When Women Were Dragons

this book, in premise and in many scenes regarding the relationships between women and the idea of womanhood, is very good.

but it is also INCREDIBLY whitewashed; it takes inspirations from civil rights movements actually happening during the time period of the setting and co-opts them to be about dragons while barely, if at all, recognizing the actual struggles against racism that Black and Indigenous people were fighting.

also, it's fatphobic, just a heads up

spoilers ahead



so i did like a lot about it. there was recognition given to how teenagers can be very unreasonable and that's okay, the lesbian dragon aunts were basically a polycule, there was recognition of trans women and women of all sorts. i really liked those bits, and the complex nature of the relationships and how they played out.

that said - I'm white. and even i knew that the whole “recognition of dragons” as well as their ostracization and oppression were completely ripped off of anti-racist movements at the time. it's so very clearly based on the civil rights movement but with a majority of white women i was honestly almost shocked nothing was said during editing or proofreading (almost. this is common in publishing of works by white authors). the marches, the HUMANS ONLY signs, the “in 1971 we got personhood and (reconstruction) dragon achievements started happening!” is so very obviously appropriated from Black history. Black movements are half mentioned or very vaguely alluded to in ways that could just be more dragoning instances: there is ONE allusion to a Black womens' movement resulting in dragoning, and when Alex's dad mentions a list of protests the scenarios are similar to the civil rights movement. However, again, these references can all come back to the general dragoning of ALL women, esp white women. the premise is sound, but the way it is handled is so incredibly White that it really just seems to be another fantasy novel that invokes oppression/racism themes without ever actually acknowledging those who were, and are, actively treated as second hand citizens.

also, considering the time period, nothing is mentioned at all of the AIM movement happening parallel to the civil rights movement. one Mexican girl is mentioned as having a quinceañera and that's it for other references to poc. none of the main or secondary characters are non-white. i don't care if it's wisconsin.

there is also a section at the back concerning “progressive dragoning news” that comes across as white saviorism. not only are almost all of the dragons we see with lines/screentime white Americans or white europeans, despite mentions of other countries having dragons, this “peaceful dragon initiative” is run by white american women (dragons) interfering in other countries with “seething warlords” etc. the implication is very clear that they are saving “impoverished” nations overseas from their “evil” militaries etc, which is the exact rhetoric used by america especially to invade and occupy foreign peoples in the middle east, latin/south america, asia, and africa. again, it was another instance that slapped me so hard in the face i really feel like nobody who isn't white was shown anything about this manuscript at all.

and on top of all this. on top! of all this! we are given a jk rowling-esque description of alex's father's secretary/second wife. i felt sick reading alex's account of this woman's cheek rippling with fat where her fist rested against it in alex's first interaction with this woman. honestly, i don't think she's ever given a name, only painted with a broad “evil stepmother” brush on top of the fatphobic descriptions, to the point where she's even shown as being evil to alex's absent father.

there was a lot i liked about this book. but the whitewashing, white saviorism, and fatphobia really ruined it for me.