Learning Curves

Adolescence is a time of growth, change, and confusion for young women. During this transition from childhood to adulthood, sex and gender roles become more important. Meanwhile, depictions of females--from the hyper-sexualized girls of music videos to the chaste repression of Purity Balls--send mixed messages to young women about their bodies and their sexuality. Over the last several decades, authors of young adult novels have been challenged to reflect this concern in their work and have responded with varying degrees of success. In Learning Curves: Body Image and Female Sexuality in Young Adult Literature, Beth Younger examines how cultural assumptions and social constraints are reinforced and complicated through common representations of young women. Each chapter analyzes a recurrent theme in the history of young adult literature, including issues of body image, pregnancy, abortion, lesbianism, and romance. By examining selected novels for their sexual content, situating them within their social and historical context, and analyzing their discursive qualities, the author reveals the multitude of complex ways that society depicts teenagers and their sexualities and offers a critique of patriarchal culture that gives value to the female experience.

ISBN 0810859866   Volumes 1 ISBN13 9780810859869 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 326 Publisher Scarecrow Press   Published in Lanham, MD Imprint Scarecrow Press   Series ISSN #35 Format Hardback   Series title Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature Publication date 09 Jul 2009   Height (mm) 216 Library of Congress 2009009141   Width (mm) 140 DEWEY 810.9352352   Spine width (mm) 12 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General Pages 166

		Introduction
Ch. 1		Do I Look Fat? Body Image in YA Literature		1
Ch. 2		Do the Right Thing: Pregnancy and Female Sexuality		23
Ch. 3		Better Than Ice Cream: Lesbian YA Literature		49
Ch. 4		Girl Meets Boy: Romance, Repression, and the Male Predator		73
Ch. 5		Series Fiction and Chick Lit: From Nancy Drew to Gossip Girl		105
		Conclusion		131
		Bibliography		135
		Index		143

Younger's superb overview of young adult books on body image and female sexuality in young adult literature has much to recommend it... This guidebook to females in young adult literature is highly recommended. American Reference Books Annual Drawing on a diverse set of texts spanning almost 70 years - including well-known classics, novels now out of print, and series fiction - she makes a compelling case for the cultural and developmental significance of this body of work... The book makes a unique contribution in recognizing this vastly understudied field. -- H.M. Bittel CHOICE, June 2010 ... An intriguing read and a fine addition to a professional library ... VOYA, December 2009

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