We Need to Talk About Rape Culture: ‘Speak: The Graphic Novel’

On Friday, October 6, 2017, at New York Comic Con, YA author Laurie Halse Anderson sat on a panel with artist Emily Carroll to discuss their upcoming graphic novel adaptation of Anderson’s novel Speak. First published in 1999, Speak tells the story of a teenage girl named Melinda who is sexually assaulted at a party the summer before she starts high school. She becomes selectively mute and alienated from her family and friends until she learns how to address her trauma and express herself through art. One of my favorite books as a teenager, Speak has been censored and banned for daring to address such sensitive issues as sexuality, assault, and rape culture. By the same token, it has become required reading for young adults struggling with their own voices, identities, and experiences with bullying and assault. Speak was my earliest encounter with sexual politics and addressed rape culture in a way that wasn’t fear-mongering or pedantic but real in its understatedness — the unfortunate fact being that these attitudes and behaviors have pervaded our culture at large and are part of our everyday reality.

When I read Speak as a young adult, the book struck me with its voice;  despite the fact that its protagonist fails to speak throughout much of the book, Melinda’s voice is ever-present in quirky, sarcastic internal monologues that create a character of richness and depth. Though she spends most of the book feeling like she’s lost her grip on her sense of agency and contr…