Title Learning curves : body image and female sexuality in young adult literature / Beth Younger

Published Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 2009

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Description 1 online resource (xvii, 147 pages) Series Scarecrow studies in young adult literature ; 35 Scarecrow studies in young adult literature ; 35. Contents Do I look fat? Body image in YA literature -- Do the right thing: pregnancy and female sexuality -- Better than ice cream: lesbian YA literature -- Girl meets boy: romance, repression, and the male predator -- Series fiction and chick lit: from Nancy Drew to Gossip girl Summary 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 Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Print version record Subject Young adult fiction, American -- History and criticism Teenage girls in literature. Body image in literature. Sex (Psychology) in literature. Femininity in literature. Adolescence in literature. Teenage girls -- Sexual behavior LITERARY CRITICISM -- American -- General. Adolescence in literature Body image in literature Femininity in literature Sex (Psychology) in literature Teenage girls in literature Teenage girls -- Sexual behavior Young adult fiction, American Erotik Motiv Jugendliteratur Körperbild Mädchenliteratur Weibliche Heranwachsende Motiv Weiblichkeit Motiv USA Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. Form Electronic book ISBN 9780810869509 0810869500

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