So if you follow me on Twitter, you've probably seen my thread looking for books with positive realistic representations of sex in YA books.
Representing any issue in YA books needs to be handled well. You can't breeze over and sugar coat a topic because that is inauthentic and unrealistic. Teenagers and young adults know about sex, they may be having sex. Therefore mis-representing it in books is not "sheltering" them its harming them as they need a realistic view of relationships.
In real life there is no "fade-to-black" movie moment and it really irritates me when a book or movie does that as they don't want to portray the real moment to teenagers or young adults.
Teenagers relationships are just as valid. Therefore I'm glad there are some books which represent sex, love and relationships in a realistic way for teenagers. Representation really matters.
1) The Classic: Forever by Judy Blume (REVIEW HERE)
The representation is not only realistic in this book but is probably one of the first books for many people that they read where sex was displayed.
This novel centres around first relationship between Katherine, the main character, and her boyfriend Michael. As they fall in love for the first time they begin having sex.
The way the relationship progresses is written so well and the sex scenes are realistic.
The book shows sex in a realistic light, bleeding when you lose your virginity, it hurting, it sometimes being disappointing and the fact that just because you fall in love doesn't mean it will last forever.
A must read (although I find the boyfriend Michael to not be great and it is a little dated because its 50+ years old)
