The Magic of Love: LGBTQ Characters in YA Fantasy

Jill S. Ratzan, Rutgers SCILSNJLA Annual Conference, Long Branch, NJ

May 1, 2008

Introduction: Cart and Jenkins Cart & Jenkins (2006): The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004

Examined 187 LGBTQ YA titles - 10 are fantasy

Gap: YA LGBTQ texts in speculative genres

Texts Studied Commercially published YA LGBTQ SF novels and short stories

Study attempts to be comprehensive within this scope

Definitions: YA, LGBTQ, fantasy/SF

Texts Excluded Adult or children’s crossover texts

Graphic novels, TV texts, and fan-created texts

Texts whose LGBTQ content is based on fan speculation or author interviews

Criteria set to keep scope manageable

Data

26 texts examined: 16 novels, 10 short stories

Texts include 5 short story collections, 3 series/interconnected novels

Claims

1. YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be contemporary.

2. YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be unmarked for LGBTQ content, or marked in subtle ways.

3. YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to make sexuality differences unremarkable.

Claim 1: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be contemporary.

Earliest publication date: 1989 (Weetzie Bat)7 years after Annie on My Mind

20 years after I'll Get There. It Better be Worth the Trip

Claim 1: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be contemporary.

42% (n=11) published after 2004

27% (n=7) published in 2007Discussion: SF more “advanced” genre?

*note: all figures rounded

Claim 2: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be unmarked/subtly marked.

77% (n=20) of texts not marked in any way that would be apparent to the casual reader (title, cover art, jacket copy) Does the “casual reader” read subject headings?

*Note total of 29, not 26, texts due to inclusion of various Dangerous Angels editions

Claim 2: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be unmarked/subtly marked.

62% (n=18) of texts marked only in ways that require prior knowledge Knowledge of author/editor Knowledge of other texts in series Knowledge of text at hand

•Ambiguous jacket copy (“something different about Thom” - Hero)

Claim 2: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to be unmarked/subtly marked.

Only two texts marked via title or cover art: Boy Meets Boy Am I Blue?: Coming Out From the Silence

Four texts completed unmarked: Dragonhaven Kiesha’ra series (Wolfcry, Wyvernhail) The Will of the Empress

Discussion: reader comfort levels, connecting texts and readers

Claim 3: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to make sexuality differences

unremarkable.

Queer sexuality: a matter of angst, or just there?31% (n=8) angst58% (n=15) just there12% (n=3) combinations

Claim 3: YA LGBTQ SF texts tend to make sexuality differences unremarkable.

Subdivisions of “just there”: Sexuality acknowledged as nonissue No mention of sexuality as issue or nonissue

Focus on relationship, not sexuality, issues

Discussion: suspension of ordinary rules, metaphorical coming-out tales

Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block

1989 publication date, earliest in study

First Dangerous Angels book

“It doesn’t matter one bit, honey-honey” - just there

The Rose and the Beast by Francesca Lia Block and Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

The Rose and the Beast (2000), Kissing the Witch (1997)

Retold retold folk and fairy tales, some with lesbian themes

Highly literary

Hero by Perry Moore 2007 publication date

Highly publicized for gay content, although marked ambiguously (“something different about Thom”)

Am I Blue?: Coming Out From the Silence, ed. Marion Dane Bauer

1994 publication date

Contains two SF stories

One of two texts marked in title and cover art

Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan

2003 publication date

Most-highly marked text in study

Angst character as foil: “I guess I’m still afraid that peoples’ minds can’t open that far” (Wide Awake)

Is it SF?

Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley

2007 publication date

Unmarked Minor character is gay

Of a female friend: “It’s going to take a better man - or woman - than me to tackle her” (non-heteronormative)

The Will of the Empress by Tamora Pierce

Unmarked Major character is lesbian

All three subdivisions of “just there” present

Ironside by Holly Black and Wide Awake by David Levithan

Ironside (2007), Wide Awake (2006)

Metaphorical coming-out tales: coming out as a faerie, as Jewish

Wolfcry and Wyvernhail by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Wolfcry (2006), Wyvernhail (2007)

Unmarked In Wolfcry, lesbianism resolves plot issue, in Wyvernhail, just there

Family tree shows straight and gay couples equally

Future Research Correlations between date and level of markedness, date and “just there”

Additional variables: SF sub-genre, orientations/identities portrayed, major vs. minor characters

Compare YA LGBTQ SF texts to contemporaneous YA LGBTQ realistic fiction texts

Re-add missing texts: TV, comics, fans

Suggestions for Practice

Incorporate YA LGBTQ SF texts into booklists, booktalks, and displaysLGBTQ themed lists and programs

SF themed lists and programs

Works and Images Cited Buffy the Vampire Slayer image copyright Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Cover art copyright various publishers See complete bibliography on handout

Questions? Comments?

Presenter email:jratzan@scils.rutgers.edu

Thank you for attending, and enjoy your day at NJLA!