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My latest Locus column, "Teen Sex," explains why I think young adult literature should have sex -- and other "mature" topics -- in it.
There's really only one question: "Why have your characters done something that is likely to upset their parents, and why don't you punish them for doing this?"
Now, the answer.
First, because teenagers have sex and drink beer, and most of the time the worst thing that results from this is a few days of social awkwardness and a hangover, respectively. When I was a teenager, I drank sometimes. I had sex sometimes. I disobeyed authority figures sometimes.
Mostly, it was OK. Sometimes it was bad. Sometimes it was wonderful. Once or twice, it was terrible. And it was thus for everyone I knew. Teenagers take risks, even stupid risks, at times. But the chance on any given night that sneaking a beer will destroy your life is damned slim. Art isn't exactly like life, and science fiction asks the reader to accept the impossible, but unless your book is about a universe in which disapproving parents have cooked the physics so that every act of disobedience leads swiftly to destruction, it won't be very credible. The pathos that parents would like to see here become bathos: mawkish and
trivial, heavy-handed, and preachy.
Cory Doctorow: Teen Sex
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Great column, Cory.
But I question the last graph:
"So since the reader isn't apt to discover anything new about sex in reading the book I can't see how this ends up interfering with a parent's right to decide when and where their kids discover the existence of sex."
When I was a teen I did learn a thing or two about sex from reading fiction. Much of it instructive or helpful.
And since fiction can take you inside the head of a character, it is bound to expose readers to a unique view of sex. The view your character holds.
I agree with everything else you say in the piece. But since I believe one of fiction's roles is to give us new insight and perspective, I don't think your last point is as strong as the rest of the piece.
[...] My Locus column on sex in YA fiction Found 16 hours, 35 minutes ago My latest Locus column Teen Sex explains why I think young adult literature should have sex and other mature topics in it Theres really only one question Why have your characters done something that is likely to upset their parents and why dont you punish them for doing this Now the answer First because teenagers have From: craphound.com [...]
I work with children who have language disorders. One of the issues with teenagers who need an augmentative communication device is the question of what vocabulary/phrases to include. The conversations with parents about the need for curse words and phrases about sex is one of hthe more difficult to have because many view the idea that their handicapped child will think/talk about sex, and that good kids don't curse...at the same time that they want their child to "be like other kids." It makes it difficult for these kids to have age appropriate interactions. Characters in fiction who couldn't talk about or have sex would be similarly hampered, it seems.