The treatment of gay and lesbian fiction for young adults in selected prominent reviewing media

Abstract

Content analysis was used to determine how a sample of 32 gay and lesbian novels for young adults were treated in 158 reviews from five prominent reviewing journals. Findings indicate that most reviews (84.8 percent) were favourable, many (79.7 percent) contained clear reference to the homosexual content, and there were few differences between the individual reviewing journals. Some reviews contained cautions and warnings about the gay and lesbian content, some denied or downplayed it, some justified the content if it was used to teach a lesson, and most described these stories as “problem” novels. Analysis also showed that gay and lesbian fiction is now regarded as a distinct genre of young adult literature. While librarians wishing to identify gay and lesbian fiction for collection development will be able to do so through the reviewing media, ambivalence about this literature and the young adults it represents was also evident in the reviews.

Recent lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender fiction for teens: are Canadian public libraries providing adequate collections?

“…The LGBT titles averaged 8.17 reviews per title, with a range of one to 20 reviews, whereas the control group averaged 13.905 reviews per title, with a range of three to 31 reviews. Although previous studies have shown that LGBT titles, when they are reviewed, tend to receive positive reviews (Sweetland and Christensen, 1995; Rothbauer and McKechnie, 2000), the data from this study suggest that LGBT titles are less likely to be reviewed than titles without LGBT content. If libraries undercollect in the area of LGBT fiction, the comparative lack of reviews must be taken into account.…”

Reader and author gender and genre in Goodreads

“…Subjectivity may be particularly evident in reviews of some genres, such as gay and lesbian fiction (Rothbauer & McKechnie, 2000), presumably reflecting social attitudes, religious or political beliefs. Nevertheless, fiction reviewers seem to be cautious due to concerns about the effect on their reputation of publishing an incorrect judgment about a book -and particularly a negative judgement about a novel that becomes well received (Janssen, 1997).…”

Young Adult Literature Research in the 21st Century

“…Rothbauer and McKechnie (2000) considered how 32 novels for young adults that feature gay and lesbian characters were treated in 158 reviews in five prominent journals used by librarians when selecting books. They concluded that gay/lesbian literature stands separate from YAL as a category.…”