I’m kind of friends (as in I don’t know her that well, but we’ve met and talked at some length), with this girl who wrote a book called “My Sisters' Voices: Teenage Girls of Color Speak Out.”
Apparently Iris was reading a book that discussed the position and perspective of teenage girls through a series of essays written by young women, and while she liked it, it didn’t really identify with her struggle, as a young person of color. So she collected the essays for that book and published it, and there it is.
Which got me thinking, you know, there really should be something in a similar vein written by/about young gay men, or at least young male identifying people who are a bit alienated from the straight/narrow/binary world. On the one hand, it would be really easy for guys to lie down and play the victim, and I would fear that a project like this would come off as whiny, self centered, and overly depressive. On the other hand, young men need to be empowered to break out of the straight/narrow/binary system. I’d also be worried that it would get too intellectual, because guys have a tendency to do that: ntellectualize the position to the point of oblivion, and ignore or omit the emotional overtones, which could really hurt the overall impact of such a project.
What do you all think? Leave a comment, or drop me a line. Thanks!