When an author publishes a book, the lead-up to its release should be filled with excitement — but I’ve had loved ones worry for my safety and my publisher express concerns about censorship. That’s because I tell stories that others try to bury and erase.
My new book, Erased, tackles American patriarchy, and it comes at a time when it’s needed more than ever before, but also at a time where it is especially vulnerable to being attacked and even banned. The book explores patriarchy across the world but specifically in the United States, where we have our own gendered hierarchy that was written into the Constitution by our Founding Fathers — and is inextricably intertwined with racism and xenophobia.
As I was beginning to formulate my theories for the book, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and I witnessed a wave of shock and awe across the country. The reactions told me that people might know the word “patriarchy,” but they did not understand that this idea is a core tenet of our country’s original design. How could anyone be surprised by this decision of a conservative Supreme Court, with three Justices who were appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, when Trump explicitly stated his intention to get rid of the protections afforded by Roe v. Wade?
Anger made sense to me. Disappointment made sense to me. Surprise did not.
Then, after the 2024 presidential election left many people surprised yet again, I knew I needed to make the connections between the founding of our nation and the predictable results of a patriarchal system as obvious to everyone else as they are to me.
By mapping American patriarchy from its origin through to its effects today, Erased reveals that the system of American patriarchy is fragile, and I expose how hard those who want to uphold it are working to make it appear unavoidable or make its tenets seem like objective truth. Its protectors have been able to hold the reins and convince us that American patriarchy is the only option by hiding anything that tells us differently. It has persisted by punishing those who do not adhere to its rigid guidelines. The book is a direct critique of the rhetoric that President Trump and his followers espouse, and it’s a call to reclaim everything that American patriarchy attempts to keep from us, including knowledge of other ways for us to organize ourselves and stories of leaders through American history who have fought for something different despite the consequences they might face.
My book falls in the tradition of Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, two books that reveal the mechanics of white supremacy and hierarchy in our nation, written by authors who have been targeted by book bans and conservative media. I’ve been asked if I’m afraid I will also be targeted by those invested in upholding American patriarchy and if I worry, in particular, that my book will be banned. Friends and family have said that I should get security because they worry someone might try to silence me. My marketing team, agent, publicists, and I have discussed our strategy thoughtfully, questioning how I should approach my book at a time when President Trump is showing little regard for our free speech and our right to access knowledge that differs from his views. We’ve wondered if I should skirt around discussing his policies in my social media posts and interviews and try to keep from getting noticed by him and others who might want to block my book from getting into too many hands.
But because I have studied American patriarchy, because I know how much it depends on scaring us and how much it relies on erasing anything that reveals its mechanics and its weaknesses, I came to the conclusion that it would be an honor for my book to be called out as something that stands in opposition to President Trump’s agenda, an honor to be recognized alongside writers that show us all a different way. I view it as a badge that I would wear proudly, stating that what I have to say differs from a social order where white men are the only heroes of our stories, where women’s roles are limited, where every person is straight, where the gender binary is the only way for people to identify, where we pretend that oppression in our nation doesn’t exist, and where we keep ourselves from finding solutions and moving closer to equity because we don’t have access to accurate records of our past.
I would proudly say, yes, my work stands for something different.
The worry I have is not for myself, but for the libraries and the schools that could be punished for carrying my book. This is the much scarier part — and the place where we must intervene. We as authors and as people who care about protecting our access to materials that expose us to other ways of living must find ways to get our books to readers outside of public places while we simultaneously fight for them to be restored. I, for one example, raise money to donate my books directly to organizations that serve young people and who can put the books into their hands free of cost. I challenge everyone who tells the stories that others try to hide and keep from our collective knowledge to persist in that effort without conceding. When those stories are at their most vulnerable, when they are being denied and removed from public spaces, it is our duty to remember that we must be proud and brave. This is when our work is more important than ever.
Anna Malaika Tubbs is a scholar, advocate, and bestselling author of The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology and a master’s in multidisciplinary gender studies from the University of Cambridge, as well as a B.A. in medical anthropology from Stanford University. Through her writing, speaking, and media work — including a TED Talk with over 2 million views — Anna brings a powerful and accessible perspective to American history and gendered systems.
