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Good Sex in Teen Novels
December 8th, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the Guardian's award for bad sex scenes in fiction.
This week, Marianna at Crowe's Nest provides much-needed relief with a discussion of good sex scenes in YA novels. She's identified passages and explains why they work so well in context.
If you've ever wondered how to get steamy without getting cheesy (hey wait, am I talking about sex scenes or broccoli, here?), take a look.
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Interesting counterpoints...I'd never thought of it, because I don't plan on including (explicit) sex in the novel I'm working on (it's cowritten with a good friend/former co-GA, so that might be slightly awkward).
My personal favorite well-done scenes are in Wide Awake by David Levithan and Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden, off the top of my head. Both share a certain sensitivity--a lot of people get hung up on the awkwardness and forget that there is a purity of intent with new, young relationships.
But I was 22 when I found out, so I may not be the best judge...:D
(P.S. Thank you for commenting over on LSL! The semester is wrapping up, so I'll be able to post more often.)
I got most of my literary sex education from reading V. C. Andrews and Piers Anthony in 6th grade, and as much as a person can be scarred for life from reading bad sex scenes in mass market paperbacks, I consider myself scarred.
The scenes cited in the blog post were definitely more explicit than I was expecting. That kind of frankness doesn't work for every story, but I think it's good to have some out there... lest it all be V. C. Andrews and Piers Anthony-esque.
What's a co-GA?
Me too! Everything I learned about sex came from VC Andrews and She's Come Undone. I really wish that wasn't the case, as the latter scared me off lesbianism for a few years.
There was a post on Jezebel where the comments mentioned how unfortunate it is that most of our early brushes with written sex are the results of rape or abuse. I'm glad that sexual matters are being handled in a more sensative manner in new YA lit.
And Heather was my co-grad assistant. We worked together in her last semester.
Ah, co-grad assistant, ok. Academic lingo. :-)
That's a great point about negative sex in literature being so prevalent. I remember reading a lot of "problem novels" back in junior high that dealt with abuse, e.g., Gloria Miklowitz's Secrets Not Meant to Be Kept. I suppose that's another reason Forever is still held up as the example of a good teen sex book -- groundbreaking not only in its content but in its positive treatment.
Of course, the downside to Forever is that now I can never take anyone named Ralph seriously.
I remember Secrets Not Meant to Be Kept! I thought I was the only person in the world who'd read that book. I was thirteen or fourteen when I read it. It was quite disturbing.
The lesbian sex in She's Come Undone... well, really all the sex in that book had a rather traumatic effect on me as well. I really like that book though, despite its rather depressing nature.
I was in college when I read Annie on My Mind, and I was surprised at how UNexplicit the sex was.
OK, I'm incredibly amused by this Secrets Not Meant to Be Kept coincidence. Now I'm wondering what other "problem novels" we all have in common. Did you read the one about the ballet dancer with anorexia, The Best Little Girl in the World? Or the one about the girl model, Adorable Sunday? Or, or, or...?
I agree about Annie on My Mind. I think the action's pretty well in the white space in that one.
I remember The Best Little Girl in the World, but I didn't actually read it. I read its companion, The Luckiest Girl in the World, which was about a competitive ice skater who self-injured and ended up purposely slamming her hand in her locker door in front of a bunch of people or some craziness.
Oh lord. And then there was A Solitary Secret, by Patricia Hermes, about the girl whose father rapes her... OY. VEY.
Also, I like She's Come Undone, but I definitely agree that wouldn't be the first lesbian sex scene you'd want to encounter.
there is truly a scrubs quote for every occasion:
the todd: "dude, my broccoli is hot."
turk: "please tell me you mean temperature-wise. because there is no way you can find broccoli sexy."
the todd: "oh…yeah…temperature-wise." *pause* "and mini green boobs-wise! what's up?!"
i loved secrets not meant to be kept when i was 13 or so and in my problem novel stage (my other favorite was a sandra scoppetone novel about a teenage alcoholic); i think it would be fascinating to read it now, having done research on the mcmartin preschool case and all the similar cases that surfaced during the weird satanic sex cult day care scare that inspired the book.
my favorite not-quite-sex scenes growing up were all in three friends by myron levoy, and if you haven't read that, you really should. :) it's another one for the list of bisexuals in ya lit. plus, there's a fabulously '70s feminist girl, and a cute chess-playing nerdboy. oh, man, i need to reread that.
the first lesbian sex scene i read wasn't until i was a senior in high school, though--banana rose by natalie goldberg. and say what you want about natalie goldberg, that scene is pretty great.
*fear*
*admiration*
*fear*
I have not read Three Friends OR Banana Rose. [She said, adding them to her mile-long to-read list.] What would I say about Natalie Goldberg, though? I've read and enjoyed some of her stuff on writing. Tell me more, Teacher Tarey.
i'm not sure what you would say about natalie goldberg, personally (except that you seem to share her love of writing in inexpensive spiral notebooks), but i know that some people do not like her. i happened to discover her when i was at exactly the right point in my life to do so, but maybe if you weren't 17 when you read her for the first time, you wouldn't be as enamored.
also, i miss being teacher tarey. this whole business of being formally addressed by my little ones is just weird.
I hate, hate, hate being called Miss/Mrs./Ms. Chellman. I'll tolerate "Miss Lisa", but that's my limit!
Wow. I didn't actually know about the mass hysteria surrounding daycares in the 80's. I just spent about an hour reading the wikipedia articles and the articles they linked to. I noticed several elements that were used in Secrets Not Meant to Be Kept. Although, while within the context of that novel, the abuse clearly did happen, most of these articles suggest that none of it did.
I'm not normally one to go anywhere near doubting anyone who says they were abused, but some of those allegations are beyond bizarre. "The physical evidence included peanut butter found in the center's kitchen, and Joni Mitchell lyrics written in the teacher's attendance book." Um... what? Plus (and I remember thinking this when I read Secrets Not Meant to Be Kept all those years ago) it's hard to believe that some of those elaborate scenarios would be physically possible, at least without someone catching on.
In your research, Carey, does it look like any of the allegations were true, or do they seem to be thoroughly discredited?
they've all been pretty much discredited--there's a lot of good writing on the (un)reliability of children as witnesses in trials because of the way memory develops. i was going to reply to this last night with quotes and everything but couldn't find the passage i was looking for in _children's thinking_. i mean, if you read the kids' testimonies, half of them involve, like, SPACESHIPS.
i love that joni mitchell lyrics are considered evidence of sexual abuse. i better hide my journal if i ever want another job in this town again.
I just read the Wikipedia article about that case. My oh my. I am immensely glad no one ever accused my mother of performing satanic or otherwise abusive rituals on the children she cared for. What a crazy nightmare.
Yeah, there are excerpts from the investigators' interviews with some of the children in one of the articles wikipedia linked, and it's glaringly obvious that the children were being coerced. Or, you know, being children.
I own a book of Joni Mitchell's complete lyrics... what does that say about me?
hey, i've got that book, too. and at least one biography. not to mention all of the (good) cds. and a habit of covering at least two of her songs on a regular basis. why did they even let me into this grad program?
The world will never know. :)
The Late Great Me! I read that over and over when I was 13. It scared me out of drinking till I was 22.
Sandra Scoppettone could really serve up the heavy stuff, couldn't she? I wonder how many rape books she wrote. At least one more than tar-and-feathering books. Oy.