Does Sex Belong in Young Adult Literature?

I’m going to start this off by saying that my mother and I have some weird discussions. Sometimes we agree and other times we butt heads for hours on end for a subject that we aren’t particularly attached to. A few days ago, we had an argument about the media’s representation of sex to young adults and children. She looked at a child reading Suzanne Collins’ “The Hunger Games” and commented loudly that it was ridiculous how we could sell books about extreme violence to children but not about sex.

My side was mostly that I didn’t think sex needed to be in “The Hunger Games”. They were in a dystopian society where they concentrated on survival, especially in the murdering arena. Katniss was too preoccupied with not being killed. What would she do? Screw someone that was hoping to kill her in the middle of a forest where there are other people/things trying to kill her? I know danger can be sexy, but I feel like that’s not the choice Katniss would make. And if we’re considering how negative of an influence violence is, countering that with sex in the midst of violence isn’t going to make a healthy mentality either.
I do think that books should be more open to talk about sex. For example, books that are based entirely on sexual desire but lightly gloss over the act. I feel ridiculous for always targeting the series, but Stephanie Meyer’s “Twilight” series does this a lot. When reaching the final book – after waiting three other books for sex to be had – the acts are whitewashed. It’s mostly described as perfect, but otherwise it’s vague. I think books that involve sexual relationships that are more relevant to the plot should concentrate less on innuendo for their young readers.

But in defense of my original point, I don’t think every book needs it. I didn’t think “The Hunger Games” needed it. It’s just as stupid to shoehorn in a sexual scenario, as it is to deny sex in a sexual story. It’s the responsibility of the author to remain true to the nature of their story. If you write about poverty – show me. If you write about violence – show me. If you write about sex – damn it, you better show me.

Supporting my mother’s point (and half of mine) is the Y.A fiction author Malorie Blackman, who believes honest sex scenes should be encouraged in Y.A literature. Blackman worries that porn is having too heavy of an influence on teen sex: “I was reading an article three weeks ago where this teenage girl was saying everything her boyfriend knew about sex he knew from porn. He was brutalising her…”. Her solution would be YA novels that provide “a safe setting” for sex to exist and be understood. Then teenagers can understand better that porn is a specific type of fantasy that tends to ignore the reality of a female’s sexual needs/desires, especially in the beginning of a sexual relationship.

Do you agree? Can you think of any Y.A books that could have improved with sex? Which books would’ve been ruined?

Haruki Murakami: The Joker and Straight Man

Today I finished Murakami’s book “Dance Dance Dance”, originally published in 1988 in Japanese as “Dansu Dansu Dansu”. Murakami has published quite a few fiction novels and the non-fiction novel “Underground” about the Tokyo Gas Attack on March 20th, 1995. I haven’t read all of Murakami’s work, only two other novels: “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” and “Norwegian Wood” (his most grounded fiction from what I’ve heard).

When I started reading “Dance Dance Dance”, I knew to expect some things from
Murakami. First of all, I knew not to get attached to characters. Murakami is a writer that is not afraid to stomp out a character as quickly as they came. And the swiftness of one character’s disappearance will not discourage the same fate for another. When reading “Norwegian Wood” (spoiler alert), I couldn’t believe the death toll that such a calm book could rack up. Maybe it’s a sign that I’m used to death in books filled with action and war. Or maybe it’s a sign that my culture is less comfortable talking about suicide and death without passion. It’s not going with a bang, it’s being silently snuffed out and life going on.

Another thing to expect from Murakami is frustration. There will be questions unanswered. Mysteries left unsolved. And if you don’t know that this is just his style, it will drive you insane. Hell, if you do know it’s his style it could still drive you insane. You will want to shake your paperback and yell: Why are you telling me about his dinner? I want to know about the murder! But in all likelihood, you won’t find about the murder/missing person/other compelling mystery. The book will never be as neat as you want it to be. The book doesn’t stand for you as a reader, it stands on its own.

The one new thing that came to me in “Dance Dance Dance” is that Murakami is a clever comedian. His style can be paralleled by a character’s description of acting for a funny commercial. The commercial (about antacids) involves the actor (Gotanda) jumping between trains and scaling skyscrapers like it’s a normal Monday: “‘There’s something to be said when a straight man like me can bring out the humor of a routine like that. You try to live in this crazy, crooked, mixed-up world – that’s what’s funny’”.

When I thought about it, that described Murakami’s style perfectly. The writing is usually serious, sometimes grim, breaching on topics of loneliness and confusion. And while this sounds like a basic and depressing read, the worlds of Murakami’s novels are insane – almost hilariously so. They have magic and other dimensions and strange nonsensical occurrences.

In “Dance Dance Dance” there is a Sheep Man, a sassy 13 year old who can sense death, and magical ears. But all the characters skate through the nonsense, spending just as much time worrying about their monthly budgets as they do with mystical forces. Murakami manages to make his books fit the category of insane comedy while simultaneously playing it straight.