Content Warning: The following essay deals in detail with cisnormative notions of gender and gender roles, and the sexism that goes along with it. It is heavily critical of this content, but if this subject upsets you, I suggest you read something else. There’s also lighthearted mention of drugs.
In Defense of Trashy Romance, by Gail
When I was younger, I had trouble reading English, despite being a fluent speaker. I was raised in a bilingual household; these things happen. At seventh grade, I was reading at tenth grade level Hebrew, but only about fifth grade level English. The year previously, as a Bat Mitzvah gift, I’d been given the entirety of the Lord of the Rings (a family tradition), and I struggled through every page. It’s not only that I wasn’t a great reader in English, but also that I was just that much better in Hebrew – it frustrated me that I was so slow that it took me about four times longer to get through a page in English than it did for me to get through a page in Hebrew.
Then the first day of Eighth grade came along.
I had already made a deal with my friend to sit next to him on the first day, but of course, fate intervened. Our teacher decided she was going to give us assigned seating, and I was sat next to the new girl.
That was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. Continue reading “In Defense of Trashy Romance” →
Guest Post | Kathryn Troy
Northern Plunder 