Tag: privilege • BookLikes

quote 2014-02-19 01:19

The loss of privilege is not oppression.

– N.K. Jemisin, the awesome science fiction & fantasy authoress

The above tweet is her response to a group of highly influential writers lamenting the rise of criticism regarding sexism and discrimination in speculative publishing. The bestselling older, heterosexual white males with significant platforms to voice their opinions feel marginalized, do they? As Jemisin puts it, the intention of the First Amendment was not about a "guy's right to be a bigoted asshole, essentially unchallenged." Her longer comment on the "SFWA shenanigans" here.

discrimination First Amendment N.K. Jemisin petition privilege science fiction sexism SFWA

quote 2014-01-27 03:00

Chimera Speaks

Next year, I’m going to be conscious, intentional, and critical about the books I choose to buy and read. Because I like measurable goals (and because I think vague “try harder” goals are fairly worthless for me), I’m going to ensure that at least 50% of the books I read next year are written by POC. And I’m going to talk about those books, to rate and review them, to share them with others. …

It is important to learn about and talk about the wider systemic, institutional problems with racism in publishing and society in general. But I cannot be an ally without examining how my own personal choices are reinforcing the oppression I profess to oppose, and then changing those behaviors

Reblogged from Diversity in YA, from 'Kayla Whaley, “On Privilege and (a Lack of) Diversity on My Bookshelves"'

I saw this quote and decided to make a POC (People of Colour ) shelf online and found that I had only read approximately 63/463 books that featured characters from diverse backgrounds as main characters/part of the main cast. I read across genres so my count is not limited to YA books. Although, I did not count the manga or books where there were diverse characters with peripheral functions in plot.

I've been reading more diverse books both in 2013 and 2014 so I hope to continue to diversify my own reading habits for the rest of my life.

diversity new years resolutions privilege reading