Saturday, 12 May 2012

Saturday Discussions: Cursing in YA

I have a feeling that I am going to have a very different perspective on this topic because I have a different perspective on cursing anyway. I'm one of those people who believes that words are just words. While the curse word might have a negative connotation that doesn't necessarily make it bad but that depends on said connotation. I don't say or approve of words that are offensive to race or sex but everything else is sort of free game for me. I don't really care if someone is saying that they or someone else are the spawn of a female dog or poop by another form. It just doesn't offend me because I believe that a word only has as much power as we put in to it. If you are calling me a name and I don't put that much into it then you are going to eventually wear yourself out and go cry alone in your corner.

So now that I've proclaimed that, you can imagine that cursing in YA doesn't really bother me. The fact of the matter is, when I was in 9th grade I had the "foulest" mouth around. Seriously, sailors would blush at the things that came out of my mouth. As I grew older, I sort of grew out of that phase but it doesn't mean it didn't happen. So for me, teens cursing is just sort of natural because most people do it. I don't mind a character that doesn't because it is against their religion or they're scared what they're parents will say. But I think whether or not the characters curse is just another piece of information like whether or not they like breakfast for dinner.

This is not  to say that I would get into a book where there is a curse word flung around all the time just to be there. Frankly, most people don't talk that way anyway so I don't care to read it. If it's done for shock value, I definitely don't like it. But if it feels right and like it isn't being forced, then why shouldn't they curse? Especially if it is a character who would. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton. Ari was raised by two bounty hunters and is an expert at finding and disabling people. Of course she is going to hear cursing on those adventures with her parents and her own adventures and it is going to effect the way she speaks. So I believe that she would curse a lot.

However, like with sex, I feel like there needs to be some kind of warning label for books that curse a lot, a lot. I'm not talking about a "bloody hell" here or there after a major battle and the characters have nearly escaped. I'm talking about the characters that curse for whatever reason a lot. But then again, if you do this then people would have to define "a lot" which would get sticky so maybe I'm not for that label. I guess that is undecided for me because I can see it both ways. Authors and teens don't want to feel stifled by some label but I also think it's fair that parents know what their kids are reading. I guess that like I said last week, it'd be good if the teen section was split into two for the older audiences and the younger audiences.

It all boils down to the fact that I am "for" cursing in YA as long as it makes sense. Make cursing like pepper, just enough to give a hint of flavor to the novel.

What about you folks? Hell yes or heck no?

Want to suggest a topic or ask me a question?

No comments:

Post a Comment