Reading lists for older teen and young adult readers:
Respectful Relationships
The Natural Way of Things
Charlotte Wood
CW: sexual violence
Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of nowhere. Strangers to each other, they have no idea where they are or how they came to be there with eight other girls, forced to wear strange uniforms, their heads shaved, guarded by two inept yet vicious armed jailers and a ‘nurse’. The girls all have something in common, but what is it?
Frankie
Shivaun Plozza
Frankie Vega is angry. Just ask the guy whose nose she broke. Or the cop investigating the burglary she witnessed, or her cheating ex-boyfriend, or her aunt who’s tired of giving her second chances…
Here Come the Dogs
Omar Musa
Revelatory and incendiary, Here Come the Dogs is a window into the youth of contemporary multicultural Australia, through the lives of three disaffected, hedonistic, aspirational and sometimes violent young men on the edge. Fresh in form and content, a hip-hop novel by a unique literary talent.
Big Little Lies
Liane Moriarty
CW: family and intimate partner violence
Pirriwee Public’s annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. A parent is dead. Was it murder, a tragic accident…or something else entirely? Big Little Lies is a funny, heartbreaking, challenging story of ex-husbands and second wives, new friendships, old betrayals and schoolyard politics.
Stay With Me
Maureen McCarthy
CW: family and intimate partner violence
Tess is trapped in a desperate situation: her violent partner is now threatening not just Tess, but their daughter as well. A chance meeting offers a way out, and a road trip back to the heart of Tess’s past.
Your Skirt’s Too Short
Emily Maguire
After many waves of feminism, where are we? Are young women really either sluts or helpless dolls? Your Skirt’s Too Short seeks to enable young women and men to understand the history of gender politics and what lies ahead of them.
Tender Morsels
Margo Lanagan
CW: sexual violence
Liga lives modestly in her own personal heaven, given to her by natural magic and in exchange for her earthly life. Her two daughters, gentle Branza and curious Urdda, grow up in this harmonious world, protected from the violence and village prejudice that once made their mother’s life unendurable. But the real world cannot be denied forever.
Night Games: Sex, Power and Sport
Anna Krien
CW: rape
What does a young footballer do to cut loose? At night, some play what they think of as pranks, or games: night games with women. Sometimes those involve consensual sex, sometimes not, and often the lines are blurred.
The Build-Up Season
Megan Jacobsen
CW: family and intimate partner violence
Seventeen-year-old Iliad Piper is angry at the world. Growing up with a violent father and abused mother, she doesn’t know how to do relationships, family or friends. Ily takes off her armour for nobody, until she meets Jared.
Storm and Grace
Kathryn Heyman
CW: family and intimate partner violence
World-famous freediver Storm Hisray hits Grace Cain like a bolt from the blue. Instantly smitten, she abandons her life in the city to follow him to his idyllic Pacific island. As their world narrows to the two of them, Grace learns that Storm hides as many secrets as the sea. She starts to realise that she is in deeper and more dangerous water than she has ever imagined possible.
A Shadow’s Breath
Nicole Hayes
CW: family and intimate partner violence
Tessa and Nick are trapped in a car after a corner taken too fast. Injured, stranded in the wilderness, the focus is on survival. But Tessa isn’t sure if she wants to be found. Not after what she saw. Not after what she remembered.
Summer Skin
Kirsty Eagar
Jess Gordon is out for revenge. Last year the jocks from Knights College tried to shame her best friend. This year she and a hand-picked gang of college girls are going to get even. The lesson: don’t mess with Unity girls.
Respect is a vital part of all relationships, from those at home to those at school or work; within families, friendships and romances; and regardless of whether the relationships are romantic or platonic, straight or queer.
The titles on this list explore what can happen when respect is absent. The texts are challenging and confronting at times, as they address themes of family violence and intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and the cultural norms and gender inequalities that can lead to – and reinforce – such behaviours.
But storytelling is also a place for hope, comfort and redemption. It is a place where people can find power and courage, and learn how to take action. These books enable readers to better empathise with the experiences of others, find solace in seeing their experiences reflected on the page, and safely examine and reimagine their own relationships.
Resources
- CASA House
Centre against sexual assault providing 24-hour counselling and support - Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria
Supporting workers and families to help stop family violence - Family Drug Support
Assisting families to deal with alcohol and drug issues - Family Relationships Online
Providing all families with access to information about family relationship issues - Our Watch
Driving a nation-wide change in the culture, behaviours and attitudes that underpin and create violence against women and their children - Respectful Relationships
Tackling family violence through education
Thinking Points
- How do you want to be treated in a relationship? What things worry you in a relationship or leave you feeling bad?
- How do people treat each other in these texts? How does this fit with your ideas about what you look for in your own relationships?
- What does the phrase ‘be a man’ mean to you? What about ‘like a girl’? Do you see stereotypes of masculinity and femininity playing a role in the relationships in the texts?
- What are the ways characters show respect for one another? How is disrespect demonstrated? How do characters react to the ways they are treated?
- Is there any kind of violence in the book? What type of violence is it (e.g. physical, emotional, sexual, psychological, financial, spiritual, social)? Who is the perpetrator? Who is the victim? Did you see any warning signs before the violence took place? Did they?
- Do you see examples of violence resulting from gender inequality?
- Are the female characters in control of their own lives and decisions? If they do not have control, who does?
- Consider the friendships and platonic relationships in the book. How do these relationships shape or support the behaviours of the characters? What are the good things about this relationship? Is it supportive, respectful, sustaining or equal? What aspects of this relationship are unfair, unstable or toxic? Are these behaviours on both sides, or is there a power imbalance?