Sunday, March 16, 2008

Is Young Adult SF/F Too Explicit?

That's the topic of discussion over at the Mind Meld. Check out what Ellen Datlow, Gwenda Bond and others have to say on the matter here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As both a teenager and a writer, I'll have to say that no, YA novels--although I rarely read them--aren't explicit.

What I should ask is if they SHOULD be explicit.

Teenagers are, as I've seen, the most stupid generation of our society. We want to believe that we're raising the future leaders of our country, but how are we raising future leaders when we are neglecting the fact that teenagers NO NOTHING.

Do teenagers know about sex?

Do teenagers know about rape?

Do teenagers know about child abuse?

DO they? Do they REALLY know about it?

No, and you know why they don't know about it? It's because the adult society has an idiotic view that thinks they have to shield their children from every little thing they think is bad.

How do you know your child isn't out having sex? How do you know if your child is using protection during that sex or not? Do your children know that you can contract HIV AIDs through sex, much less kissing?

Do they?

I seriously doubt it. Children these days don't know ANYTHING because they are TOO SHELTERED. Back in the older days, children knew about sex when they were in diapers because they saw animals having sex in their backyard. Their parents didn't say, 'Oh, he just likes her,' or something along that line.

The above is just one fine example.

Should YA books be censored?

No.

Is life censored?

No.

I don't understand why people think a book should be censored when you let your children listen to rap music, let them hang out with others who are a bad influence and who let them run around with their pants around their ankles.

~ Kody Boye
www.freewebs.com/kodyboye

Anonymous said...

Hey Kody,

To play devil's advocate, what do you say to people who say that telling teenagers about certain issues - like sex, or suicide - might put ideas in their heads? Or force them to grow up sooner than maybe they could?