posted in justira and I have been working on a co-review for The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks for a few months now. We’ve discovered it was a pretty epic undertaking. We’ve decided that E. Lockhart is either a genius, crazy, or both. This book has shaken my world.
I was thrilled when Frankie got the NBA nod, ecstatic when the Printz chose it as a honor book, excited that now more people would read it and love it and cheer for YA handling a pertinent topic. After all, there are tons of female book bloggers. Guys, I do not know how to communicate how much I loved the idea of the book blogging community seeing Frankie and seeing the issue of institutionalized sexism handled so thoughtfully.
So excited that my heart is breaking by watching so many reviews miss the fucking point. I’ve seen people talk about the book and totally ignore the feminism aspect except to insult it. I’ve seen people talk about the book and deride Frankie for her choices, for being too demanding and too loud, for being nosy and silly. I’ve seen Frankie as a character dismissed for her sex, for her choices, for her age. I’ve seen people say, actually STATE: “this book is pointless. Sexism isn’t a problem anymore.”
When people who read this book brush it off like so much garbage, a bad book that’s not saying anything worth paying attention to, a bad book with unlikable characters because oh no, they act like kids just finding their way I get pissed. When people complain about the feminism in the book like being a feminist is a dirty thing? I go way beyond pissed. I’m a goddamn feminist and it’s not a bad thing or a dirty thing or something worthy of ridicule or insult and I swear the next review I see where someone equates feminism with something you would find in the gutter I will say some really nasty things. I want to shake people who make these hugely ignorant statements not just because they can’t think critically about their reading, but because in the dismissal of the subject matter of a book, I, as a woman and feminist with concerns about equality, am also dismissed. I am VIOLENT over this, violently angry and disappointed in those that continue to buy into The Patriarchy’s™ bullshit. I want to stand somewhere and scream I am so frustrated. You don’t have to work for equality to make an effort not to use sexist language or insult people who think sexism is a problem. That’s hard, though. That’s asking too much for people not to be offensive jerks.
How hilarious that in so many reviews about a girl trying to find her way in a sexist world, so many people respond to said book with sexism and sexist language. HILARIOUS. I’m laughing so hard right now. So hard.
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