Feminism in YA: A good thing or not?

[dystopiafan2015]

The Hunger Games, Divergent etc have strong female leads, as does Twilight however the characters all have very different characteristics.

Twilight has been called anti-feminist, what do people think? Is feminism in YA literature a good thing for our teens or not?

Hi dystopianfan, this is for your dissertation I assume? It's usually best to declare when a thread is started for research as until I did a search on your posting history I thought this was a journalist who couldn't be arsed writing their own article, probably for the Daily Mail about the harmfulness of feminism on the tender minds of a future generation of homemakers (young women, in other words).

I haven't read any of the books in question so can only comment in general terms, and on this quote, often attributed to Stephen King but it appears it wasn't him who said it: Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what is right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to have a boyfriend.

Not sure you will get many people in a thread in 'Feminist book clubs' (a section I had no idea we had) stoutly defending the idea that feminism in YA literature, or indeed any literature, is a bad thing. The fact that the various female protagonists you mention are not the same is a good thing - women are people and people are not all the same (but there has been a tendency to write rather one-dimensional 'heroic' female characters in the past).

Although not Young Adult fiction, given your focus is on feminism and dystopian writing, I assume The Handmaid's Tale is going to feature somewhere in your dissertation. I certainly read this as a teen.

Well dystopiafan2015,

As a very traditional and old fashioned woman, I believe that feminism is just a governmental conspiracy and in my personal actual opinion is that us woman folk should be at home taking care of our men, providing them with blowjobs and delicious eggs. So I think that feminism in books sets a bad example for our future generation.

To quote my fellow mum, snoop doggie dog "The bitches need to be at home. If they out on the streets then whos fondling my fanny?"

-Margaret (gamertag: xxN05c0p3Rxx) , proud mother of 7 xxx