Wednesday, 19 June 2013

Sex in YAF

My PhD on sex, drugs and alcohol in YAF
from 2011
At the weekend I mentioned to you that it had been two years to the day that I had done my PhD viva. My thesis title is 'The Issues of Representation/Representing Sex, Drugs and Alcohol in British Contemporary YAF.' There have been a few academics who have disagreed with my thoughts, in particular, the idea that YAF is a great place for teenagers to explore contentious issues through the vicarious experience. So today it was with great delight that I read an article by Malorie Blackman (see here ) where she said exactly the same thing. Along with Melvin Burgess who highlights that teenagers can cope with anything as long as it is put in context.

Many suggest that YAF should be the last place that contentious issues such as sex should be discussed implying that innocence should be maintained. They seem to forget the open access many teenagers have to porn and the such like via various mediums including the internet and let's be honest this is the last place we want them to be learning about sex. It objectifies women and brutalizes the sex as also highlighted by Malorie. It is anything but real.

Reading allows a teenager to find out who they are, or even, and perhaps more importantly, who they are not. Searching for an identity. Reading, either via a book or an e-book, allows them to take away what they want to from the narrative.  It enables them to safely ask questions of the narrative without fear of embarrassment or mockery. It is all about the vicarious experience where a teenager can decide how they would react in any given situation by reading stories and seeing how the character's behave. They may agree/empathise with them, they may not. There are no rules just opportunities to explore. To test the world.

Importantly no teenager is going to come to a story in ignorance. They will probably know a lot more than they can even articulate. As writers it is up to us to provide them with those stories. They must be strong and are so real that they ring true with the reader and therefore they will connect with them. My research highlighted how sex has become more graphic in YAF but I see this as no bad thing. I would rather teenagers learnt about sex from the more realistic approaches of Malorie, Melvin Burgess and others than by trawling through any porn sites.

I am really looking forward to Malorie Blackman being the Children's Laureate. She talks so much sense and writes great books. What more could we ask for?

I have written several times in this blog before which you may be interested but is risky getting repetitive - come on everyone move on please
http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/sex-in-young-adult-fiction-move-along.html
There was also the 'sick lit' debate
http://chaosmos-outofchaoscomesorder.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-sick-lit-debate.html

I couldn't really put up any other music than Ian Drury & The Blockheads 'Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll'







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10 comments:

  1. Clémentine Beauvais19 June 2013 at 17:00

    I don't know who can still reasonably argue that there should be no space for sex in YA. I'm so glad it's becoming an accepted idea, thanks to people like you & Malorie Blackman.

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    1. Ness Harbour19 June 2013 at 17:04

      Thank you and I agree. I was often told I was totally wrong when I first said it was a good idea to portray sex realistically in YAF. At least now there are some writers out there who represent it really well without it being done for shock tactics.

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  2. Unknown19 June 2013 at 19:08

    This no sex in books seems to be more of a UK thing than a US thing. I've been reading a lot of US YAF recently, and there's no shying away from sex scenes - it's like it's accepted, sex happens, best just deal with it honestly. Far healthier, and actually, it makes the books far more accessible. Interestingly, in SA we used to get predominantly UK YAF, now it's predominantly US YAF - and again, I think, because the US is simply being more real about YAF.

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    1. Ness Harbour19 June 2013 at 20:38

      That is an interesting perspective Nicky. The US do brilliantly with LGBT stuff too which the UK tend to avoid.

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    2. Jane22 June 2013 at 16:42

      And yet so many American shows/films for teens completely shy away from sex (at least the ones I see here in the UK), and act like no teen can have sex until they have moved out of home! Why is it ok in books, but not on TV?

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  3. Anonymous19 June 2013 at 20:27

    Vanessa - you said 'Importantly no teenager is going to come to a story in ignorance. They will probably know a lot more than they can even articulate. Stories allow them to make those connections while helping them to understand the world around them'
    As a counsellor who worked with young people for seven years, all I can say is BRAVO to you and other authors who seek to responsibly address the issues that young people come across - often *irresponsibly* in the world 'out there' - you are doing them a very great service.

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  4. Ness Harbour20 June 2013 at 11:52

    Philip Pullman has also entered the debate http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b02x97k4/Today_20_06_2013/ Go to 2hrs 27min

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  5. Anonymous22 June 2013 at 14:43

    Thanks for this, Vanessa. I'm now going to post it all over the known universe.

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