Forever...
Registered by anathema-device of Wien Bezirk 20 - Brigittenau, Wien Austria on 3/1/2018
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by anathema-device from Wien Bezirk 20 - Brigittenau, Wien Austria on Thursday, March 1, 2018
From the book phonebox at the local teachers college.
I wasn't allowed to read this book as a teenager, and I never managed to smuggle a copy past my mum. (I do know one thing about the plot, though. My classmates found it too hilarious to not continuously talk about it.)
I wasn't allowed to read this book as a teenager, and I never managed to smuggle a copy past my mum. (I do know one thing about the plot, though. My classmates found it too hilarious to not continuously talk about it.)
The good impression: this edition has an added disclaimer by the author to explain that when the book was first published, the main focus of "safe sex" was on not getting pregnant. She adds some advice about STDs and provides some health information links (which could also be updated again, cosidering there are really helpful websites like Scarleteen now) and a phone number for Planned Parenthood.
The not-so-great impressions: on page 76 the mother character lectures Kath on how "sex is a commitment" and that "once you're there you can't go back to holding hands". I have a problem with this statement. Consent is not "forever". If you were okay with something yesterday, that says nothing about today or the future. Even mid-whatever-you-are-doing-with-your-partner(s) you can have a moment where you are uncomfortable and/or want to stop or do something else, and that's perfectly okay. Sex is all about finding out what you and your partner(s) like and communicating this, too.
Also, this book is still making too many allusions instead of really explaining what's going on between the two main characters, physically and to a degree also emotionally. There is a lot of over-romanticising and no real explanations. And what I've always missed in teen literature is helpful information.
And lastly (maybe not lastly, but it's the last "big" thing I can think of off the top of my head) I really, really dislike how the story of the marginalised character Artie is treated. I have so many questions. And I bet that young LGBTQ+ readers have them too. Where are the YA books with a focus on queer romances that have happy endings? I'm sure they exist now, but definitely not so much in the 1970s, and this book just really disappointed me with it's half-formed theses and treatment of Artie's story, which seems to be communicating that if hetero sex "doesn't work" and cannot be forced (!!), there is no way out (except for, well, suicide and/or whatever kind of therapy they're hinting at). Major boo. This could have been handled very differently (and much more positively).
The not-so-great impressions: on page 76 the mother character lectures Kath on how "sex is a commitment" and that "once you're there you can't go back to holding hands". I have a problem with this statement. Consent is not "forever". If you were okay with something yesterday, that says nothing about today or the future. Even mid-whatever-you-are-doing-with-your-partner(s) you can have a moment where you are uncomfortable and/or want to stop or do something else, and that's perfectly okay. Sex is all about finding out what you and your partner(s) like and communicating this, too.
Also, this book is still making too many allusions instead of really explaining what's going on between the two main characters, physically and to a degree also emotionally. There is a lot of over-romanticising and no real explanations. And what I've always missed in teen literature is helpful information.
And lastly (maybe not lastly, but it's the last "big" thing I can think of off the top of my head) I really, really dislike how the story of the marginalised character Artie is treated. I have so many questions. And I bet that young LGBTQ+ readers have them too. Where are the YA books with a focus on queer romances that have happy endings? I'm sure they exist now, but definitely not so much in the 1970s, and this book just really disappointed me with it's half-formed theses and treatment of Artie's story, which seems to be communicating that if hetero sex "doesn't work" and cannot be forced (!!), there is no way out (except for, well, suicide and/or whatever kind of therapy they're hinting at). Major boo. This could have been handled very differently (and much more positively).
Journal Entry 3 by anathema-device at Bücherregal Wohnpark Gösting in Graz, Steiermark Austria on Sunday, May 20, 2018
Released 5 yrs ago (5/20/2018 UTC) at Bücherregal Wohnpark Gösting in Graz, Steiermark Austria
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Feel free to read and keep this book, pass it on to a friend, or leave it back on the shelf or somewhere else for the next reader. If you journal this book as a member, you will hear from future readers as it keeps on travelling the world. Happy reading!
