F-Bombing In YA Fiction
I recently read an article about profanity in young adult fiction. Since I write YA, I am conscious of it in my own work, and try to think of alternate ways to cuss. But let's face it, cussing is a stress reliever. And for whatever reason, it's cool. And you know how important it is to be cool in junior high and high school.
This is from the article in Time Healthland: "The researchers defined profanity as any language considered obscene, offensive, taboo or vulgar by the American public. They categorized profanities into five groups:
The Seven Dirty Words: Words the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers unspeakable for broadcast television.Sexual Words: Words describing body parts or sexual behavior in a coarse way.Excretory Words: Words that have direct or literal reference to human waste.Strong Others: Words defined as strong based on their level of offensiveness or “taboo-ness.”Mild Others: Words that are mild based on their level of offensiveness or “taboo-ness.”"Profanity in my novels fits into the Sexual Words (I use arse because the setting is England) and surprisingly, Excretory Words (my MC uses crap a lot) categories.
My characters do not drop the F-Bomb. Instead, they use flippin' or freaking. I have nothing against the F-Bomb - I have been known to drop a few here and there. But for myself as a reader, strong language is a distraction, unless it's used in a frantic or high conflict situation.
I'm not familiar with the YA novel Tweak, but apparently 500 instances of profanity were used, 139 of them the F-Bomb. Whoa. Somebody had a good ol' time!
Now Kiersten White, the author of Paranormalcy had a really awesome way of getting around the dirty word issue. One of her characters is a mermaid called Lish, who works the central information center for the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA). Being a mermaid, Lish lives in/under water and speaks through some kind of electronic translation apparatus. When she cusses, it's bleeped out, much like the reality shows on television. So Evie, who is the MC and Lish's best friend, always says bleep when she cusses. That was so clever of Ms. White.
What's interesting is that if these YA novels were television or movies, they'd be rated "R." As of yet, books are not regulated or given a rating.
What do you think about profanity in young adult fiction? Do you use the F-Bomb in your novels? Should it be regulated or censored?
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I agree about not ignoring the use of profanity. That would be unrealistic, because of course kids are cussing. But I'm with you about using profanity effectively. Sometimes less is more.
Jessa wrote: "I think ignoring the use of profanity in books about teenagers is right up there with pretending they don't have sex. I know I was cussing like a sailor in my teens, and I was having sex and gettin..."
But with that said, I do think you can do it without being shocking to more sensitive readers - like the suit at the FCC. The f*bomb, though one of my favorites, is definitely a shock to many. So is a certain c-word. But sh*t and cr*p and hell can be used just as successfully, getting the point across without offending anyone's sensitivities. My book has the f*bomb in it ONE time, and using it once (in my opinion) is WAY more effective than overusing it for the sake of cussing.