A review by emeelee
Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real about Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America by Amy Reed, Julie Murphy

4.0

Our experiences matter. Our voices matter. And the deafening silence that protects those who have violated us must be broken. (131)

This anthology is such an important gathering of voices and I'm so glad that it exists. It isn't perfect by any means, and some of the essays are better written than others. But this book is about empowering women to speak up about their own experiences, and no one's experience is inconsequential. What might not speak to one person might be crucial representation for someone else. Amy Reed did an excellent job of gathering ethnically, religiously, and sexually diverse writers.

Never dismiss your own perspectives. Never question the validity of life in the margins. (50)

Some quick improvements to Our Stories, Our Voices would have been inclusion of trans and nonbinary voices, which the editor Amy Reed acknowledges in her introduction. Acknowledging it doesn't fix the problem, however. I also question the inclusion of one of the essays in particular, which was by a big name but non-marginalized author (with a questionable history of representing diverse experiences) which was simply not well-written besides. Having this essay swapped with one written by a non-cis author would have gone a long ways towards perfecting this collection. I also wish so many of these essays didn't focus on Trump's election specifically-- not that this isn't an timely topic, but it will date the book and it also gives off the impression that the current administration is causing a lot of America's current troubles, rather than being a symptom of the larger, ongoing problems. Most of my favorite essays were about more encompassing issues and barely mentioned Trump, if at all.

These boys are a symptom of a much bigger problem, of a society that does not teach its boys to truly understand what consent is. [...]I forgive those boys now, so many years later. But I do not forgive the society that created them. (29)

Speaking of, my favorite essays from this collection were (roughly in order):

➼ "Myth Making: In the Wake of Hardship" by Somaiya Daud, about seeking and creating non-white representation in fantasy literature, about Islamophobia in the wake of 9/11, about the varied and overlapping and contradictory mess of identities inside us all, and about having hope for the future rather than longing for nostalgic "greater times" past.
➼ "Unexpected Pursuits: Embracing My Idigeneity & Creativity" by Christine Day, about pursuing passions rather than expectations and connecting to Native heritage.
➼ "In Our Genes" by Hannah Moskowitz, about standing on the shoulders of past activists, learning to be better than our foremothers, and teaching the next generation to better than us.
➼ "Trumps and Trunchbulls" by Alexandra Duncan, about gaslighting and the invisible invalidations women face in (Christian) American culture.
➼ "Dreams Deferred and Other Explosions" by Ilene Wong (I.W.) Gregorio, about racism, subverting stereotypes, and what living as a "model minority" in America is like.
➼ "What I've Learned About Silence" by Amber Smith, about how abuse and shame thrive in silence, and about "victim" being just as important and relevant a term as "survivor."
➼ "Fat and Loud" by Julie Murphy, about politics being forcibly thrust upon her by virtue of merely existing in her body, and about the limitations we place on what fat girls are allowed to be/do/feel.
➼ "Finding My Feminism" by Amy Reed, about the fact that coercion isn't consent, about victim-blaming and the way rape culture thrives in silence.

[O]ne thing I have learned beyond all doubt is that silence is the driving force behind ... so much of the pain and ugliness and disconnection in our world today. And this is no accident. This happens specifically because our voices are the most powerful thing we have, and that is why others will immediately and frantically try to take our voices away by any means possible. [...]Change happens when we speak up and when we listen, when we have empathy and compassion, when we stand up and empower ourselves and others. (268-9)

These essays are brave, and raw, and personal, and political. They break the cone of silence around certain topics that keep these experiences shrouded in secrecy and shame. They speak truth about the lives of marginalized people who are often presented as caricatures if they're represented at all. In short, while not a perfect collection, Our Stories, Our Voices is nonetheless an extremely important one.

No single one of us is going to save the world. But all of us might. (101)