ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the educational potential of young adult (YA) fiction concerning sexual abuse, coercion, grooming, and consent in scenarios of intergenerational sexual relationships – that is, statutory rape. Intergenerational relationships are often considered coercive and abusive in Western contexts, with minors under a certain age being denied the ability to consent to sexual activity with an adult. Literature also often sees an uncritical normalisation, even romanticising, of power imbalances in intergenerational relationships. Despite many refraining from labelling intergenerational relationships as abusive and coercive per se, educators continuously seek tools to teach children and adolescents how to recognise (sexual) coercion and abuse and take protective measures. Providing an original analysis of Lesléa Newman’s Jailbait (2005) and Sonya Sones’ The Opposite of Innocent (2018), which outline the harm and danger of two teenage girls being groomed by and engaging in sexual relationships with older men, this chapter evaluates the three communication levels of fictional mediation, action, and non-fictional communication within YA fiction regarding their potential to inform both the protagonists and the implied adolescent reader of the nature of sexual coercion and consent and provide means for reflection.
