Triggering and YA fiction (as handled by a feminist magazine with an unapologetically edgy name)

I must say, I'm not familiar with the term 'triggering.' I sort of get where
they're going with it, but it seems that if your magazine is named what it
is to begin with, I'm not sure you have a leg to stand on when it comes to
moral high ground with regard to language for YA readers.

There's a concise summary
here<http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/02/01/how-to-piss-off-a-bunch-of-ya-authors/>,
followed by the actual thread-in-process
here<http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-100-young-adult-books-for-the-feminist-reader>.
(Links added for the Pine-disabled among  us.) <gd&r>

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2011/02/01/how-to-piss-off-a-bunch-of-ya-authors/
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-100-young-adult-books-for-the-feminist-reader

> How to Piss Off a Bunch of YA Authors
>
> *It’s easy, really:*
>
> *1.* As a feminist magazine, create a list of “100 Young Adult Books for
> the Feminist Reader,” as *Bitch* magazine recently did.<http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-100-young-adult-books-for-the-feminist-reader>
>
> *2.* Include Margo Lanagan’s really fabulous book *Tender Morsels*<http://www.amazon.com/Tender-Morsels-Margo-Lanagan/dp/0375848118>on the list.
>
> *3.* When someone complains in the comments to the list that Tender and a
> couple of other books are “triggering,” remove them from the list<http://bitchmagazine.org/post/from-the-library-100-young-adult-books-for-the-feminist-reader#comment-46018>
> .
>
> *4. *Sit back and watch as a number of high profile, award-winning and/or
> bestselling YA authors, including Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier,
> Maureen Johnson and Ellen Kages hit the roof and show up in the comments to
> demand their own books be removed from the list as well.
>
> Maureen Johnson’s comment encapsulates the issue:
>
> I have been incredibly disheartened to see your process for removing books.
> It mirrors EXACTLY the process by which book banners remove books from
> schools and libraries–namely, one person makes a comment, no one actually
> checks, book gets yanked…
>
> [P]lease remember that young feminists are looking up to you. When they see
> you so easily intimidated, so easily swayed, so eager to make concessions .
> . . it sets exactly the wrong example.
>
> What do I think? That *Tender Morsels* is a very good book, one that I
> have in my own library, and one that I’ll be happy to have my daughter read.
> Along with the books of Scott, Justine, Maureen and Ellen.
>


Johne Cook
| http://raygunrevival.com | http://authorculture.blogspot.com |

*“I am not responsible for actions of the imaginary version of me you have
inside your head.”
Attributed to Teresa Nielsen Hayden*

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