11 Banned Books by Women to Read Right Now

KOLKATA, INDIA – 2015/12/14: Indian gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders and LGBT activists participated in the Rainbow Pride Walk from Shayambazar to Moulali on Sunday. (Photo by Saikat Paul/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

7.) Revolutionary Voices, Amy Sonnie (editor)

What it’s about

This nonfiction collection of essays, edited by Amy Sonnie, focuses on the voices of queer American youth. Revolutionary Voices focuses specifically on radical queer youth and stories that are frequently disregarded (including those of transgender, disabled, and poor teenagers, as well as youth of color).

Why it was banned or challenged

Revolutionary Voices was pulled from the high school library of Mount Holly, New Jersey. A nearby resident, Beverly Marinelli, wrote that the book is “pervasively vulgar, obscene, and inappropriate”. A review committee apparently agreed with Marinelli, and took the book out of circulation.

A librarian in Burlington County, New Jersey sent an email to colleagues, where she wrote that copies of Revolutionary Voices should “never, ever get back into [circulation]… Copies need to totally disappear”. The anthology had been quietly removed from library shelves, without input from community members or a review committee.

Why you should read it

How often do you truly hear the words of young LGBTQ+ people? How often do queer teenagers get to see something of themselves reflected in their libraries and communities? Representation is vital to providing a sense of community as well as a simultaneous sense of belonging and individuality. Furthermore, it’s important to represent the wide spectrum of experiences available to queer youth, even if such experiences may be traumatic or “vulgar”. To do any less would be to disrespect the stories contained in Revolutionary Voices.