It seems movies and books for teens are getting more graphic these days. A few years back I read one of the Alex Rider books and was shocked by the violence. One scene gave an in-depth account of a bad guy being shot in the head at point blank range. Violence in children’s books is nothing new. In Roald Dahl’s The Witches, the baddies, described as demonic, bald creatures in disguise, basically go around murdering and torturing small children. But what about sex and drugs? These topics seem far less common, even in teen fiction. Why are we more inclined to let our teens read about murder and monsters than we are to let them read about sex in fiction?
Because our protagonists are generally a little older, Noble Young Adult address any topic a young adult might encounter in their life, including but not limited to, sexual orientation, sexual experimentation, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, drugs, drinking, peer pressure, school, gangs, etc.
For Instance, Real Boys Kiss Boys, is a coming of age GLBT romance that tackles serious issues like bullying and HIV in a way that is realistic and heart-felt.
Jocelyn’s Choice by Ella Jade confronts the consequences of sex and the decisions that a teenage girl has to make when she becomes pregnant.
KIMBER AN
I believe in keeping it real and that not everyone is going to have my values, lifestyle, or make the same choices I would. It only makes sense to me that my characters will find their paths in life too. A good book can enable a reader to explore things without getting hurt or put things in perspective after getting hurt by reality. Sugar-coating or sensationalizing things would mess with that, I think.
Sometimes, I think adults make more of these subjects than they need to and they don’t really know what they think they do. For example, in the Ophelia Dawson Chronicles, Bianca has a reputation as a slut when, in fact, she’s a virgin. And Ophelia’s the one you think will stay a virgin into her twenties, but she’s in an intense, committed relationship with Adrian. If they go all the way, no one else is going to know, because they’re both very private people. Except for maybe Grandma. Like in a lot of families, when the girls can’t talk to Mom, they have another strong female mentor in their lives that they can talk to, and I think that’s very important.
I’m always annoyed when people about my age and older talk about ‘the good ol’ days,’ because I really believe, as a history buff, that there is no such thing. These sensitive topics simply were not talked about and the consequences were different.
Rape, molestation of children, premarital sex, alcoholism, drug addiction, dating/domestic violence, all of these things happened, just as much as they do now. It’s simply that the victims had no or very little chance of healing, escape, or justice, so most of them stayed silent.
A hundred and fifty years ago, it was illegal to send contraception through the mail and a teen girl probably knew nothing about it anyway. She was pretty much coerced into marriage at 14 to 16 years on the frontier, maybe 18 if she was a well-to-do girl in the city. And she proceeded to get pregnant and, more often than not, die during that or in childbirth. Doctors didn’t know to wash their hands first.
A hundred years ago, a teen girl might have the opportunity to go to college, but was more likely channeled into marriage anyway. She still knew nothing about condoms and the Pill was decades away. My grandmother was forced to marry at age 14 and was raped on her wedding night with absolutely no previous knowledge of sex. She’d thought penises were just for pee. She was not allowed to leave her marriage, even though her husband abused her. And this was America.
Fifty years ago, a girl might go visit family across the country for a while, secretly give birth and ‘give up’ the baby for adoption, and then return to her old life, not knowing who adopted her baby or what happened to her. This was if she was lucky.
Now, a girl has many choices in life, so I lean towards ‘the good ol’ days’ being right now.
Although, it’s still true that people will restrict a girl’s knowledge of her choices in order to control her decisions.
Kimber An, author of Sweet Bytes.
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