Hi everyone! Today, I'm going to get a bit more personal than I'm usually confortable with, but this is a post I felt needed to be written, so I'm going to push myself this time. I have always been an advocate of diverse books, and I try to read books with characters of color, of different sexualities, with mental health issues, and so on. When I find books with representation, I promote them, probably even more than those who don't have representation. But it wasn't until very recently that I truly understood why diversity in litterature is so important.
Last summer, I started having serious anxiety. I have been struggling with panic attacks since I was twelve, but last summer, it reached its peak. While I have had quite some time to accept my panic attacks, dealing with anxiety was a whole other ballpark. Not only did I struggle with the heavy anxiety, but also with feeling like there was something wrong with me. I have a pretty good life. I have a supportive mother, I have a few close friends, even though I struggle with social situations, and I had a lot to look forward to. Yet I couldn't pull myself out of the anxiety that was drowning me (cliché, I know, but it's true).
Now that the anxiety has calmed a bit, I am constantly on the look-out for books with mental health representation. I've read about people with OCD, anxiety, and depression, and it has helped me deal with my situation. It's helped me feel less alone. Most importantly, it's helped me see that there's nothing wrong with me. It's not my fault that I'm feeling this way, and I sure shouldn't feel guilty about having anxiety.
As if this wasn't enough, I recently started questioning my sexuality. As a chronic overthinker (not to mention the fact that I still struggle with my anxiety daily), it wasn't easy for me. I started questioning everything in my life so far. Suddenly, I could relate to all those people I read about who struggled with accepting their sexuality. In fact, the fact that I read a lot of diverse books was the reason why I could suddenly put a name to what I have been feeling my whole life. Instead of chalking it up to me being 'weird', 'a late bloomer' or 'painfully shy', I found a whole community of people like me, all thanks to this one book I read.
Not only did books help me figure out that part of me, but they also showed me, before I ever considered I might not be 100% straight and allosexual, that it was okay to be that way. And I know figuring out that I might be demisexual (which is on the ace spectrum, for anyone unfamiliar with the term) would've been a lot more difficult if I hadn't already read about other asexual and demisexual characters.
Reading about characters like you can mean so, so much. For one, it can help teenagers (or even adults) figure themselves out. Like I said, without books, I probably would've gone on thinking I was just weird, not knowing there were people just like me out there. And there are tons of teenagers going through this, struggling with who they are and who they should be, who can't find themselves in books, because there isn't enough representation, and if there is representation, it's not promoted as much as other books.
Not only that, but once you figure out your identity, reading about people like you can reaffirm your own identity and help you accept it. It can show you that it's okay to be different, that it's okay to not fit into the heteronormative, that your experience is valid, no matter if you're black or white, straight or gay, allosexual or asexual, Christian or Muslim, or anything else.
And it's just as important to read about people who aren't like you. Books can help us understand other people in a way very few things can. Right now, empathy and understanding are more important than ever, and reading about people different than you can help you understand them better, as well as erase preconcieved notions and prejudices. For example, right now people are terrified of muslims, because a lot of people associate Islam with IS. I'll be honest: I did too, at first. But I made an effort to learn about Islam, to read and listen to what muslims had to say, and it made me realize how incredibly wrong I was in my assumption. Books could actually work against racism, homophobia, sexism, and so on.
To sum up, there are many reasons to read diversely, and just as important to promote diverse books. Not only can a book help you feel seen and less alone, but it can also help you understand other people, and so work against stereotypes and prejudices.
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