wonderful essay on finding queer subtext in Harriet the Spy and other children’s books.
Thoughts on Publishing in 2008 — From the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, this runs down trends in 2008. Scroll down to read the section on “Coming Out.”
What Do LGBTQ Teens Want? (Lambda Literary Foundation) — YA authors, librarians and editors talk about what they think queer teens are looking for.
“Young Adult Books Move Beyond the Coming Out Story, But Still Face Hurdles” by Malinda Lo (AfterEllen.com) — My article from 2009 runs down the trends in representations of lesbians and bisexual girls in YA fiction.
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Are there any resources you’d recommend? Questions? Please leave them in the comments! As always, comments will be moderated, and homophobia is not tolerated on my website.
Any of these books worth reading? There’s quite a bit to choose from, and I’m sure a lot of them really aren’t. What I mean is, are any of them close to the quality of “Ash”?
Thanks for the compliment about Ash.
Do you mean the books in the bibliographies? I obviously haven’t read them all, but you might start with the Rainbow Project books. Those are very carefully selected. Of course, not every book works for everyone. Two of my faves are Julie Anne Peters’ Keeping You a Secret and Far From Xanadu. They’re contemporary, so they don’t sound anything like Ash, and her style may not work for you, but I really loved them.
I haven’t read most of the books on the list either. Ash is the best that I’ve read. =) However, as Malinda said, Keeping you a Secret by Julie Ann Peters is a good book. I also liked Empress of the World by Sara Ryan. I enjoyed The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden. There are many more I’ve read that are fairly good, but those are the ones I liked the most.
Great series on LGBTQ stereotypes. I’ve been mulling over a gender-bender novel and your series has helped me understand and clarify the concepts in my head. Also, I’ve started reading ASH. Liking it so far.
Malinda,
I just wanted to thank you for this excellent series (found via The Rejectionist). I’ll be pointing my blog readers your way. Thanks for doing such good work–these are important things to talk about, though they are rarely discussed.
Renee
Thank you so much for this series. As an old straight gal who writes mysteries, I haven’t specifically introduced any LGBTQ characters into my stories, altho I don’t delve into the sexual/gender preference of a lot of people, so I believe some of my characters are gay or lesbian. My problem at the moment is to tell a fun little romp of a story without insulting a community. I have gay/lesbian friends who like to joke and tease about being gay/lesbian. I have gay/lesbian friends who don’t feel the need to talk about it, much less make jokes. The protagonist of my book(s) is a sassy, snarky, teasing kind of gal. I know her – she’d be joking with her gay friend about his gayness. If I offended my friends who don’t want to joke about it, I’d be mortified.
So, how does a person who has, through no fault or effort of their own, been given white skin and heterosexual preferences create the real world of color and variation without insulting someone?
I found this excellent series via The Rejectionist as well, and I’d like to thank you for putting it together, Malinda. In the lists of recommended books, one area of lack that I see is LGBTQ characters in historical fiction and fiction set in countries around the world. I became aware of this issue about 15 years ago while reviewing a documentary about Jamaican dancehall music, much of which is overtly homophobic and openly encourages violence against LGBTQ (mostly directed against gay) persons.
Gayle –
I realize I am eons late to this whole conversation, but I also noticed that nobody seems to have responded to you and I wanted to hopefully contribute something.
I’d say go for it – maybe your character doesn’t have the most tactful way of approaching the situation, but as long as you do, and you flesh out her friend, it’s an opportunity both for conflict in your story and increased representation for GLBT folks – and those are both very good things. Have him challenge her, and her possibly insensitive sense of humor, and her jokes. Have him be offended – maybe he takes her comments very poorly, and she realizes there are some things she needs to take seriously (or at least handle respectfully) or risk losing her friendship.
It can be an opportunity for growth, both for your world and MC, and won’t compromise her joking, sassy nature – at least not right away.
I hope this doesn’t come across as me telling you how to write your story, but if you’re stuck for ways to make it ring true, it’s a scenario that I know I’d be interested in reading – and a different take than “Oh, you’re gay? Great! You need to help me find a new pair of shoes.”
And I’m going to hush now, because I’m rambling. :3
Oh, I really liked “Keeping you a secret” (although neither “Luna” or “Between Jo and Mum” worked for me), is “Far from Xanadu” just as good?
I think Dakota’s response is a great one. I’d just add that someone will always be offended, no matter what you write. So you have to make sure that what you wrote is the truth about that character, even if the truth is offensive.
It may just be that there aren’t very many historical novels about LGBT people (or LGBT people around the world — at least in English). I’m personally not aware of many beyond the historical novels of Sarah Waters and Emma Donoghue, but I’m sure there are others.
The term “lesbian,” for instance, as meaning a gay woman, didn’t come into English usage until the late 19th century, I believe. So “LGBT” identities are particularly modern ones, as well. In the past, being queer was a very different kind of experience.
I haven’t read Between Mom and Jo, but I personally liked Far From Xanadu even more than Keeping You a Secret. Probably because FFX is about a butch girl, which is so rarely seen in fiction, YA or adult.