Young Adult Literature

Session Coordinator: Laurie Barth Walczak

Department of English, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

laurieb3@uwm.edu

Paper #1:

"Judy Blume, Sonya Sones, and the Domestication of Pornography in YA Literature"

In the debate over censoring Blume's classic sexual-awakening novel, Forever, both sides argue the value of teaching girls about sex without thoroughly examining the power structures inherent in the way Blume's protagonist talks about sex, but literary theorists have failed to discuss how Forever propagates a particular sexual ideology. The language used to describe Kat's sexual encounters in Forever is borrowed from pornography, which, according to theorist Jane Juffer, is traditionally a genre focused on the phallus, produced and consumed by males in both the public and private spheres. While Blume's use of pornographic language could be a form of the "domestication" of porn, meaning, in Juffer's terms, the reintroduction of porn into the home when women regain the domestic sphere for themselves, we still must ask why women cannot create their own pornographic language. Kat does not focus on the clitoris when she describes how pleasurable sex feels; rather, her language reinforces the central importance of the phallus and the "myth of the vaginal orgasm." This language is not the "taming" of a male genre, but rather a false phallocentrism. Other young adult literature, however, provides for a more feminine language of sexual response, one that focuses on the female body. Sonya Sones's poem "Ice Capades" in What My Mother Doesn't Know offers an example of a girl taking pleasure in the "amazing trick" her aroused nipples can do (46). Sones does not write that nipples get "hard" like a phallus, but rather saves arousal from its dependence on men as the protagonist flashes herself. Sones retakes the private sphere of the bedroom for female use. A phallocentric language of arousal damages teenagers' understanding of their own sexuality because it enforces heterosexuality—it teaches girls that they must have a penis involved in the sex act in order to orgasm. A language of arousal centered on the female body would open teenage girls to an exploration of their own sexuality, one that allowed them to enjoy their own bodies with or without a phallus. Such a language is essential to a truly progressive discussion of adolescent sexuality.

Barbara Duffey

University of Houston

bduffey@uh.edu

Paper #2:

"'Shay'a'chern' Equals Homosexual: Cognitive Estrangement in Mercedes Lackey's

'The Last Herald-Mage'"

By estranging a system or a norm, an author can attempt to give the reader access to that system or norm without any positive or negative connotations, which the reader might otherwise bring from his own experience. While the use of such cognitive estrangement in a work of young adult literature can allow for the handling and discussion of "delicate" or difficult topics, it can also contribute to a destructive or debilitating attitude towards those topics. An example of this can be found in Mercedes Lackey's "The Last Herald-Mage" trilogy, within the fantasy series of Valdemar. The main character of these books, Vanyel, is a gay male, yet the author never once uses the terms "gay" or "homosexual." This avoidance of the word "gay" is a cognitive estrangement, allowing a reader a possible opportunity to approach the concept of homosexuality while leaving behind the "real-world" connotations of it – to see it in a new light. However, this estrangement also has the effect of suggesting that homosexuality is a topic to be avoided and hidden. Such estrangement can be damaging to all readers – homosexual, heterosexual, and uncertain, as many adolescent readers are uncertain of their identity – by preventing an honest and open discussion and evaluation of gender and sexuality issues. Homosexuality is a real issue in everyday life, and to estrange it is to deny its validity.

Sally G. VanDenburg

Illinois State University

sgvande@ilstu.edu

Paper #3:

"Cat Calls and Fist Fights: Exploitation of Female and LGBT Sexuality in Contemporary American Young Adult Novels"

Over the last several decades, the young adult literature industry has produced an increasing number of novels that deal more blatantly with teen sexuality. While this trend is promising in that it provides for more open and insightful understanding, discussion, and experience of teens' sexual identities, it is also problematic in that exploitation remains at the core of sexuality for young women and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered characters in these books. Young women typically endure harassment and even assault, and LGBT characters routinely suffer ridicule and violent attacks, even in the most celebratory novels. The ideological assertion that young women and LGBT teens should expect and, moreover, accept exploitation as a somehow normal part of their sexuality is troublesome and such literary representations should be deconstructed to reveal the inherent inequality in sexual power relations in these ostensibly libratory explorations of teen sexuality in young adult literature.

Laurie Barth Walczak

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

laurieb3@uwm.edu