Musings on the Use of Profanity and Sexual Content in YA Books

  I recently discovered that the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) categorizes YOUNG ADULT as ages 12-18.  I work with the lower end of that range, 12 and 13 year olds.  There is a huge difference from one end to the other, which brings me to these thoughts.  While there is a category of books out there that fall into a MIDDLE GRADES label, I find that, sometimes, these books are written too simplistic for much of my population, especially the true readers among them.  That’s not to say there is not quality fiction to be found amongst them because there certainly is a wealth of interesting plot structures and intriguing characters.  But, for me, I find that the best fiction I have read is usually in the YOUNG ADULT category, which means I am constantly stocking my shelves (school and home, virtually and real) with YA books.  The trouble I have, sometimes, is the heavy use of profanity and/or sexual content that is often threaded between the pages of these books.  I get it.  Believe me, I get it.  I understand why it’s there.  I understand its appeal.  I get it.  And yet, I still struggle with it.  I want to be able to put high quality YA fiction on my shelves for students to take and absorb the immensity of complex plot structures and believable characters.  I want them to be able to find themselves in those characters and in those situations.  I want them to connect, to feel that deep pull that a reader has towards a book.  But, admittedly, I find that I have to screen some of the books within the four walls of my classroom because of the language and content of many books.  Kids know the words, probably have heard worse in the real world.  They watch tv, spend time online, and are not strangers to the incredibly sex-focused world we seem to live in.  Still, I want to be able to shield them at least a little bit and, honestly, I don’t think it’s my place to expose them to things that they may or may not be ready for.  And, if it’s language that we don’t allow in school, I am hard pressed to allow it in what they are borrowing from my shelves.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t prevent them from reading whatever books they want.  They can find YA books that I don’t have in my classroom in our library, or the city library, or the bookstore.  We have conversations about the content of some books and how, sometimes, we may read things that make us uncomfortable and we can choose to put it aside.  There are definitely books that need the profanity and sexual content to tell the story and tell it honestly and straightforward.  Sometimes,  I find a great short story to use in my classroom, but the author chose to put one or two swears in it.  Will I use the story?  Of course.  And I merely just black out the profanity.  But, honestly, if a story only has a couple of swears in it, it makes me wonder–why include it at all?  Other times, the book is so thickly laden with profanity and sexual content that I can barely stand to read it as an adult (like recently, Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan).  Sometimes, there are books that are somewhere in the middle.  I want my students to be able to learn about the world in their reading and I know that our world is not usually filled with bright lights and rainbows.  I certainly don’t want to sell them on the fake version.  They deserve honesty and truth.  I guess this is just me trying to continuously find the balance of doing what is right as their teacher.