CCL, no. 80, Winter 1995

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Desire and Punishment: Adolescent Female Sexuality in Three Novels / Anna E. Altmann

Social constructions of female sexuality have traditionally been short on desire and long on punishment. Romance hass been the veil concealing the realities of both. Three contemporary novels for adolescents, read as a triptych, show pictures of sex and unwanted teenage pregnancy from three different perspectives, linked by a common understanding of the sexual vulnerability of adolescent girls.

La représentation de la sexualité féminine ignore le désir et s'appesantit sur la faute et la punition, double réalité que le roman sentimental tend à occulter. A Altmann étudie trois romans contemporains qui présentent des cas de maternité non voulue, différents, certes, mais faisant ressortir la vulnérabilité des adolescentes.

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