natalie's tumblr and stuff

We can tell youth that they are basically “rapists waiting to happen” (anti-rape initiative), or we can tell them that we know they would intervene if they saw harm happening to someone and we want to help empower them to do that (bystander intervention). The kids jump in with both feet for the latter! It was amazing to see children (and young boys in particular) excited to do this work and engage their creativity with it. Also, studies show that not only do they go on to intervene, but they also do not go on to sexually assault people themselves. Bystander intervention also takes the onus off the person being targeted to deter rape and empowers the collective to do something about it. It answers the question in the room when giggling boys are carrying an unconscious young woman up the stairs at a house party, and people are not sure how to respond and are waiting for “someone” to say or do something.

None of this is intended as criticism. The specific concerns of a young adult audience beget specific literary techniques.

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YA writing is preoccupied with the identity of the lead characters, prior to their actions, social obligations, or personal history. It explores the characters' castes, categories, lineages, and innate powers. The protagonist may challenge or accept these categories, but they will invariably be framed as a social consensus despite being alien to the reader.

YA writing explores worlds of calcified shame, and shame is a secondary antagonist. The fantastical setting is defined by a prior conflict that was only partially resolved: the adults of the story are often veterans of this conflict. The setting has achieved a fragile stasis that codifies a degree of injustice, and enforces secrecy or propaganda concerning the nature of the conflict. The protagonist acts as the representative of a new generation that provides solutions to this dilemma.

YA protagonists are righteous. Their suffering is in most respects unfair or unjust, and moral clarity is a nearly universal factor in driving the plot forward. Changes in loyalty are precipitated by new information, especially about the moral depravity of governing bodies. Character development is established through a period of grueling physical or social exile, in which protagonists learn the virtue of persistence.

YA writing styles are straightforward. Sentences are simple without being sparse, while events are described literally and cinematically. Pacing and tropes are typically a pastiche of romance, murder mystery, and fantasy/sci-fi genres. They avoid challenging the reader at the level of structure or prose.

YA narratives are epics. Stakes rise from the personal to the universal over the course of the narrative. The protagonist will establish a circle of friends, and earn the attention of a powerful general or sage who will endow them with a grand destiny. Ultimately, characters end governments, determine the fate of wars, and ignite revolutions.

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So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

This page from one of my history books looks like a lesbian utopia.

"No I'm a good person" why? Because you've gotten lucky and not seen propaganda yet that perfectly hit your buttons? Because you had people to correct you when you fucked up? Idk man I don't think we're all so different from the bad people. We're all just people.

Reminding ourselves of our shared humanity with terrible people does NOT serve to justify their actions. It serves to remind us that the seeds of what happened to them could get into us as well, or might already have. It reminds us to be vigilant and interrogate the hatred inside us.

If you convince yourself that you're just an Inherently Good Person who would never believe hateful things well. Now any little hateful thing that makes its way inside you undetected is never going to be interrogated. It will be left to grow undisturbed.