"They're all kinda dark …": Speak and Thirteen Reasons Why Fanfiction Poetry as Resistance to Rape Culture

Abstract

Abstract:This paper analyzes a genre not typically explored: fanfiction poetry writing, particularly crafted in response to young adult sexual assault narratives. Examinations of poetry inspired by two young adult novels about rape victim-survivors, Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak and Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, demonstrate the ways in which poetry can be used to process violent literary experiences as well as exercise care through poetic witnessing. This especially surfaces through poets' explorations of emotional, psychological, and spiritual impact of rape; bursts of resistant literary activism; and finding potential pathways to respite from rape culture through glimpses of acceptance, healing, and self-love.