As a 32 year old currently very pregnant adult I'm probably not the perfect person to say whether or not teens should be having sex but as a YA author I'm constantly thinking about it (boy did that come off wrong). What I mean is, do teen characters have to have sex to be realistic in YA literature? It's hard to say but I like to lean towards no and here is why.
Sex in YA books is not akin to Erotica. People aren't reading YA for the sex. They are reading YA for the story, the nostalgia, and the reliability. YA authors don't go into sexual detail because said detail has a certain pedo feel to it! It is typically a glossed over paragraph or even just one line at the end of a chapter ala Maggie Stievfater's "Shiver". So does the sex really need to happen? In my opinion when you have young characters have sex without repercussion or follow up discussion its like saying sex for teenagers is as frequent and easy as getting Netflix without paying for it. To me that is not realistic. I remember my own teenage years and though I wasn't cool enough to be in a crowd where sex was common I do remember talking about it a lot and I definitely remember it being a big deal when someone had it. It seems to me that YA books don't talk about sex unless it is related to rape, characters have it, but they don't talk about it and I think it would be a positive change to see a little more of that. My characters never have sex, not in my first book and not in the two I am working on now. Why? Because they don't have to have sex to make you believe their relationship is going somewhere and quite frankly I think teen fear of sex is more realistic than the act itself. So, how am I going to be a helper and not a contributor to the problem? As a writer I am going to challenge myself to avoid mating my characters for the sake of the easy romantic climax (not the sexy kind) but I'm also gonna challenge myself to make sure my characters talk about it when it's relevant, something I avoided doing in Delinquent. I'm interested to hear what you think? YA sex: Yes, No? Go!
9 Comments
I completely agree. My YA novel had characters mention sex, as there was a rumor about an 8th grade couple having sex-- but nothing more than brief (and fearful) internal dialogue about it. Some reviewers wrote that the "sexual content" in my story was inappropriate. It made me wonder if they actually read it . There's a big difference between writing a sex scene in YA and saying, 'Hey, are they having sex already?' I think actual sex scenes should not be in YA, but realistic dialogue about the topic could be used to convey a message.
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Lets be honest...reviews are the scariest thing ever! For every few good ones you get that one review that makes your stomach turn. Sometimes it seems like there is no way they read the whole book and other times you just sit there in wonder of the fact that someone can hate your baby so much!
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I write Upper YA Lower NA. My teens are 17 and 18 and they do have sex. It's glanced over in the book, however, but they have it. I come from a very liberal culture. Sex in the upper levels of high school was so prominent when I grew up that we just didn't talk about it. The difference between the US and where I grew up was that teen pregnancy where I grew up was extremely low. Why? Because in my culture, we were taught how to deal with sex, how to protect ourselves, how to be safe, and no-one ever really made a big deal of it. I remember my mom telling me "I would rather you wait but if you have to have it, and you're sure you're ready, here's what you do..."
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I'm with you here. When it comes to teens having sex in real life I think heck yeah parents have to talk to them about it and I definitely like your parents approach of , I wish you wouldn't but if you do....
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Martine Lewis
7/6/2017 11:54:31 am
JJ, I see where you're coming from but consequences are not always "bad consequences". In some case, there is just no consequences. 7/3/2017 08:02:46 pm
You write as if YA is nostalgia for adults not a story for young adults!! Teen sex is a reality. Deal with it. I deal with it by being realistic. That means the relationships, the awkwardness, the insecurity, the uncertainty. It means not porn. But then I'm not American and I really don't get American sexual politics, which seems to be fairly different to the rest of the world.
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Peter, I'm not opposed to sex in YA I'm just opposed to the glossed over version that frequents mainstream lit for teens. There are characters it makes sense for but often it's used as a quick way to make the romance "real". I've seen it done well ala Eleanor and Park and I've seen it done not so well ala Shiver.
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Martine Lewis
7/6/2017 11:52:06 am
Peter, you are totally right in saying American sexual politics are different from the rest of the world. I moved to the US in my twenties. To this day, I am astounded by the way parents of teens react to sex. It's a little bit the ostrich approach.
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7/4/2017 01:11:33 pm
I cant add sex to my YA because my 13 year old reads my books. =)
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AuthorWith my Masters in Library Science I review for School Library Journal, Indie Authors and local publications. Archives
August 2017
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