What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

But the point, the point, is that whenever I hear someone talking about how it’s wrong to have sex and sexiness in YA novels, what I actually hear is this:

I’m terrified that the first fictional sex a teenage girl encounters might leave her feeling good about herself. I’m terrified that fictional sex might actually make teenage girls think sex can be fun and good, that reading about girls who say no and boys who listen when they say it might give them the confidence to say no, too – or worse still, to realise that boys who don’t listen to ‘no’ aren’t worth it. I’m terrified that YA novels might teach teenage girls the distinction between assault and consensual sex, and give them the courage to speak out about the former while actively seeking the latter. I’m terrified that teenage girls might think seriously about the circumstances under which they might say yes to sex; that they might think about contraception before they need it, and touch themselves in bed at night while fantasising about generous, interesting, beautiful lovers who treat them with consideration and respect. I’m terrified of a generation of teenage girls who aren’t shy or squeamish about asking for cunnilingus when they want it, or about loving more than one person at once, and who don’t feel shame about their arousal. I’m terrified that teenage girls might take control of their sexuality and, in so doing, take that control of them and their bodies away from me.

Foz Meadows - Why YA sex scenes matter (via apfelgranate)

Yes this. I remember reading books like Tamora Pierce’s Alanna series and experiencing Alanna’s unapologetic interest in multiple men and how she spent the night in the rooms of those men when and if she wanted I think really had a positive impact on my view of sexuality and relationships. So yes, this. So much this.

(via stfufauxminists)

Forever thankful for Meg Cabot’s portrayal of teen sexuality in All American Girl and The Princess Dairies.

(via iamateenagefeminist)

when I was younger and read the second “all american girl” book (referenced above), at the time I thought it was weird and that she was doing a no-no becuase it was completely out of line with all my expectations of the YA novels I was reading.   But then after thinking about it, I realized how weird it really was that I had read an extensive, extensive amount of YA novels where it was considered not only normal, but basically cumpulsatory, for the lead women to never take a relationship further than kissing.   In fact, that was often part of the novel’s conclusion: a kiss.   It was definitely not reflective, as a genre, of the diversity of teenage experiences.   In recent years I’ve found a lot more examples in current YA novels (many of the ones I read as a teen, after all, were from the 80/90s even if I read them at a later time), which gives me hope for the genre and its (hopefully) commitment to capturing the authenticity of teenage lives.

(via feministdisney)

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