Naomi Alderman One on One June 11, 2019 – Posted in: Interview – Tags: dystopia, Naomi Alderman, woman, Naomi Alderman, interview

The author answers with her characteristic directness and straightforwardness to questions posed by readers, on her website.

The protagonists of your novel begin as young women, as teenagers. In terms of power and leadership, what new values do you think young women can bring to today's society?

The new generation of feminists is a great inspiration to me. Each generation of women allows a new generation to emerge that is a little more liberated than we were. We carry less burdens on them - it's like just watching the buds bloom on the soil we've just laid.
They leave us speechless with their grace and power. I think that's why Wonder Woman made so many women cry—she embodies that very dream—that we could watch the birth of a woman who wouldn't have grown up with the crap we've been put through, not even in the slightest. . Who would be surprised or even amused by the idea that men are better or more important than women? We have never seen a woman like her. Just by envisioning her, we cry. Young women bring us hope. Each generation brings a little more hope to the next. We act in light of this hope.

When you think about the future, are you sure that women and men will overcome all racial discrimination, on every side?

I'm not sure but I'm optimistic. The feminist revolution is the largest and most successful bloodless revolution in human history – at least that I can think of. We achieved all this by thinking, speaking, persuading, analyzing. This makes me feel that we can bring even more change. I want to see that free woman – she won't be around while I live, but I can imagine her and our imagination brings her closer every day.

How did you decide to write this book? What was your inspiration?
I was on the subway a few years ago going through a terrible breakup. And as the train pulled into the station, I saw a poster on the platform advertising a thriller with the face of a beautiful, frightened woman crying. Something broke inside me because I felt like the whole world was saying this to me: “Look, what you're doing now, all that terror and crying, we like it. Very. We want more of this. He teases us. Well done, you're a good girl". And I thought at that moment: where is our world really going? i.e. should I be on the subway and stumble upon a picture of a beautiful girl crying, terrified, like it's totally normal and desirable? What is the most insignificant thing that should change in this whole situation? And that's how the whole idea came to me, just like that!
What is the message you want to send?
Well, there are a few questions that I would like to ask through my novel. Why is the power structure between men and women the way it is? Do we think women are actually better than men, or do they just have less physical strength to use violence? What do we think of a world where men are the victims and women the perpetrators?- if we are shocked by the violence against men in the world, why aren't we also shocked by the violence against women in the world we live in?