Topic Discussion: How Much is TOO MUCH (or too little) SeX in YA?

[seaheidi]

I'm sure we all remember those certain "scenes" in novels we read (or sneaked) as teens. The dog-eared corners of certain pages in controversial books like Forever and Flowers in the Attic, but now we're writing for that same audience and it's a new kind of era. It's a time in literary history that, on one hand, promotes and encourages "edgy" YA

Comments

[cyn2write]

I always leave things up to the imagination. When I was growing up, it was really hard to find anything about sex out there-- I remember oohing and ahhing at a copy of Forever by Judy Blume because it was so risque! But now, sex is rather abundantly available, online and in the YA section, so I leave it to others who are more comfortable writing about it. I don't knock those who want to write about it, as long as it's handled tastefully and responsibly, but personally, I want to write things that I wouldn't be embarrassed to show my daughter when she becomes a young adult.

[anywherebeyond]

I think sex in YA needs to meet the same bar as anything else in YA- is it important to the story? If it's relevant and moves the story along, it needs to be there. If it's there just for jollies, it needs to be removed.

And if it is there, much like adult general fiction, counting the strokes adds nothing in particular to the narrative. What the sex is about is far more important than the structural mechanics of the act. (Which is why Green's blow job in LFA is utterly appropriate.)

If the sex is simply a culmination of a relationship without any other pertinent details, I think it probably belongs behind closed doors and left to the imagination.

[rj_anderson]

counting the strokes adds nothing in particular to the narrative. ... if the sex is simply a culmination of a relationship without any other pertinent details, I think it probably belongs behind closed doors and left to the imagination.

Yes, absolutely. Well said. And I agree with Cyn's comment too, about writing things you aren't embarrassed to own up to. Especially if you want your kids to grow up with a balanced and responsible attitude to sex, it doesn't make a lot of sense to be throwing erotica at them and then expecting them to exercise self-control -- it becomes a "do as I say and not as I write" kind of thing.

[rj_anderson]

I think we need to keep in mind that what is positively tame or even off-putting for an adult reader may be incredibly titillating and shocking for a younger one, depending on age and how sheltered that teen's upbringing has been. I have no doubt that John Green's scene is every bit as non-sexy in essence as he and others say it is (I haven't read the book yet), but the mere concept that I am reading about oral sex OMG can be enough to make a younger reader giggle and blush.

The other point is that a book can be incredibly, even agonizingly romantic, full of potent sexual tension, without the protagonists falling into bed or even kissing before the end of the book. There's relatively little of this in YA (which may be one reason that TWILIGHT took off like a rocket -- that rare combination of sensuality and sexual restraint), but it's definitely something that teens do feel. Sometimes less is not just more, but a lot more, and leaving a scene open to interpretation can be more effective than making it explicit, not less. (While,

[anywherebeyond]

I think we need to keep in mind that what is positively tame or even off-putting for an adult reader may be incredibly titillating and shocking for a younger one, depending on age and how sheltered that teen's upbringing has been.This is true. I do think, though, that we have an obligation to remember that not all teens are sheltered (and not usually by their own doing,) and that those broken teens also have a right to recognize themselves and their experiences in literature

[bostonerin]

I think we need to keep in mind that what is positively tame or even off-putting for an adult reader may be incredibly titillating and shocking for a younger one, depending on age and how sheltered that teen's upbringing has been.

Well said, RJ. Like you and others have suggested, it depends on what advances the story and how it impacts the characters' development. The sex scene in SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS (the soccer girl...what was her name?) comes to mind here. Although the sex took place largely off-screen, the impact of it and the effect on the character was clearly expressed. It's all about balance.

As to why books with this material get so much attention...well, we're (at heart) a Puritanical culture that largely shelters our children. Lots of parents don't see the value in an honest portrayal of sex and its surrounding issues in YA lit. Instead, they want to hide their children from that content and pretend as though it doesn't exist.

[neeshadm]

I agree with the sentiment that sex in YA must be treated like anything in YA. I feel the same way about violence in film -- I have real issues with it when it is clearly gratuitous. I'm not interested in shock value, I'm interested in being moved, awakened, enlivened. If a film or a book does that, it works as a package