vs. 
The difference between these two images is striking, Kath from Forever is the naturally pretty high school senior from anytown, USA and the cast of characters on the left frankly look like they are trying way too hard. Yes, they may be more glamorous but their sexed up images come off as fake and kind of pathetic in contrast with the real girl to their right.
I couldn’t agree more with the women that posted before me that this book was refreshing in its simplicity. Even more than refreshing, however, it was generative. It supplied something that most of the other ChickLit we read previously did not: a purpose beyond pure entertainment value.
Despite many changes between the late 1970s and today, access to “safer sex” information among high school students is still shockingly hard to come by. With many schools employing abstinence only education, or no sex-ed at all, high school students are left relatively in the dark about their reproductive rights and choices.
This book, in a clear and simple way, presents the choices that Kath and all women have (through the help of her grandmother) for practicing safer sex, and walks the reader through exactly what happens at her Planned Parenthood visit. By doing so, dispelling any fear/element of the unknown about actually using a service like PP.
I question what, if anything, comes from literature written for teens and pre-teens today. Do we have a 2008 equivalent to Forever or has writing for the greater good been lost in the attempt to write to sell? If anything, what comes from reading about the unrealistic lives of the girls in Gossip Girl is the perpetuation of a socially acceptable model of under-aged drinking and casual sex. Yet, after presenting this model as ideal, young women are left without the information as to how to protect themselves from its implications.
Below is a link to the website for the Safe Sex Store based in Ann Arbor, MI. On the site is important information about contraception, STIs and sexual health.
