Sex in YA Novels: General Thoughts
So ceilidh_ann 's Sparkle Project has re-sparked my thoughts on Sex in the YA novel. Last November, I found myself participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and bringing up the question- "Why is it so hard to find healthy sex and relationships in YA Novels?"
It's a really good question- the only suggestions I got for "healthy/positive sex" was A Judy Blume Novel.
Uh.
Nothing against Judy Blume- but she shouldn't be the end all be all. Twilight certainly shouldn't be the book we hand off and squee~ about the relationships in it. Doing a quick mental flip through of my favorite YA books (or ANY books I remember) doesn't paint much of a picture for most main characters, but excepting The Perks of Being a Wall Flower - for most female characters. Off the top of my head: Twilight, a book I loathe- by the time Bella finally gets laid, she wakes up with bruises and later a broken headboard from sex. Er, while similar things have happened in other novels - take the Undead and Unwed series as an example- both characters were equally superhumanly strong. Speak's entire premise is about a girl who was rape (it was, interestingly, a book recommended by the Librarian at my Junior High. It's a good book, mind, but not one I'd model a relationship after.) Rachel Cohn's Gingerbread and it's follow-ups include sex, but the most notable sexual event that occurs is one that leaves Cyd Charisse pregnant- she gets an abortion, and leaves that boyfriend in favor of Shrimp. The Gossip Girl series, while incredibly vapid, did have sex in it- nearly right away, but was hardly the best example of sex in the Young Adult novel. After all, characters, in their own vanity, frequently cheated, harassed, nearly raped, and all around weren't much for any sort of consequences other than say, more Gossip. Funny, that. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras was really more for the Pre-teen set, and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging only really mentioned other people having sex. Sloppy Firsts is probably the closest out of all the things I can conjure off the top of my head, but, there's a catch- it's no longer considered a Young Adult Novel.
That's right. It's now shelved in the Adult Fiction section, even though the main character is a teenager at the beginning of the series, and 25 at the end. (A note: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants also adresses sex in a fairly positive manner.)
Of course, boys seem to have no problem having sex in YA novels. Curious. Think of this:
King Dork is a novel about a 14 year old boy; what his story is isn't much important, but on the very first page, we're made aware of the fact that the novel will include: "naked people, [...], teen sex, weird sex, [...] and a blow job." (You can see this page on Amazon if you search the book.) Now, I'm not under any circumstances going to lie and say a 14 year old boy getting a blow job is unheard of, but I am going to say it's strange that I have never read a teenage girl recieving oral sex in any YA book I've read. Take Little Brother as an example as well- it's a book I just finished, and mostly loved. The political plot with a heavy inclusion of cryptography, the internet, and computer hacking/coding was fascinating- and for the most part, the narrator and his girlfriend were a pretty average teen relationship. It was a little lacking in any depth to their connection, but hey, most teens don't exactly have the most ah- deep relationships. They found each other mutually attractive, she was smart as well as pretty and a good kisser, and they have brief (hah) sex in the novel. There's a condom and everything- and none of it is particularly surprising because (as our main character admits) guys think about sex. It's safe, they both enjoyed it, it's a little new and awkward, and admittedly not a detailed scene, because it basically fades to black, and skips to his thoughts after the fact, but it's there.
(Another side note: Marcus, the main character, has a best girl friend named Vanessa "Van" who has feelings for him. This is never really dealt with much, in light of the fact that Marcus has a new girlfriend, and Van, perhaps wisely, started looking at their other friend who was actually interested in her. It did bother me a little that this was glossed over.)
So guys in YA think about sex. They have sex, of all kinds, and while YA seems to be open to exploring nearly everything in life- drugs, rape, sexuality, abuse, murder, eating disorders, self-harm, alcohol, suicide, pregnancy, and anything else you could possibly think of, Sex is not one of those things to be explored. Teens have it, but it fades to black. Boys do it, and in any way they want, but girls are in it for emotional value or to maintain their relationships most of the time.
You will find nearly any addiction to any drug explicitly described in many a YA novel, but you will never find healthy sex described in the same inspective manner. It just won't happen. And that's got to be the biggest flaw in the YA genre- at a time when teens need things to learn from or to identify to, we sorely lack in one of the basic human functions.
What's up with that?
Continuation from: Adult Books Suck. (Mostly)
It's a really good question- the only suggestions I got for "healthy/positive sex" was A Judy Blume Novel.
Uh.
Nothing against Judy Blume- but she shouldn't be the end all be all. Twilight certainly shouldn't be the book we hand off and squee~ about the relationships in it. Doing a quick mental flip through of my favorite YA books (or ANY books I remember) doesn't paint much of a picture for most main characters, but excepting The Perks of Being a Wall Flower - for most female characters. Off the top of my head: Twilight, a book I loathe- by the time Bella finally gets laid, she wakes up with bruises and later a broken headboard from sex. Er, while similar things have happened in other novels - take the Undead and Unwed series as an example- both characters were equally superhumanly strong. Speak's entire premise is about a girl who was rape (it was, interestingly, a book recommended by the Librarian at my Junior High. It's a good book, mind, but not one I'd model a relationship after.) Rachel Cohn's Gingerbread and it's follow-ups include sex, but the most notable sexual event that occurs is one that leaves Cyd Charisse pregnant- she gets an abortion, and leaves that boyfriend in favor of Shrimp. The Gossip Girl series, while incredibly vapid, did have sex in it- nearly right away, but was hardly the best example of sex in the Young Adult novel. After all, characters, in their own vanity, frequently cheated, harassed, nearly raped, and all around weren't much for any sort of consequences other than say, more Gossip. Funny, that. Mates, Dates, and Inflatable Bras was really more for the Pre-teen set, and Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging only really mentioned other people having sex. Sloppy Firsts is probably the closest out of all the things I can conjure off the top of my head, but, there's a catch- it's no longer considered a Young Adult Novel.
That's right. It's now shelved in the Adult Fiction section, even though the main character is a teenager at the beginning of the series, and 25 at the end. (A note: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants also adresses sex in a fairly positive manner.)
Of course, boys seem to have no problem having sex in YA novels. Curious. Think of this:
King Dork is a novel about a 14 year old boy; what his story is isn't much important, but on the very first page, we're made aware of the fact that the novel will include: "naked people, [...], teen sex, weird sex, [...] and a blow job." (You can see this page on Amazon if you search the book.) Now, I'm not under any circumstances going to lie and say a 14 year old boy getting a blow job is unheard of, but I am going to say it's strange that I have never read a teenage girl recieving oral sex in any YA book I've read. Take Little Brother as an example as well- it's a book I just finished, and mostly loved. The political plot with a heavy inclusion of cryptography, the internet, and computer hacking/coding was fascinating- and for the most part, the narrator and his girlfriend were a pretty average teen relationship. It was a little lacking in any depth to their connection, but hey, most teens don't exactly have the most ah- deep relationships. They found each other mutually attractive, she was smart as well as pretty and a good kisser, and they have brief (hah) sex in the novel. There's a condom and everything- and none of it is particularly surprising because (as our main character admits) guys think about sex. It's safe, they both enjoyed it, it's a little new and awkward, and admittedly not a detailed scene, because it basically fades to black, and skips to his thoughts after the fact, but it's there.
(Another side note: Marcus, the main character, has a best girl friend named Vanessa "Van" who has feelings for him. This is never really dealt with much, in light of the fact that Marcus has a new girlfriend, and Van, perhaps wisely, started looking at their other friend who was actually interested in her. It did bother me a little that this was glossed over.)
So guys in YA think about sex. They have sex, of all kinds, and while YA seems to be open to exploring nearly everything in life- drugs, rape, sexuality, abuse, murder, eating disorders, self-harm, alcohol, suicide, pregnancy, and anything else you could possibly think of, Sex is not one of those things to be explored. Teens have it, but it fades to black. Boys do it, and in any way they want, but girls are in it for emotional value or to maintain their relationships most of the time.
You will find nearly any addiction to any drug explicitly described in many a YA novel, but you will never find healthy sex described in the same inspective manner. It just won't happen. And that's got to be the biggest flaw in the YA genre- at a time when teens need things to learn from or to identify to, we sorely lack in one of the basic human functions.
What's up with that?
Continuation from: Adult Books Suck. (Mostly)