Jim Liebelt's Youth Culture Watch

Some Teen Books Surprisingly X-Rated, Study Finds

A new study finds that popular teen books can be surprisingly sexual, meaning that reading may not always be the wholesome activity that parents expect.

Researchers reported online June 8 in the Journal of Sex Research, books aimed at 12- and 13-year-olds were no less sexy than books aimed at readers ages 14 and up. In addition, sex was rarely presented in a healthy light: Contraceptives and practical consequences were almost never mentioned, said study researcher Sarah Coyne, a psychologist at Brigham Young University.

The "Gossip Girl" books and a vampire series "The Anna Strong Chronicles" were two series that were particularly focused on sex, Coyne said.

Many of the 40 books the researchers examined were free of age-inappropriate sexual content, Coyne said. The "Harry Potter" books, for example, are fairly free of sex. Of the 55 percent of books that did have sexual content, Coyne estimated that only a half-dozen or so had explicit or implicit references to sexual intercourse. "A lot of the books were just great," Coyne said. "But other books had quite a bit, some quite graphic sexual content. Some that I was actually really surprised that it was aimed at an adolescent audience."

Like TV and movies, books rarely dealt with what Brown calls the "three Cs:" contraceptives, consequences and commitment. About a third of the 56 incidences of sexual intercourse in the books took place between people not in relationships, Coyne found.

Source: Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/07/06/some-teen-books-surprisingly-x-rated-study-finds/

Lack of Sex Attracts Teen Girls to Twilight Series

Vampires aside, it's really just a simple love story.

The reason teenage girls have fallen hard for the Twilight book and film series has to do with its portrayal of a traditional, romantic relationship, new research from the University of Missouri shows.

In the series, vampire Edward Cullen doesn't want to harm or bite his teen love interest Bella Swan, which means they can't have sex.

"With teens, we actually found that they appreciated the messages of abstinence," said Melissa Click, an assistant professor of communication who surveyed 4,000 Twilight fans, aged 11 to 70.

Click and her co-authors' research primarily addresses the reasons behind the teenage-madness for Twilight, a four-book series with two films so far.

The Missouri research found that many teen girls — who make up the core of Twilight's audience, along with a few moms — are drawn to the story about love beyond the physical.

"The media environment is saturated with teens in sexual relationships," said Click, who plans to publish the findings next spring in a collaborative book Bitten by Twilight: Youth culture, media and the vampire franchise.

"(Twilight) does provide something different for girls. I've had girls say to me, 'I'm going to wait for my Edward.' And they think that's really cool."

Source: Vancouver Sun
http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Lack+attracts+teen+girls+Twilight+series+study/2238456/story.html