Hmmm. I would say Jenny Pausacker's What Are Ya? except that I know how: Australian small press, literary fellowship, actually less of a risk in that time period than now, which says all sorts of fucked up things about society.
Actually, I say that but I just went to the author's website to check the publication date, and discovered two things I didn't know: 1. It was the first Australian novel to have a gay main character, so I'm revising my opinion of how much a publication risk it was. 2. The ebook's available for free on her website!!!
Anyway, it's contemporary YA published in 1987, and includes sex scenes involving teenagers, a masturbation scene (ditto), and explorations of identity and sexual safety that felt honest rather than didactic in a way that impressed me.
Also, the lesbian protagonist ends up happily dating two different girls at the same time. Who know about each other. In 1987.
I'm well aware that lesbians were DOING that then and earlier, and that getting to keep being friends with your exes or to negotiate nonmonogamous relationships were Things well before the internet, but generally they weren't publishing young adult books about it. Or nominating them for the Premier's Literary Award. Or putting those books in school libraries for teenage vasses to borrow and read and reread.
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Date: 2019-05-02 12:52 pm (UTC)Actually, I say that but I just went to the author's website to check the publication date, and discovered two things I didn't know:
1. It was the first Australian novel to have a gay main character, so I'm revising my opinion of how much a publication risk it was.
2. The ebook's available for free on her website!!!
Anyway, it's contemporary YA published in 1987, and includes sex scenes involving teenagers, a masturbation scene (ditto), and explorations of identity and sexual safety that felt honest rather than didactic in a way that impressed me.
Also, the lesbian protagonist ends up happily dating two different girls at the same time. Who know about each other. In 1987.
I'm well aware that lesbians were DOING that then and earlier, and that getting to keep being friends with your exes or to negotiate nonmonogamous relationships were Things well before the internet, but generally they weren't publishing young adult books about it. Or nominating them for the Premier's Literary Award. Or putting those books in school libraries for teenage