Innocence & Corruption by Aiyana Goodfellow

If you weren’t aware already, @aiyanagoodfellow released their second book, Innocence & Corruption, through their publishing house The Anima Print a few months ago. It’s still available to purchase now through The Anima Print website, and I believe that everyone will benefit from reading Aiyana’s writing. We exist in a world where words are constantly regurgitated and repackaged, but Aiyana weaves a political theory that feels fresh and original whilst highlighting things that have always been in plain sight - we just haven’t recognised them because the oppression of children is so normalised and accepted.

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Not only will Innocence & Corruption give a deeper understanding of anti-child ageism, as coined by Aiyana themself, and the way it underpins everything, but this book will give a wider knowledge of various oppressions and how they collude; I can honestly say that I’ve never gained a greater understanding of patriarchy than the way that Aiyana explains it, not reduced simply to the ways men hold power over other genders, but the hierarchal relationships that can exist between all of us and the ways these dynamics cause harm.

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I’ve always felt drawn to the younger people in my life - whenever my family gather, I’ll always intentionally spend more time with my cousin or younger sibling. Me and my Cousin game together twice a week, a ritual we’ve enjoyed since the pandemic began and it’s given both of us some structure through shared neurodivergent joy. I’ve never lost the childishness in me and through Aiyana’s work I’ve learnt to hold on to that even tighter because it’s a gift. Child creativity and play is transformative and has got me through some of my darkest days in recent years. And I like to describe myself as a magpie, because I’ll scan footpaths for small treasures and not only can I connect this to other species but the wonderment kids find in the little things too.

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In recent years I’ve started thinking about how I’d like to guide a new generation through this world; I’ve always loved the idea of adoption, and with Aiyana’s work I hope that I can make an informed choice, not as a way to continue my family empire or because it’s socially expected for us to ‘have kids’, but because I feel I can offer whatever younger people need to thrive in this world alongside me.

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I’m wearing the ‘Schools Are Prisons’ shirt, designed by @nonbinarybaps, which acknowledges one of the most impactful chapters of the book for me. Throughout my time in the school system, especially within secondary school when I was a teenager, there were many things I felt uncomfortable with and yet at the time I didn’t have the language or range to explore those feelings. Acknowledging it as a carceral environment thanks to Aiyana’s writing has helped me connect many of the dots and see why arbitrary things that were enforced such as uniform policy, attendance and homework weighed so heavily on my soul.

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I remember in my first year, being shouted at by a teacher for ‘plagiarising’ text in my homework as if anything written is ever completely original. I remember being dragged down to reception area because my clear lip bar was a distraction to everyone’s learning. I remember a science teacher that would scream at you infront of everyone if you so much as breathed while he was teaching. But it’s also reminded me of moments of resistance - skipping P.E lessons, even climbing through a hole in the fence to bunk off the last lesson of the day.

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Innocence & Corruption is a political lesson on many facets of violence enacted upon young people, from the ‘care’ system to anti-child ageist language and the ways children are dismissed, silenced and disempowered by their families. Arguably no one is offered less agency over their lives than the children of this world and Aiyana lays out the ways our society is structured to nurture a culture of abuse towards kids and the adults we become.

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I’ve included a scan of Aiyana’s dedication at the start of the book, because it captures the foundations of their work and this book, deeply grounded in love for children and a world where we are all free.