(Warning: this article is designed for teen readers)

Let’s talk about sex in novels! The usual responses follow these paths (in order of frequency):

Pornography: “Oh, porn. Right! Don’t read it myself but I defend other people’s rights to…”

Or: “You should be ashamed of yourself Mr Ted Dawe! Writing such horrific things for the youth of today. Animalistic!! Yuck. May God give you a conscience , what you are writing is wickedness!! (this was an actual email to me from an unimpressed non-reader).”

Humour: “Here we have a series of funny episodes… and then they did it. It! Know what I mean?”

Romantic fiction: These are the kinds of love scenes where euphemism does battle with the limits of language. The deed is done amidst the angry rain-thrashed night, illuminated by spasms of lightning while somewhere in the distance a stag bellows from a lonely outcrop (fun, that sort of stuff).

My view is that it is the explicit sex in my YA novels that are the main bone (oops) of contention which cause my books to be controversial and even banned (read all about how that happened earlier this year - I’m happy to say the ban has now been overturned). The swearing, drug use, violence, immorality, cruelty, racism, bullying etc… not so much.

Photograph: Ted Dawe

In my book Thunder Road there are two sex scenes, which considering the book charts a year in the life of two 19-year-old guys, is unsurprising. The narrator (Trace) falls in love, and he and his girlfriend Karen have sex. This important because it drives a wedge between he and Devon which they never completely resolve. So it is a pivotal moment. The other sex scene is when Trace witnesses Devon having “rough” sex with Karen’s best friend. There is alcohol involved. It is bordering on non-consensual. It appears to be vengeful.

For Trace, being the narrator, the sex is filled with magic and significance, excitement and discovery. When he walks in on Devon what he sees is love-less and vindictive. As the entire novel revolves around the relationship between these two guys these two scenes contain the germ of what goes wrong between them. It also provides the hint that Devon wants more from Trace than he is prepared to give.

When I began the Into the River project, I knew that my character Devon’s sexual experiences were going to be very important in determining the sort of person he becomes. His first time is well before the “age of consent”. This in itself has created much controversy. The act is opportunist and driven not by Devon, but by Tania, the teenage mum who is shampooing his hair. The mechanics of the act are described quickly, but in detail. There is some unintended humour which comes from the baby who is in a cot near them, mimicking their noises. (A journalist, interviewing me after the book won the New Zealand Margaret Mahy Book of the year award said “Take the baby out of the room, Ted!”) The term “ribbon of sperm” has become something of a meme. For a while my nieces were yelling it out in place of “oh my god!”. The sex is in every sense “opportunist”; Tania is having sex with his friend as well. I don’t believe any character was damaged in the making of this scene.

Of course it isn’t glamorous, or even the approved model. Devon doesn’t arrive at Tania’s house with a box of chocolates in one hand, and a bunch of flowers in the other. Devon is certainly committing an illegal act. Tania, I am not so sure about.

I believe what made this scene so controversial, was the fact that it was so believable.

Devon has sex twice more during the novel, a year or two later at a school drama camp. He has become the object of competition between two girls. One of these incidents is of the “Bill Clinton” variety (as in “I did not have sex with that woman!”). It’s a hand job. Devon is left more bewildered than anything. The girl gets bragging rights over her friend. Later, after a drug-fuelled dance party, he has sex with the other girl during a midnight dip in the sea. This time it is borderline non-consensual and he is aware that he has gone too far.

So that’s it for sex of the explicit variety (until next time). There are a number of more murky incidents of sexual experimentation that are suggested rather than described. Between the boy-genius Steph and Willy (!) the music teacher. And between the boys themselves. I suppose you could say that in part, Into the River is about varieties of sexual experience. It is not an instruction manual. It maybe (and I hope it is) instructive.

Into the river

The vigorously prosecuted attempts to put this book out of the reach of people under the age of 14 are wrong-headed and misguided. I have been teaching English for too long to believe that there is any such thing as the “right” age to read a novel. Readers seek out novels that speak to them. Reading a 270 page book is a major commitment. Along the way the readers will wander into worlds and scenarios they may never encounter in their lives, but if they do, perhaps they will be better equipped to deal with them.

Ted Dawe’s book Into the River was banned across New Zealand this year. Anyone who tried to sell, loan or openly displays the book was liable for a $4,000 fine ($10,000 for shops). After a worldwide outcry, the ban was overturned in October 2015 and it’s now available to all (now Into the River has an American publisher and so will be even more widely available than before).