Sex, Scrotums and Librarians

There is a new issue that’s floating around the news recently that I believe should be talked about here, right now…on this blog. I say this because many authors have become very defensive over this issue and I think it’s high time that the young adults of this world shed their view.

I read about this issue ages ago on Scott Westerfeld’s blog about books being banned or moved from the young adult section because of its bad content; whether it be talking about sex or even implying sexual connotations. The post is here http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?s=scrotum

So, understandably these authors must get pretty damn frustrated. I mean, they write these beautiful stories that touch the lives of some particular groups of young adults, and librarians decide to destroy it by labelling it “racy” or in simple terms BAD and therefore ban it. Not to mention the fact that a lot of money goes into publishing the one story, and now it’s not allowed to sit – rightfully - on its shelf.

But, that post was written ages ago so let me update you.
If you haven’t already heard, Maureen Johnson has recently been accused of having “racy XXX rated content” in her book The Bermudez Triangle. Only this time it’s not the library staff that are complaining but two mothers.
The story in simple terms is:
The daughter of one of the mothers picked up two random books off the young adult section in their local library. One was Maureen’s book, another Gossip Girl (EW!) While flicking through the pages herself, the mother found some of the topics “racy” and decided to call the library and ask not for the books to be banned, but for them to simply be removed from the young adult section to the adult section.
Youtube video linkage for more info and also Maureen Johnson defending herself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8aLRBhNUmo

Ahem. Cue young adult point of view

We all know that the young adult section has often been confused with different people thinking it’s for different ages. As far as I’m concerned I try to keep the young adult section for ages 14 and UP! But, obviously the age is dropping and now young adult is aimed at 12 and up, which is where the problem has started. I think what we should be doing is not banning books just because they sit in a certain section that might be appropriate for one audience and not the other, but changing the sections age group completely. The reason why I think this is because young adult writing for certain ages is so specific with language for different ages it would be silly to move it to the adult section. While a 12 year old (or her mother for that matter) doesn’t want to learn about teenagers having underage sex and it being ok, adults don’t want to read about it either so why move it to the adult section?

I can see both sides to the story. Mothers don’t want to have to monitor what their child is reading, they already have to monitor what they’re doing on the internet! But to defend the authors for just a moment I should make the statement that I agree with Maureen Johnson. Someone who doesn’t read the section, should not be allowed to make such a big statement like “MOVE THIS BOOK TO THE ADULT SECTION.” Or “BAN IT!! DO IT NOOOW!!” It is exactly the reason why I am writing this blog because, as an 18 year old young adult reader, I think the opinion that needs to count the most is people like me who actually read the section and analyse it ourselves.

What kind of young adult book doesn’t talk about boys and sex and anything dirty that comes to your mind? The reason that those topics are written is because we (teenagers) find it interesting! We talk about it with our friends and authors know this and therefore like to capture our language because their characters are meant to be us, so they must mirror our behaviour.

My dad was saying before (while I was ranting to him about it) that when my sister was in the early stages of reading young adult, he was very worried about the content of the stories. My sister used to read books like Chain of Hearts by Maureen McCarthy and Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr. Both contain content like suicide, accidental death and self harm. He stopped worrying, however, when he could see how happy she was reading these sorts of issues in novels. They opened up her eyes, kept her intrigued and plus, she was reading! So my dad wasn’t about to call a library and ask to ban the book when he finally found a way for her to read something!
Interesting, because my sister was 14 at the time and so had a fair idea what suicide meant, could handle issues with self harm etc.

I realised that while watching these youtube videos with library staff having their say, adults who host TV morning shows, mothers and authors also having a say, that not once did they ask the daughters point of view. Sure she’s 12 years old but how do you know she was even phased with the idea of sex being mentioned? I know I wasn’t when I read about suicide in Chain of Hearts when I read it at the age of 12 - my sister recommended the book to me.

To recap, the library staff and bookstore staff should rearrange the age group of young adult sections and perhaps bring in another section labelled “tweens” and then “teens” instead of young adult period. This will be so kids don’t get confused between a book like Twilight (friendly no sex before marriage book) and The Bermudez Triangle (lesbians and underage sex being the norm) while also keeping mothers happy because their daughter/son is reading material that is safe and appropriate for their age.

In the words of Scott Westerfeld:

SCROTUM

Ha. Destroyed your mind!

Jinx xx