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A review by leonidskies
Asexuality in Young Adult Fiction by Noah O'Connor
informative
fast-paced
3.25
I think, on the most part, this is good scholarship, and it's definitely worth reading if you're at all interested in asexuality in YA literature (or the question of representation in fiction at all - this has good stuff that can be applied across the board, and communicates it clearly).
However, I had two issues with it that dampened my impression overall: the approach claimed to be empirical in nature, but I was unclear on what constituted the judgement of supporting or subverting the tropes in question, which made it hard to get behind the moral judgements the author made about the tropes. I simply disagree that asexual representation that does something other than wholeheartedly rejecting what is referred to here as Asexual Exile is 'bad representation'. I think there's room for all kinds of asexual representation - something the author states elsewhere in the book - and that some readers will feel empowered more by books that represent their experience or feelings as opposed to an 'ideal' scenario, and I absolutely disagree with the idea that this potentially resonant representation is not only harmful but actively contributes to queer suicide. Both myself and the author are asexual, so obviously there's a lot of room for agreement/disagreement on this - I just happen to disagree!
My disagreement here looks large (I just wanted to be clear!) but I still absolutely recommend this to anyone who's interested in these topics. It's a good tool for thinking about these things, and it certainly had me thinking a lot.
However, I had two issues with it that dampened my impression overall: the approach claimed to be empirical in nature, but I was unclear on what constituted the judgement of supporting or subverting the tropes in question, which made it hard to get behind the moral judgements the author made about the tropes. I simply disagree that asexual representation that does something other than wholeheartedly rejecting what is referred to here as Asexual Exile is 'bad representation'. I think there's room for all kinds of asexual representation - something the author states elsewhere in the book - and that some readers will feel empowered more by books that represent their experience or feelings as opposed to an 'ideal' scenario, and I absolutely disagree with the idea that this potentially resonant representation is not only harmful but actively contributes to queer suicide. Both myself and the author are asexual, so obviously there's a lot of room for agreement/disagreement on this - I just happen to disagree!
My disagreement here looks large (I just wanted to be clear!) but I still absolutely recommend this to anyone who's interested in these topics. It's a good tool for thinking about these things, and it certainly had me thinking a lot.