For the Progressive Librarian's Guild and FIMS Graduate Resource Center Human Library Event
Human Book Perspective: Youth Need (More) Sexually-Explicit Novels
Young Adult fiction that contains sex has a contentious presence in public libraries. A long and continuing history of challenges to these books has led to systemic issues of censorship and limited access to materials for young users. These limitations inhibit the potential for Young Adult fiction to be utilized as a way of introducing contemporary understandings of sexuality into the lives of youth. Through my interviews with young readers on this topic, I am learning that fiction can be greatly informative to how readers construct and perform their sexual identities, their relationships, and their sexual fantasies.