From: Judith Ridge <Judith.Ridge>
Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:05:17 +1000

On 25/6/05 3:45 AM, "Leda Schubert" wrote:


ss as nd


In response to Leda's question, I have been thinking over sex in Australian YA fiction, and I'd have to say, when it does appear, it's reasonably matter of factly dealt with. I can't recall many graphic sex scenes. In Phillip Gwynne's novel "Nukkin' Ya", the sequel to "Deadly Unna?" (the titles come from Aboriginal English), when the narrator Blacky has sex with his girlfriend for the first time, he tells the reader something to the effect of, you don't think I'm going to tell you all the gory details do you? It was private, it was good, that's all you need to know.

Nick Earls' YA novels deal pretty matter of factly with sex, as part of his characters experiences. I haven't heard any objections to Earls YA fiction. He's also a very successful adult novelist in the vein of Nick Hornby so that may account in part for his acceptance by the wider media. (I notice in an online review of Earls' "Making Laws for Clouds" that Australian teenagers are now using the term "hook up". I guess we can thank The OC for that!)

I haven't read much Sonya Hartnett, too misanthropic for my taste, but Wilful Blue certainly raised eyebrows when it was first published.

Probably the most "out there" Australian YA novel in terms of sex and sexuality is Margo Lanagan's "Touching Earth Lightly". This is a challenging book on many levels. It's about the friendship between two teenage girls, one of whom, Janey, has compulsive, promiscuous sex with strangers. The book seems to me to be a genuine attempt to challenge notions of female sexuality, and I am a great admirer of Lanagan booth personally and as a writer, but I have some real problems with how this book spins out ideologically--on many levels. Too complex to go into here. Of all of the Australian YA I can think of, this book is the most likely to have attracted controversy (in terms of sex), but in fact, I don't recall there being much noice made about it. It's been OP for a few years now.

I have also just read Paul Jennings' autobiographical novel which has a ridiculously long title, and which I will just call "Hedley Hopkins". Jennings has been our best-selling children's author; he pioneered trade books for reluctant readers here with books like "Unreal" and "Uncanny" and so on. (Many of you will be familiar with them.) Hedley Hopkins is drawn on Paul's experiences as a young English migrant to Australia in the 1950s. He's about 13 in the book, I think, and he's quite preoccupied with naked women and trying to understand how sex works, and thinking no-one else thinks about this stuff and he's going to hell. There's a frank scene where, shall we say (in deference to the spam filters!), his imagination gets the better of him and "how sex works" suddenly starts to make more sense. It's a terrific book for many reasons (good plot, great characters, goood writing), but I do wonder what unsuspecting adults buying the new Paul Jennings will make of it.

So, a long answer to a short question. I'm not convinced sex is the first thing Australian gatekeepers worry about in YA fiction, and I think that we DON'T publish books like "The Rainbow Club" is because we don't have a Puritan background to challenge. Perhaps that's a little simplistic. Mike?!



een

I would like to point out that this is very much a cultural reaction. We don't have the strong first cousin taboo here that is evident from many US readers of this book, and they don't in the UK either. I didn't think twice about it in How I Live Now (I was too busy being irritated by the faux narrative voice for a start). First cousins are free to marry here. It's not common, but it's not a scandal.

Having said that, this kind of reductionist comment about HILN is typical of the way YA literature is written about?and not, alas, just by the on-specialist media. We've been having a conversation about this over on child_lit, in response to this Slate article:

http://www.slate.com/id/2121022/

PW seems to be falling into the same trap. You'd have hoped for better.


of nd c,

Doesn't Westerfeld's "So Yesterday" do this?


o

Now you're just being cynical, Leda ;-)


Judith




Judith Ridge Editorial Staff The School Magazine PO Box 1928 Macquarie Centre NSW 2113 AUSTRALIA
+61 2 9889 0044 (ph)
+61 2 9889 0040 (fax)

********************************************************************** This message is intended for the addressee named and may contain privileged information or confidential information or both. If you are not the intended recipient please delete it and notify the sender.
**********************************************************************
Received on Mon 27 Jun 2005 08:05:17 PM CDT