Sex in Teen Lit Month II - Interview with Courtney Summers

I am absolutely thrilled to have the wonderful Courtney Summers stop by the blog for Sex in Teen Lit Month II today! Courtney has been super busy lately, so we're really lucky she agreed to a short interview to discuss rape culture and All the Rage.

All the Rage is such a hard-hitting and emotional. What prompted you to write it?

Sometimes I write about things that make me angry as a way of processing them and rape culture makes me furious. I wanted to explore how dangerous it is and how devastating the consequences of it are.

We normally think of sex as a loving and/or fun thing. Can you tell us what it's like for Romy after she’s raped, not only having been so violated, but also having her whole community turn against her, to call her a liar?

Romy’s way of coping with her trauma is to separate herself from it. She thinks of her rape as something that happened to an entirely different girl, just to keep her head above the water. When her reality gets too close, she panics. To re-centre herself, she has a ritual of painting her nails and lips red and thinks of it as armour. Her community has failed her so dramatically, she is only able to process what she’s gone through in pieces, if at all.

How does rape culture and victim blaming make Romy feel about sex and her own sexuality?

“I wish I didn’t have a body,” is something of a mantra for Romy throughout the book, and I think that speaks to the devastation she’s experienced and the lack of ownership and control over her own body it has left her with.

What research did you do for All the Rage? Was there anything that surprised you?

I did a lot of research about rape culture for All the Rage. I read extensively about trauma, PTSD, rape cases, rape culture and the justice system. It was often overwhelming and difficult to read about. Nothing surprised me per se, but I was continually disheartened to read articles about rape cases and get to their comments section, where commenters would express disinterest and disbelief about and cruelty toward victims and survivors of sexual violence. How do we get to that point of not caring? It’s horrible and it’s heartbreaking.

What do you hope readers get from All the Rage?

I hope it makes them angry about rape culture. I hope it inspires them to speak out against it and to advocate for victims and survivors.

What do you think about how teen fiction deals with sex, generally? And sex crimes in particular?

I think there’s a lot of incredible, feminist YA fiction out there now that explores the topics of sex and sexual violence conscientiously and realistically. I think when you’re writing about these kind of subjects, you want to make sure that what you’re writing contributes to a larger conversation and doesn’t undermine it or do harm to it. I think teen fiction tends to explore these kinds of stories with the care and respect they deserve and I’m glad for that.

Anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for having me on your blog!

Thank you, Courtney, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer my questions! Check out my review of All the Rage, which comes out in the UK on 28th January 2016!

Review: All the Rage by Courtney Summers

All the Rage by Courtney Summers (e-Proof) - When it was announced that All the Rage by Courtney Summers is going to be released in the UK in January 2016, I was so glad to hear it! More books seem to be coming out that are tackling this important subject of rape and rape culture, and the conversation they're creating is brilliant. Macmillan Children's Books have allowed me to review All the Rage two months early to include it in the Sex Crimes Week of Sex in Teen Lit Month II, and it's such a fantastic story!

I'm not using the summary on Goodreads, because it contains minor spoilers, but also because, for the most part, it doesn't really tackle the main plot of the story. So this time round, I'm including just my own summary.

Last year, Romy was raped by Kellan Turner, son of important influential people; the Sheriff of the town and the founder of a successful national auto supply chain. No-one believes her. Even her best friend Penny turned her back on her. She was drunk, she was wearing provocative clothing, she fancied Kellan, she wanted it, and there's no way the son of the sheriff would even dream of raping someone. She's an attention seeker. She's lying. Only she's not, and no-one cares.

When Romy wakes up the morning after a party on the the side of a highway, she has no idea how she got there. Nor does she understand why her shirt is open, her bra undone, and the words "rape me" are written on her stomach in lipstick. She can't remember anything from the party, but she knows she would never have drunk alcohol. So why is she there? What's worse, Penny has also disappeared, and has yet to be found. What happened to Penny? Are the two linked? It's hard to face each day when there's no news, especially when the people who hate you, hate you even more for being the one who was found.

All the Rage is such a brilliant story, but it's a hard one. It's emotionally draining, in the best way. Romy has spent so long having to deal with the crap she's getting from people. She was the one who was violated, yet she's the one who's the pariah. It's disgusting and so upsetting, and completely awful to read.

Kellan is the older brother of Penny's boyfriend, Alek. He's also the sheriff's son - who made it quite clear that Romy'll be torn to pieces if she reports her lies about his son. Her best friend turned on her, and with Penny and Alek being popular, and with Kellan being loved by all, so did everyone else, the whole community. No-one believes her, especially as she fancied Kellan, and actually thought she wanted to sleep with him before she was attacked - an email about which Penny gave to Sheriff Turner - and she now has jokes made about her rape at school.

The only good thing in her life is Leon, a guy who starts work at the diner she works at. He's from the neighbouring town, and so he doesn't know what happened to Romy, and as he doesn't know, he doesn't have an opinion on it. And he likes Romy; he sees her and he likes her, when most people can't stand her. Romy likes how Leon sees her, and wants to be that girl.

Because she doesn't like who she is now - a girl who was raped. Doesn't want to be this "dead girl". And as Leon doesn't know she's been raped, she gets to be the old her, a girl who is "alive". She tries so hard to keep her past from him, telling so many lies to keep it a secret, desperately trying to hold on to who he sees, how he makes her feel, because she can feel the "dead girl" starting to take over. She's really not coping with what happened to her, or how she's being treated, so seeing her try so hard to cling to who Leon sees is so heartbreaking. It's eating her up, and she just wants something good.

Romy also has issues with her body because of what was done to her, to it. There are so many upsetting moments where she talks about her body, how wishes she didn't have one, about who she is. It's like she can't find her identity any more, her sense of self. It's like she is, to herself, the Raped Girl, and can't seem to define herself outside of that. She is obsessed with having perfectly painted red nails and lips; it's how she presents herself to the world, her armour - she cannot be seen chipped or smudged. I never really understood that completely, but it's something she fixates on; she's not ready until they're perfect, and she can't function until they're ready. She almost has panic attacks at the thought that she smudged her lipstick, or she might chip her nail varnish. I think it's part of her trying to find her own self. She wants to be the girl with perfect red nails and red lipstick. Without it, she's just the girl who was raped.

The disappearance of Penny is huge to the town, but also to Romy personally. What happened to her? What happened that night? Why hasn't she been found? She's desperate for good news, but also doesn't want it to come too soon, because while everyone's talking about Penny, they're not talking about her. But because Romy went missing the same night and was found, there's talk of the wrong girl being found, of how the police looking for her might have found Penny if they weren't. It's terrible to hear, such derision, how little people care about Romt, but also for Romy to think about. Would Penny have been found if she hadn't wound up, however she did, on that highway? But she also thinks how if the tables were turned, the town wouldn't care; if Penny was found but she wasn't, no-one would be interested in finding her. There wouldn't be heartbreak at the school, the community wouldn't pull together to search for her. She simply doesn't matter.

I need to talk about the relationship between Romy and her mum and her mum's boyfriend, Todd. The relationship isn't perfect - they don't talk like they should, her mum and Todd don't really know the best way to help her, and mistakes are made - but they don't doubt her. They aren't ashamed of her. They love her, and are there for her. Sure, I could talk about how they should have done this and they should have done that, but her mum was so lost with how to help her, her drunk of a father disappeared on them, and they tried their best. When thinking about how Emma's parents reacted in Louise O'Neill's Asking For It, Romy's mum and Todd are such better parents, even if they get things wrong. They're behind her and support her. I just wish they had someone to help them help Romy.

All the Rage is an incredible novel, and the ending is so... painful. When everything comes together, and we have our answers, it's unbelievable. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. But also a measure of hope. All the Rage is a tragic novel in so many different ways, but it's a perfect story for all it shows us. And I'm so thankful we're getting, slowly but surely, more novels talking about this.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Books via NetGalley for the e-Proof.



Buy from:




Published: 28th January 2016
Publisher: Macmillan's Children's Books
Courtney Summers' Website

Review: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers - Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder. Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around. Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge. If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day. She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully. Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.

Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be. From Goodreads.

Courtney Summers' books have been raved about for as long as I've been blogging, and it was always my intention to read them at some point. Then recently, Summers wrote on her Tumblr about how Some Girls Are was banned from a South Carolina high school summer reading list because of constant complaints from a student's parent. Banning books is something that makes me so angry, so upon hearing the news, I ordered myself a copy of Some Girls Are in support - and it's absolutely brilliant.

Regina is one of the most popular girls in her high school. She and her friends are feared and awed at the same time. Fellow students are there for their entertainment, to be mocked, to be humiliated, to be brought down. When Regina is sexually assaulted by her best friend Anna's boyfriend, Donnie, it's the beginning of her own downfall. Anna doesn't believe he tried to rape her. She is convinced by another member of the clique, Kara - who hates and is on a lower peg than Regina - that Regina actually slept with Donnie, consensually, behind her back. Now the clique is out to make Regina's life a living hell. They trash her locker, they reveal her secrets, they create a website of hate about her. As time goes on, the bullying gets worse and worse. Her only solace is Michael, an outcast she helped outcast. Regina treated him so disgustingly, and Michael has a hard time forgiving her. But there's nowhere else for Regina to go, and his honesty - as well as her treatment - is making her rethink everything. She's suddenly seeing Michael in a completely different light, and there's the hope of something more... but will her ex-friends allow Regina to have anything good in her life?

Some Girls Are is a terrifying story, and a hugely upsetting one. Although I was nowhere near as badly bullied as the people in this book, I knew these girls. I knew what they were capable of, and I did my utmost to be invisible to them. Reading Some Girls Are brought back the fear and intimidation I felt on a daily basis. Whether you've experienced it or not, it's impossible to read this book and not feel horrified at the lengths these girls go to hurt and torment Regina. It's shocking, but yet unsurprising. And it's upsetting to watch just how bad things get for Regina.

I need to talk about Michael, and how amazing he was. I'm a little worried my description is making Michael seem like a walkover who just allowed Regina to come into his life because it's Regina, or out of intimidation. Michael is a pretty strong guy, despite having next to no friends at school. The girls made it quite clear that he is the social parriah, and no-one is to give him the time of day. Rumours flew around about him and how he's dangerous, and no-one will go near him. He doesn't give Regina an easy time, at all. In fact, he confronts her with the truth of her actions over and over, and they argue, and Regina has nowhere to hide from the light he's shining on this person she was, because she has nowhere to go, but facing it is unbearable. By the time the book ends, Regina is a better person, but she's far from perfect. It's hard to shake off treating people in a way that's all you know, and she uses it whenever she can to try to get back at her old clique, and does some awful things herself. But Michael has her questioning it all, and it's great to see this affect he has on her.

I wasn't so keen on the ending. It seemed to end to abruptly, and it felt to me like things worked out a little too easily. After everything that happened, things are sorted within a few pages, and it just felt a little off. But it's only a few pages, and the book as a whole is amazing.

I am, I'm afraid, unable to review this book without talking about the banning of it. The parent who brought about the banning of Some Girls Are, who read the whole book, said it was "smut" and "trash". How this woman could even flirt with the idea that this book could be either is beyond me. It makes me so angry. This book is absolutely incredible. It's hard-hitting, it's terrifying, but it's so real, and for this woman to not just dismiss Some Girls Are, a book that shows the reality of how horrifying bullying can really get, as "trash" but also stop other teenagers from reading this book has me raging to the point where I'm almost crying. There are so many people who could be helped by this book. So many people who can see their own experiences reflected back at them, so many people who could read this book and think twice about either actively taking part in the bullying of another person, or laughing when they witness it, or being a part of the rumour mill. This book could even affect some people so much that they could actually help someone being bullied when they see it, stand up for them, do something. And those teens in that school are being denied the opportunity to have this incredible book affect and change them, and that is beyond wrong. I am livid.

Some Girls Are is such an important reads, and needs to be read. So do read it; support Some Girls Are and Courtney Summers, and fight against the banning of books. This is a book that could do so much good.



Published: 5th January 2010
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Courtney Summers' Website