Profanity in teen novels varies greatly from book to book, but characters that do use foul language tend to also be the most popular, attractive and rich, according to new research published in the journal, Mass Communication and Society.
Professor Sarah Coyne, in the Department of Family Life at Brigham Young University, analyzed the use of profanity in 40 young adult books on the adolescent bestsellers list.
Thirty-five out of the 40 books had at least one swear word. She found that YA novels contained on average 38 instances of bad language, but one book had nearly 500 instances of swearing.
Of note, the characters that were doing the swearing tended to be of higher social status, better looking and have more money than their non-swearing counterparts.
The funny thing about books is that you really don't know what you're getting into when you pick one up," said Coyne. "I was genuinely surprised by how much profanity some of these books had.
The documented increase in the use of profanities within YA fiction keeps with the increased acceptance of obscenities in general, said Dr. Steven Schlozman, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
"Reading has always been a separate kind of media," said Dr. Victor Strasburger, a former member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications & Media. "Seeing your favorite movie star, or someone you identify with, spouting foul language is different than reading it on a page because with movies you have the visual processing, along with the auditory and role modeling. With books, you just have the visual."
Professor Sarah Coyne, in the Department of Family Life at Brigham Young University, analyzed the use of profanity in 40 young adult books on the adolescent bestsellers list.Thirty-five out of the 40 books had at least one swear word. She found that YA novels contained on average 38 instances of bad language, but one book had nearly 500 instances of swearing.
Of note, the characters that were doing the swearing tended to be of higher social status, better looking and have more money than their non-swearing counterparts.
The funny thing about books is that you really don't know what you're getting into when you pick one up," said Coyne. "I was genuinely surprised by how much profanity some of these books had.The documented increase in the use of profanities within YA fiction keeps with the increased acceptance of obscenities in general, said Dr. Steven Schlozman, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
"Reading has always been a separate kind of media," said Dr. Victor Strasburger, a former member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications & Media. "Seeing your favorite movie star, or someone you identify with, spouting foul language is different than reading it on a page because with movies you have the visual processing, along with the auditory and role modeling. With books, you just have the visual."
In connection with this subject, I would like to bring up something that was discussed at my SCBWI meeting this week. Someone mentioned that she had read about parents wanting YA books to have ratings. Parents don't have time to read books before the kids do, so some want the rating system to help them make decisions.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that there are two swear words in my middle grade novel, WOUNDS. I had to reveal that as part of my contract with MuseItUp Publishing.
Ratings do make sense depending on what body is doing them. I'm surprised you did have to reveal that. So interesting.
DeleteThanks, Barbara, as always for your insightful comments.
It seems odd to me that certain words are considered offensive while their technical synonyms are not. For example, what's so terrible about being called a female dog?
ReplyDeleteBut I think the increased use of swearing has influenced the amount of violence in our culture. It used to be when people were furious they'd 'break the rules' by using unacceptable language, but now they express strong anger by breaking rules physically.
Yes, I agree with you about the violence, particularly in rap songs, etc. Seems to be becoming endemic. I'm not for sensoring, but the rules have changed, as you've pointed out.
DeleteThanks, Jan.
I'm surprised at the swearing of my daughter's h.s. junior friends. They try not to swear around me, but they do swear a lot. (I also try not to swear in front of her, but sometimes only a bad word can express frustration/anger). I hope the kids only swear with each other. It is probably just acceptable peer culture. I don't recall swear words in YA books I read, so it must have seemed "normal" in the story. I know we swore a lot in college, but that had to stop in the work world. I'm not sure nowadays what level of swearing is acceptable at work. I hope this isn't another example of the world going to H-ll in a hand-basket.
ReplyDeleteI think it's nice they try not to swear around you. It says something about what they think of their friend's mom!
DeleteThis really is a phenomenon of sorts, and I, like you, hope this is not symptomatic in a negative way.
Hi Nancy...
ReplyDeleteI have read for review several YA's recently and nothing that not only is there a lot of profanity, but some of the subject matter is either very depressing (teens dying from cancer) or taboo, and find it every disconcerting. Granted, I am from the "older generation" who read romance novels with the rich boy marrying the poor girl when I was a teen, but I found them to be a great "escape" as well as interesting. Now as an "adult" I am somewhat appalled by the subject matter and terminology included in young people's books. Kids are kids for such a short period of time, do we have to introduce them to the "horrors" of the world and teach them it's okay to use profanity so soon. I'm sure they'll see enough of that once they become adults. This is my opinion only, and I don't know if others feel this way, but like I said, I'm old-fashioned.
Hi, Nancy,
DeleteI actually agree with everything you've said here. And because I don't believe censoring, it can be pretty disconcerting. I think part of it is, as always, generational. But not all of it. I think part of the problem is societal and needs to be addressed in the family.
Many thanks for your comments.