banning "georgia tate"-- an interview with author gigi amateau

i rushed to pick up claiming georgia tate by author gigi amateau (thanks to a discussion with saira rao about the scathing, negative responses to her tell-all judiciary novel chambermaid), already knowing about the controversy surrounding her book. saira had explained that the book, intended for a teen audience, deals with incest, rape and a transvestite, set in the racially charged south. due to negative mainstream press, gigi's book was pulled from borders and other stores (curious, i couldn't find it in several barnes & noble so i ordered it from three lives bookstore).

one wall street journal article described gigi's first book Claiming Georgia Tate as "about a 12-year-old girl whose father pressures her into a sexual relationship." hmm, how's that for sugar coating incest and rape? i read the book in two sittings, emotionally exhausted yet feeling a sense of hope and kindness so lacking in our daily lives. young georgia tate's character represents survival, tolerance and strength in a world that marginalizes us by race, class and sexual orientation. something we should all want to read about.
i wrote to gigi in search of some answers about her book, the media fallout and how georgia tate has affected others... i found out she loves americorps (the domestic peace corps-- i served 10 years ago!) and still has her day job, as a program developer in the non-profit field for elder care & homeless services.

below are some excerpts from our conversation:

on the media: "I do believe that in the mainstream media ... my book and other good books, including Teach Me by R.A. Nelson were wrongly misrepresented as trashy, smutty books of poor literary quality. I also believe that this had an impact on booksellers and readers."

on "reclassifying" georgia's rape: "It outrages me that the rape that occurs in my book has been represented repeatedly as 'sex.' That’s wrong in a BIG way. What occurs in Georgia Tate, is child abuse. It is not consensual, nor pleasurable, nor is it between adults."

on the real message of her book: "I wrote the story to really dig into some ideas that I’m obsessed with: faith, hope, love, and my firm belief that God loves every-freakin’body. But now I’m proud to say it’s an issue book in the following ways: therapists who work with women who have survived sexual assault use Georgia Tate in groups because they say it helps bring women out of their isolation, prosecutors who work in juvenile court prosecuting child abuse cases have told me that this book helps them stay connected to the heart of their work, volunteers in the court appointed special advocates program use the book in their work, and I’ve heard from many readers who have survived trauma that reading this book reminded them of the people in their lives like Tamika, Nana, Leroy, and Granddaddy Tate – the people who saved them."

on the impact of the book's misrepresentation: "I basically wrote a book about God and it’s been blasted as a book about a girl who has sex with her dad. The other day I had an interviewer ask me how I could do this to teen-age readers. Yet, I also was unprepared for the tremendous outpouring of love and joy from book groups, helping professionals, and readers who really took the time to connect the positive message."

it's horrifying to see how the mainstream media commands such blatant control over ideas. and that by clouding the issues and labeling books as trashy, the media can censor what it deems as "smutty."

thanks gigi, for sharing your thoughts and writing this beautiful story of how to claim our own lives, despite every challenge.