Today I read an open call for unagented manuscripts from a publisher who will remain nameless. On their list of 'likes' when describing what they wanted from their submissions was the following:
- Sex.
- Awkwardness.
- Awkward sex.
Then I thought some more and realized this isn't an easy topic.
YA -Young Adult -Teenagers
They're talking about sex, learning about sex in schools and some are having sex. Sex is everywhere; television, advertising, radio, song lyrics, magazines, the internet. We cannot hide from sex and we cannot hide our children from sex.
Yet the question remains; does sex belong in YA literature?
Okay, different approach. Swap out the word sex with violence and what is your answer?
Violence is just as difficult to avoid as sex in today's society -perhaps even more so.
Many YA stories are driven by acts of violence. The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Eragon, The Hobbit. All these classic YA stories are fraught with violence and in each of these stories it is violence (via war or violence itself) that drives the story forward. Violence gives the characters a reason to act. They're acting to either prevent it or avoid it but without it, there is no story.
The same cannot be said of sex. It just doesn't have the same impact as war or killing. It doesn't move people to act. While I'm sure there are writers out there who could convincingly argue the point, I don't believe sex holds the same power as violence so I don't believe interchanging sex and violence is a fair argument.
So we're back to the original question.
Does sex belong in YA literature?
Today I stumbled upon this wonderful quote:
:But censoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from them.:
- Laurie Halse Anderson author of Speak, Twisted and many others
