Now that the dust is settling after the US elections, I’d just like to opine a bit on the TikTok nonsense about books not being political. (And right up front, I voted for Kamala Harris, so there’s no question.)
Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are enshrined in the Bill of Rights. The right to express yourself, write something down, and have it available for other people to read is inherently political. Yes, that includes even silly little romance and fantasy novels.
Historically, slaves weren’t taught to read. Girls weren’t taught to read, or they were taught just enough to help manage the house or read the Bible. Why? So they wouldn’t get ideas in their heads. People with their own ideas are less complacent, less dependent.
Today, women reading fiction that centers on their thoughts, desires, and fantasies is absolutely political, no matter who you voted for. Women reading anything by BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+ authors is revolutionary in the grand scheme of history.
Politics is about power. If knowledge is power, then thinking about power, influence, who holds power, who doesn’t have power becomes inherently political. Offering access to ideas is offering someone power. Increasing access and literacy–political. Libraries are political, as are independent publishers and authors, small bookstores, and e-readers. So yes, even Shadow Daddies who love weak human girlies are POLITICAL.
And we need to embrace that, especially in a time when we’re being gaslit that books aren’t political, when 54% of adults in the US read below a 6th grade level, and +20% are functionally illiterate.
So, read a book, any book. (Also, I’d like to apologize for my ancestors who came over on the Mayflower. They were a bunch of colonizing assholes who would have been in the front row of a good book burning.) Know better, do better!
~ Jill Jenkins