Art by the amazing Simini Blocker
I consider myself a demonstrated advocate of Diversity in YA. I help run the We Need Diverse Books Twitter chats, and I started the YA Diversity Book Club with three friends to make sure that our regular readers are able to get more recommendations for books that feature diverse themes. But today I want to talk about a different kind of diversity that I think is really important: for big girls to see themselves adequately represented in YA books.
I admit that I have basically been fat since adolescence. I’ve always been able to buy clothes off the rack, but at 16, I was a size 9/10 or 11/12 (who else remembers those weird slash sizes that exist in the Juniors’ Section) among a sea of tanned and beautiful girls (I grew up in Miami) who were so thin they obsessed over their thigh gap before there was even a name for it. Clearly, I had low self esteem about my weight. I actually believed no man would ever find me attractive, and that I was destined for a life of “celibacy and spinsterhood” (I obviously don’t think of single women that way now, but as a smart but nonetheless naive teen, I believed this lie my mother and the media made be believe).
I resigned myself to the idea that no one would fall for me at first sight, so I figured maybe — If I was extremely lucky — I’d end up with someone who truly got to know me and could look past my weight — who thought I was awesome. But one day in 9th grade even that idea was shot to hell, because a girl told me she knew someone “liked” me (this was a lie; she was just being cruel), and a boy I considered a good friend overheard her and thought it was his civic duty to tell me: “You’re such a great friend, but you know no one would ever like you that way, right? I mean like you as a friend, yeah, but not ‘like, like’ you”
Reading Kaye Toal’s piece about Eleanor in Rainbow Rowell’s ELEANOR & PARK really resonated with me. But the BuzzFeed column also made me sad, because as singularly awesome as Eleanor is, she’s one character in one book. In most YA books there are girls who worry about their flat breasts and wide hips or their lack of muscles or their overly prominent muscles, but almost all of them fall within the boundaries of ideal weight.
As The Curvy Nerd said about YA heroines, the vast, vast majority of female protagonists or even strong supporting characters, are the following:
diminutive/short/petite
dainty
feminine
delicate
thin/of normative (ie: not fat) size
beautiful (like, to the point of every person in the book remarking on it, repeatedly)
unusual (but beautiful).
Aside from Eleanor, I can’t think of more than half a dozen YA protagonists who are “of size” or even slightly overweight. A recent, refreshing addition is Gabi from Isabel Quintero’s Morris Award-winning debut, GABI, A GIRL IN PIECES. Ann in 45 POUNDS struggles to lose weight before her aunt’s upcoming wedding. Ever in SKINNY is morbidly obese and wants gastric-bypass surgery. I know Elisa in Rae Carson’s THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS trilogy is large and loves to eat (and to describe her meals), but then…. crickets. I’m focusing on girls, but of course the same can be said about the guys in YA.
For now, I’ll take, at the very least, a YA girl who is tall, strong and athletic instead of super petite, but I hope that in the future we see more big girls in YA who are neither obsessed with food nor dieting their way to happiness and romance. Sometimes, like Eleanor, the big girl will find that amazing guy who loves them as-is. I know I did.
I had Ann from 45 Pounds and Elisa and that’s ALL I can think about off the top of my head. I feel like there HAVE to be more but I really can’t think of any yet!
RIGHT? I mean I guess “Mobe” (the guy protagonist) from “Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes,” but that’s a guy. And Tiny Cooper too, but I haven’t read Will Grayson, only heard about the character.
You’re right- there’s definitely room for improvement for size representation. Maybe The DUFF? GABI is outstanding. Great post, Sandie!
Yes, but she seemed just relatively “fat” not truly big, if that makes any sense. Like she was just less attractive than her friends and bigger than her size-2 besties (if I recall correctly).
One YA girl that I immediately thought of was Meredith from Anna and the French kiss. She was athletic and tall and I think Anna described her as big but not in a bad way or something to that effect. She didn’t seem uncomfortable with her body at all either. Although we wouldn’t really know that since Meredith’s personal life was never really talked about. It would be so refreshing to read a book with a main character who was different from the usual “pretty and skinny” girl.
Thanks for chiming in! I loved Meredith, and you’re right — she was strong and tall and broad/athletic. Although I think she didn’t like the fact that she was taller than St. Clair, because she had a crush on him (if I’m recalling correctly). While I don’t think that body type is the same as being overweight, it’s still so rare. One other tall and strong/athletic character is in Kasie West’s ON THE FENCE — Charlie. But again, she’s more Amazonian than what we’d think of as a “big” girl.
Great post! I haven’t read the Buzzfeed article you linked (but opened it so I could), but yeah… sometimes you want a MC who isn’t your typical character who is described as one of those words you listed. Sometimes you want a MC who may be heavier, but is her own person, who is just as strong as any other character.
Something I’ve often thought about is when authors who are heavier write characters who embody all these “perfect” features. The first one that comes to mind is the character Sookie Stackhouse, who describes herself in the books as blonde, big boobs, tan legs, etc. Then I saw what Charlaine Harris looked like and it made me think do writers sometimes write the characters they WANT themselves to be?
Maybe that isn’t the BEST example because I don’t know if Ms. Harris wants to look like Sookie Stackhouse, but I know for me, personally, I have written characters who look like I wish I had looked as a teen or how I wish I looked now. Maybe not completely different, but slimmer, better body, better skin and hair.
You mentioned a couple of instances from growing up when you felt bad about your body/weight. Lord knows I felt/experienced all those things too growing up. So much so that even to this DAY I still think I’m “too heavy to be loved” (which is ridiculous because I’m super loveable). But in my own personal reflection when writing, I don’t WANT to write about that girl who was so insecure about her weight or being accepted by others because of her weight. I don’t think I’m ready to face that demon just yet.
Moving on bc I am getting a little teary… What I would like to see, and maybe this is silly example, are characters who are like Martha Cox (KayCee Stroh) from High School Musical. She was a bigger girl, but she was confident in herself and truly shone. We all have our insecurities and I think to have a plus sized character w/out them isn’t very realistic, but to have one that doesn’t let them dominate her life is what I would like to see more of.
Sorry for the extra long comment! Love that you wrote about this! 🙂
Thanks for this amazing comment. I am so glad you came by, because I remember you writing about Elisa and discussing the issue on your blog a while back. I also am surprised when I meet a voluptuous author and realize none of her characters is anything but super thin. I mean, it’s not like characters should be just like their creators, far from it. But, it would be nice if plus-sized authors had at least one kick-ass chubby character!