There are some exceptions to this, of course (Lunar Chronicles. Go read it) but about 89% of the time, it's just....
For an example of what I'm talking about, I found a new YA book at the library and decided to give it a try. The first two pages go by, and it seems like it might actually be semi-interesting in plot and character, etc, and then we hit the third page.
"You don't have a boyfriend yet? What the *f-bomb* is wrong with you?"
(First off, the f-bomb doesn't even work grammatically in that sentence.)
Now, does this mean that I think all books with profanity, lecherousness, etc. should never be written?
Contrary to initial belief, no. But perhaps not for the reasons you're thinking of.
I just finished reading a very insightful and interesting book by the name of 'East of Eden'. It's the story of multiple families, but mainly the family of a wealthy man who moved west with dreams of grandeur who was hopelessly (and blindly) in love with his wife - who turned out to be a prostitute who absolutely gloried in her power and had conceived 'his' twin sons with his brother before the move.
And I read this book all the way through and own a copy for myself.
Yes, I liked it.
So what sets 'East of Eden' and the standard YA book apart, to me?
Purpose.
'East of Eden' portrays the battle between a man's longing to be pure and his evil tendencies, accentuated by the insecurities that rise from his psychopathic parentage and the overall philosophical debate of whether man is inwardly evil or inwardly good.
'Again but better' portrays the story of a girl moving to London because she wants to have a life during her college-years instead of study all the time and she inevitably meets 'a cute boy' and blahdiblahdiblah teen-rom-com-drama-stuff.
In 'East of Eden', the f-bomb is used by a corrupt criminal to describe a woman who just died, to accentuate his disdain for human life and his personality.
In 'Again but better', it's used like glitter. Pointless. Meaningless. Messy. Obnoxious.
And to say, 'oh, that's just how the world is! It's not worth getting upset about!' would validate so many subjects. What if we responded to glorified rape like that? Or casual human trafficking? It'd be unthinkable. And, as vice is vice is vice, we can't really get away with saying that about casual profanity either.
In short, my views on the entire subject can be summed up in one quote:
"Vice, for vice is necessary to be shown, should always disgust." - Samuel Johnson
So if that brands me as 'childish', why?
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