{"id":155,"date":"2017-02-07T09:06:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T09:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=155"},"modified":"2018-11-20T05:44:52","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T05:44:52","slug":"turning-pages-reads-here-we-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/?p=155","title":{"rendered":"Turning Pages Reads: HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD, edited by KELLY JENSEN"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!<\/h3>\n

It took me a while to get to this review, not because I didn’t read the book, but because I didn’t want to finish<\/i> it. This anthology took forever to read, as I delayed the ending, but I knew it didn’t matter – because I will be reading some of these essays and cartoons and lists gain and again.<\/p>\n

Synopsis<\/b><\/i>: To me, this book is about identity, and how we live it out in our individual ways. The book is divided into Beginning the Journey, Bodies & Minds, Gender & Sexuality, Pop Culture, Relationships, Confidence & Ambition,<\/b> and finally concludes with Go Your Own Way<\/b>, which touches on the many ways people can be<\/i> feminists. Each section has between 8 – 15 essays, cartoons, lists, glossaries, illustrations, songs, or doodles on the subject, written by people of various identities and abilities. Readers feel welcomed into the book from any direction. I started out reading from the front cover, and then flipped to a cartoon, circled back to another essay, and then read specific essays on various topics after that. Eventually, I made my way through everything.
\n<\/a>Observations<\/b><\/i>: Feminism is a concept which, when one is familiar with a world which lacks intersectionality, one does not necessarily expect to find oneself. To be blunt: I didn’t really think this book was for me. Full disclosure: I’ve met and quite like the editor, I’ve met some of the poets and artists and essayists, but… Feminism. It’s not an identity I’ve had time to explore.<\/p>\n

As a woman of color, feminism seemed like unto yoga: something a lot of white women get into seriously and give side-eye at other people for not quite belonging. As a person raised in faith and wrestling with relating a tradition-bound religious patriarchy to an allegedly loving and equality creating Divinity, feminism seemed like something both too deep and too complicated to add to the mix. And yet: shouldn’t anyone who believes in human equality be feminist? I realized I wasn’t quite sure anymore what feminism was supposed to be… and I thought this book would be perfect since it’s aimed at teens, and I know that books for younger readers often help adult readers get a grip on a concept. I sat down and tried to read with an open mind.<\/p>\n

Almost at once, I found a few favorite pieces which spoke to my heart, among them Lisa Prince’s So I Guess This Is Growing Up<\/i>, about her struggles with being a misogynist to becoming feminist; Kaye Mirza’s Faith and the Feminist<\/i> (“As long as I practice my faith, to many, I am nothing but a secondhand feminist.”); the beautifully drawn, The Princess and the Witch<\/i> by Wendy Xu; Ashley Hope P\u00e9rez’s The “Nice Girl” Feminist<\/i>, and 5 Tips for “Nice Girl” Feminists<\/i>. It was like seeing a pair of signal flags waving from the runway saying, “Your Spot Right Here.” There’s this feeling of, “Oh! Huh,” when you find your tribe and didn’t expect it. <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/b><\/i>: This book is something which should simply be experienced. I’m not big on gushing, especially about books done by friends. I try to be objective and restrained. But, I just think this book is worth buying – for anyone. For everyone. I can’t be more objective than that. The little arrows on the front that say “Here We Are” are for you, too. You’re Here. We all are – and it’s a surprise and a hopeful little blessing.
\n<\/p>\n

I purchased my copy of this book. You can find HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD<\/i><\/a> edited by Kelly Jensen, at an online e-tailer, or at a real life, independent bookstore near you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to another session of Turning Pages! It took me a while to get to this review, not because I didn’t read the book,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[42,71,54,38,55,57,58,82],"class_list":["post-155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-class-and-identity-in-ya-literature","tag-gender-ya-lit","tag-memoir","tag-mothers-daughters","tag-nonfiction","tag-sexuality-gender","tag-sisters","tag-under-radar-reading-recommendations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9220,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155\/revisions\/9220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingya.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}