died-and-went-to-nightvale:

thepagesage:

“Dear YA Authors,

Please stop making sex hurt.

That’s a weird request, I know, so let me clarify what I mean a little. You know the (heterosexual) sex scenes in YA books (the ones that don’t fade to black) where it’s the girl’s first time and it goes something like this:

I felt a sharp pain and he paused. “Are you okay?” he asked. I gritted my teeth and nodded. Eventually the pain turned into something better… later, after we were finished, I saw a red stain on his sheets and cringed.

I’m not exactly going to win the Printz here, but you get the idea.”

Read the rest on The Page Sage.

This about a million times over. The sex ed I got was from the playground and books, and I bought into these sorts of myths for a very long time. It’s simply not healthy. YA authors (although their editors and publishers may have a greater role in this) have a responsibility to keep their work at a ‘teen’ rating because adults are scared that adult themes will have an adverse effect; surely they also have a responsibility to write accurately about the more mature themes for the same reason.

An Open Letter to YA Authors About Sex