Resisting Rape Myths in Young Adult Fiction: An Analysis of Young Adult Novels Speak and Crank

Abstract

Introducing young people to fiction that depicts rape is important in that reading this type of fiction can be a more effective strategy for reducing rape-myth acceptance in young people than lecture-based prevention programs. To be fully effective, literature used for lowering rapemyth acceptance must fully resist rape myths. This paper analyzes Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and CRANK by Ellen Hopkins to find the ways in which each novel resists and conforms to rape myths, to determine whether these texts would be suitable for reducing rapemyth acceptance, and to identify ways in which future texts that aim to reduce rape-myth acceptance in young readers can be more effective. Neither Speak nor CRANK fully resists rape myths, which reinforces the validity of rape myths to young adult readers. Both novels resist rape myths that attempt to deny the reality of rape while conforming to rape myths that blame the victim.