May
18th
Fri
18th
At the time I wrote “Forever,” I had a 14-year-old daughter, and she was reading a lot of books about young love. But in every book, when a girl succumbed to having sex with her boyfriend, she would be punished with an unwanted pregnancy, a grisly abortion sometimes leading to her death, or she would be sent away by her family. The boys in these books had no feelings and took no responsibility. My daughter said to me, “Couldn’t there be a book about two nice kids who have sex and no one dies?” I hated the idea of feeding young people the idea that sex is linked to punishment. Sexuality is a healthy, normal, and natural part of life. And in real life, boys can be hurt, too. And so, I decided to write “Forever.
— Judy Blume
