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January 23, 2017 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Here We Are: Feminism & Social Justice In Action by Kelly Jensen (#SJYALit: Social Justice in YA Lit)

January 23, 2017 by Karen Jensen, MLS   8 comments

Tomorrow, Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen is released out into the world. This week, as part of our Social Justice in YA Lit Project, we will have a new piece about this book each day. We’re also doing a t-shirt giveaway (see below!). It’s exciting to see this book launch just days after somewhere around 3 million people marched in protests organized and promoted by women around the world. Today, we are honored to have Kelly Jensen here to talk with us about how and why this book came about.

sjyalit

I believe feminism and, by extension, social justice are more than words we share. They’re about actions, too.

hereweare

Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World began with a tweet. There’s been rich conversation online about feminism for a long time, and because of how social media allows those whose voices have been marginalized to have a space to share, the importance of intersectionality became more and more a conscious part of my personal feminism. It wasn’t new to me. I’d worked with people — teenagers, especially — of all shapes and colors and backgrounds since I started my career in librarianship. But reading and listening to the words coming from voices unlike mine made something inside me click.

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I tweeted about my dream to make an anthology of feminist essays for teens and the responses to that tweet were incredible. That tweet stream is a riot to read now; I didn’t know the hows or the ways to make it happen. One person who tweeted in response ended up being part of the anthology; another who tweeted sarcastically in response made me laugh because of course, girls are angry and “what about the boys?” A couple of responses were from women who, just a few months later, would become trustworthy allies standing with me, speaking out against blatant sexism in the YA world.

But the response you don’t see is the one that made my dream a reality.

herewearereviews

Shortly after tweeting, I was asked to be in touch with Elise Howard at Algonquin Young Readers and she, along with Krestyna Lypen, became my editors for this anthology. We began talking about what it could look like and feel like, what sorts of stories could be told, the kind of art that could be included in a project like this. We were all in agreement that making this happen needed to happen.

Putting this collection together meant thinking long and hard about the stories that not only should be told, but also the ones that many might not necessarily connect with “feminism.” It was imperative to include not just young adult authors — many of whom YA readers would be familiar with — but to also broaden the circle and bring in varied voices outside of the YA and writing community. Because as much as social media has allowed many to raise their voices and be heard, it’s also an echo chamber. Yelling into the void to see the same trends play out again and again becomes repetitive and boring and ineffective.

My last library job, the one where I’d been the most professionally prepared, was the one that opened my eyes and my mind the most. I worked in a poor, semi-urban community, and it wasn’t unusual for me to be the only white person in a program with teens. It wasn’t unusual for me to see some of the kids coming and asking for more and more food at events not because they were greedy, but because it might be the only thing they ate until free meals at school the next day. I’ll never forget an event where a young girl shared, with a room full of teens and adults, a poem she wrote about her friend who’d committed suicide the day before.

The weight of these things sat in my mind as I thought about the reader for Here We Are. It would be for these teens. I thought about the teens I worked with in the library every time I reached out to a potential contributor. I thought about the teens I worked with in the library each time I edited an essay. I thought about the teens I worked with in the library each time I considered how I wanted the anthology to come together.

It’s easy to take for granted that in an “everything’s online” world, there are huge swaths of the population that don’t regularly, if ever, access the internet beyond what’s necessary for their survival. I saw those teens in libraries. I watched as they figured out stealth ways to get extra time each day to do something or begged to let me break the policy on having their time extended “just this once” so they could finish a homework project (or play a game — it wasn’t my job to judge).

These same teens deserve to see themselves and know that they, too, are seen.

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Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World is my attempt at offering something for young readers who haven’t seen their stories told or who don’t know what feminism is or how it might benefit them. It’s my attempt to take the rich conversations so many of us see and engage with day-to-day out of the digital world and into a format that teens can pick up at the library or in a bookstore. It’s my attempt to show them that they are seen, that their stories matter, and that others are listening. That they have allies and advocates in the world around them who, like them, come in all shapes and sizes and colors and genders and sexualities and from all backgrounds and experiences.

The 44 pieces in this book are actions. They are actions of love. They are actions of seeing. They are acts of social justice. And every action is an invitation to one of the most life-changing parties around: feminism.

Meet Kelly Jensen

kellyjensen

Kelly Jensen is a former librarian-turned-editor for Book Riot and Stacked. She’s author of It Happens: A Guide to Contemporary Realistic Fiction for the YA Reader. She loves black licorice and debating genre. Follow her on Twitter @veronikellymars.

WIN A TSHIRT!

herewearetshirt1

U.S. residents can do the Rafflecopter thingy below by Saturday, January 28th at Midnight and we will select a winner. Shirts will be mailed out by Algonquin. Special thank you to Algonquin for the shirt giveaway.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

January 24th 2017 by Algonquin BFYR

Filed under: #SJYALit

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FeminismHere We AreKelly Jensen

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anna Gray says

    January 23, 2017 at 11:19 am

    This article only made me more excited to read this book. I can’t wait until my copy comes in on hold.

  2. Ticket to Century 22 says

    January 23, 2017 at 1:07 pm

    Congratulations on your new book. How does it handle the issue of the right to choose versus the right of a society to regulate pregnancy termination? This is a very relevant issue since there are still more than 600,000 teen pregnancies every year in America. 20% of them end in abortions. Does the book embrace those young feminists who believe that abortion, particularly those in the second or third trimester where there is no report of rape or to save the life of the mother, should be against the law as a matter of public policy, for the preservation of human life? This is highly relevant in my school community. Is there room for being a pro-life feminist in this book? There was unfortunately no such room in the marches over the weekend, so I’m worried.

    • kelly says

      January 23, 2017 at 4:03 pm

      There’s no such thing as “pro-life feminism.” Feminism, by definition, is pro-choice. It’s pro-choice in allowing women who need to terminate pregnancies to make that choice, insomuch as it’s also pro-choice in allowing women who choose not to have abortions to make that choice as well. To consider “pro-life” a feminist stance is to ignore than the entire purpose of choice is just that — choice. No pro-choice feminist is pro-abortion and it’s a dangerous assumption to suggest or believe anything of the matter.

      This is an issue I feel strongly about and won’t back down about. It’s every woman’s choice what she does with her body and it’s no one else’s business. Because a baby brought into the world doesn’t get to make a choice about their circumstances, either — just because they’re born doesn’t mean they will escape poverty, abuse, addiction, or other issues social justice advocates care deeply about.

      And no, this book isn’t about that anyway. It’s about feminism. About choice. And about what it means to advocate for the rights of all humans. Not just some.

      • Ticket to Century 22 says

        January 24, 2017 at 12:42 pm

        Wow. Let me make sure I understand. Here we are, feminists with you on 95% of issues, but who favor stricter regulation of abortion in some circumstances like the third trimester because of moral concerns. And we we are willing to stand with you, an absolutely pro-choice under all circumstances feminist, under the broad banner of feminism.

        But you reject us outright as being non-feminists.

        No wonder so many young people don’t want anything to do with the feminist identifier.

  3. Marissa T. says

    January 23, 2017 at 5:53 pm

    I am so excited to read this book!! I’ve ordered two copies for my library’s collection & I can’t wait to share it with my teens!

  4. Heather Sebastian says

    January 24, 2017 at 10:59 am

    So obsessed with this post! Can’t wait to read it, and crossing my fingers and toes I win! Thanks!
    xo

  5. KATIE Mitchell says

    January 25, 2017 at 3:27 pm

    I can’t wait to get my hands on this.

Trackbacks

  1. This Week Around The Web says:
    January 27, 2017 at 1:01 am

    […] post pre-Thursday, not all are up yet, so I’ll share the rest next week. But you can read my take on how I’m an activist, Alida Nugent on using humor to do good work, and Brandy Colbert on finding her voice in feminism […]

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