I love the fact that more and more YA novels are becoming unapologetically feminist, and that literature is speaking up about rape culture and the sexism that is ingrained in everything (including, horrifically enough) the public schooling system. Why do guys get to wear t-shirts with obscene quotes on them, and harass girls in the hallways, while girls are getting pulled out of class for their tank tops? Why is it that the football team can yell sexist slogans, and grab girls and rate them based on their appearances, while the principal does nothing to stop it? (At one point he tells the girls that they should ‘take it as a compliment’!)
Well Viv Carter is fed up, and taking inspiration from her mother (who was a 90s Riot Girl) she creates a zine ‘Moxie’ which she distributes around the school calling for change. While she starts off doing it anonymously, a LOT of girls get fired up by it, and soon it seems like Moxie has started a revolution - a revolution for girls who are sick of being shamed, or groped, or raped, or pushed to the side. This movement causes girls that would have never talked to each other in the past to be friends and to stick up for one another. They even do bake sales so the girls’ soccer team can have new uniforms. The idea of girls coming together as friends and not being jealous or petty is fantastic!
There are so many other aspects to this book that I loved, but I don’t want to spoil the story, or take up too much of your time. So let me just tell you that I LOVED it. It left me with butterflies. It left me hoping that teenage girls (and women everywhere) might consider themselves a Moxie girl and stand up for themselves and others.
Content warning: sexual assault, rape.
Posted by Sas
Catalogue link: Moxie
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