Representations of Trans* Youth in Young Adult Literature: A Report and a Suggestion

Four years ago, I wrote my final paper, The Forgotten T, for a New York University (NYU) graduate course young adult literature. While the paper itself was largely forgettable, the message I was trying to impress upon my audience was that the study of LGBT young adult literature, most books published at that time only focused on the first three letters. In their 2004 article, Recent Lesbian/Gay/ Bisexual/Transgender Fiction for Teens: Are Canadian Public Libraries Providing Adequate Collections.? Michelle Hilton Boon and Vivian Howard state, of the 35 titles published between 1998 and 2002 with LGBT content in the course of this study we did not become aware of any YA novels published [...] that depicted a character. (2) Similarly, their seminal review of LGBT YA literature, The Heart Has Its Reasons: Young Adult Literature with Gay/Lesbian/Queer Content, 1969-2004, Michael Cart and Christine Jenkins name only seven titles with trans* inclusive content, four of which are short stories and part of a larger collection. This of course, indicates that at the time (2004) there was simply very little available. While these texts were published 2004, unfortunately this invisibility of trans* characters YA literature is still largely true. In a more recent article, Michael Cart laments the continued lack oft/ties, less than half a dozen that contain trans*-oriented content, but happily notes that, even that number is gradually growing. (3) Young adult literature featuring representations of trans* teenagers is definitely a subgenre, still its infancy. While the past four years publication of these titles has slightly improved, and there have been valuable additions to the field, the number of books being published is still very low, and some of these titles are published by small presses, with little or no marketing, which makes them difficult for library staff, or teens, to locate. The lack of titles does not mean there is a lack of need for these books, both for trans* adolescents and their As librarians we should be doing everything our collective power to include as many of these books as we can our collections. Hopefully that trend of increasing titles will persist as awareness continues to grow about the importance of an open discourse when it comes to the needs of trans* youth. Why is it Important to Include Material That Represents the Experience of Trans* Youth Our Libraries? The 2011 National School Climate Survey implemented by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) found that Transgender students experienced more hostile school climates than their non-transgender peers--80 percent of transgender students reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression. (4) The survey also noted that Compared to other LGBT students, transgender students faced the most hostile school climates. [...] In addition, gender nonconforming students experienced more negative experiences at school compared to students whose gender expression adhered to traditional gender norms. [...] 58.7 percent of gender nonconforming students experienced verbal harassment the past year because of their gender expression, compared to 29.0 percent of their peers. (5) These statistics are very disturbing. When a majority of trans* youth are afraid to go to school because of how they will be treated, it is our responsibility as librarians to seek out effective solutions. In her keynote address at the 2012 Massachusetts Library Association Teen Summit, Ellen Wittlinger, author of Parrotfish, discussed how, writing her novel--which tells the story of Grady, a transgender teenage boy--her wish was to write books that not only showed excellent role models for gay youth but also introduced straight youth to their LGBTQ She wanted to normalize homosexuality and transexuality and make gender and sexual orientation just two of the many ways which we are different from each other. …

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