Why are adult fantasy novels by women often marketed at teenagers? This is the question an article on the website BookRiot has posited, arguing that unconscious sexism is to blame. “As more women’s novels get mistakenly classified as young adult, it furthers the message that grownup fantasy and sci-fi are for men. Sure, women can write for teens who like The Hunger Games, but for the ‘real’ fantasy readers? Try again,” wrote Mya Nunnally.
Sexism exists in science fiction and fantasy: until recently, the genre has remained stubbornly white and male but for the rise of authors including Nnedi Okorafor or NK Jemisin. Every time the Guardian runs reviews of sci-fi by women, commenters invariably debate whether it is sci-fi at all. But while YA fiction as we know it has been around since the 1950s, many of the popular series share common features: fantasy-romance blends usually led by a feisty-but-relatable young woman who, in between interspecies/inter-kingdom battles, will fall in love with a male friend, with whom she will eventually hit the heights of heavy petting in, perhaps, book three.
With more adults reading YA, – a 2012 survey suggested as many as 55% of readers were not-so-young adults – the lines on sex, violence and gore have begun to blur, with authors such as Cassandra Clare, Richelle Mead, Laini Taylor and Leigh Bardugo having to appeal to this widening age range.
“I suspect male authors are less likely to be automatically categorised as children’s or teen books,” says Samantha Shannon, author of The Bone Season fantasy series, which is often shelved in both adult and YA sections. “I wonder if female-oriented and authored adult books end up being incorrectly labelled as YA because that age category is shaped by women and is credited with the rise of the ‘strong female character’ in books like The Hunger Games.”
Kate McHale, Waterstones’ buyer of YA, sci-fi and fantasy, says categorisation of books often comes down to where booksellers feel readers would most appreciate finding them, rather than any statement about women’s abilities to write: “YA isn’t a genre, it’s an age-range – so while some books won’t be suitable for a 12-year-old, they might interest a 16-year-old, and we need to not be too hierarchical. The idea that being classified as YA could be an insult is wrong, too.” Perhaps the real issue at play here is how little so many of us trust children to police their own reading. Was anyone in the 80s messed up about Michael in Judy Blume’s Forever applying aftershave to his goolies? Didn’t think so.