Tell All Tuesday

Teenage Sex Appeal

Why yes I do feel like a huge pedophile by writing that, but while being laid up at home and having nothing else to do but watch HLN, I've been noticing alot of BAD teenage sex appeal.  (Okay when is it good?  I'll get to that).  But I like to always get the bad news off of my chest first...

For those who have been living under a rock, Miley Cyrus has gotten a lot of bad press recently for her very risque video for "Who owns my heart."  I recently watched this video and would have to agree with the images of her rolling around in a bed and kissing on girls of the same sex is a little too much for me to handle.

But, wait Magan, didn't your boy toy Adam Lambert do the same thing?

Okay, first off YOU WILL NOT SPEAK ILL OF MY GLAMBERT...

But, why yes he did get criticized for similar sexual performances...

So what's the difference? 

Adam is a twenty-eight-year-old MAN and Miley Cyrus is a seventeen-year-old GIRL.

Miley spent years building up her fan base on the squeaky clean HANNAH MONTANA, and even I'll admit that I was a fan of the show's image.  It was something I could watch with the kids I babysat in high school without having to worry about anything raunchy coming on and I thought with such active parents in Miley's life she would never go down the wrong path like other Disney stars have...(not mentioning any names that start with L...)

Then it seems like she decided that she wanted to break away from her Hannah Montana role, but do it in the trashiest way possible by riding an ice cream cart like a stripper show on a COMPLETELY kid friendly awards show.

But Magan what about Adam Lambert and the AMA's?

My subconscious mind needs to stop talking about Glambert right now... But yeah he did have that sexually charged performance, but again I will explain the difference.  How many of you ACTUALLY watched him on Idol?  I sat with my parents watching him and let me tell you, from day one I knew that this guy was the next David Bowie.  You could tell with his outlandish costumes and performances that radiated sexuality even on prime time television, that he was definitely not kid friendly (thus he does play a lot of 18 plus shows people!)

Oh and the AMA's?  Yeah who lets their seven-year-old stay up to watch a performance at eleven o'clock at night?  Yeah my parents would let me stay up to watch Conan when I was in like 9th grade, but I was fourteen there is a HUGE difference between a young kid staying up till eleven on a school night and a high schooler doing it.  And from the looks of the set and the costumes, sorry ABC you should have known.

Now that I've stepped off my Adam soap box...I want to talk about the SAFE teenage sex appeal.

This is actually one that I've seen most prominent in teen literature and then when it's adapted onto the screen.  Even though I'm not a huge fan, the Twilight series does this REALLY well.  As a mom, you know what you're getting into with the Twilight series.  Yeah there are sparkly vampires, a little violence, and some forbidden love, but you know that Edward Cullen isn't going to get on a stripper pole to start seducing Bella.

YA writers (oh yeah I'm including myself) we know how to do the sexual tension tango without taking it too far.  We know that a first kiss scene can be just as sensual as a sex scene and we can do it well.  Writers know who their audience is and exactly how we should tailor our work to that audience.  Even when things are adapted to the big screen (Hunger Games anyone?) we know that there would have to be a PG-13 rating, at the very most, so we can get our readers off those showings.

So YA writers, THANK YOU, thank you for knowing the difference between bad and safe teenage sex appeal.  Thank you for making it known that you know what's appropriate for teenagers to read and won't get them bored.  And thank you blog readers for not talking smack about my boy toy any more than my Devil's Advocate does...

So what do you think about Miley Cyrus?  Sex Appeal in teenagers?

The thin line of adulthood

In The Sims 3: you are a teenager for 14 days then you become a Young adult for 21 days, then you are an adult for 21 days before you become an elder. As a teenager you cannot get pregnant, but as a young adult you’re pretty fertile and can keep having babies from young adult to adult.

Okay now really what did my description of The Sims 3 and pregnancy have to do with anything? Well I’ve been thinking a lot about adolescence and adulthood recently. Okay more so since I started trying to write Young Adult novels and finally graduated from the juniors section at the department stores. So my big question is, “Where is the line of young adulthood and adulthood drawn?”

In The Sims 3 it’s by a couple of days (or hours if you are sitting on your couch playing like me). The only thing that really defines the difference between teenagers and adults is the ability to have children and not go to school. In the literary world I really feel like this line is even more discreet. JK Rowling and Stephenie Meyer introduced a lot of adults to books that were aimed at a younger audience and could keep mom and teenager both entertained. When I was a teenager/ middle schooler I was actually reading VC Andrews and Charles Dickens and now I read Mandy Hubbard and Meg Cabot, so it was kind of like a role reversal there.

But I really question this line the more I write. Some people say that in Young Adult books there should be sex or profanity. Well let me tell you I read “Forever” by Judy Blume and “Perfect Chemistry” by Simone Elkeles and neither of those books (that are both YA) were nothing short on the sex or swearing. The main difference that I do see in these novels is the age and that’s it. Honestly I think the main character in a Young Adult novel in the book store can be anywhere from twelve to nineteen and be the same book as one written about a fifty year old in the fiction section. Do you agree?

These questions go through my head as I go on my journey from teenager to young adult and as I decide where I want to play in my own role as a writer.