On Thursday I headed off to Bondi for my dinner party and more time by the sea. You'll be pleased to know I behaved myself at dinner although most of the conversation was about pornography and Ralph magazine which for the Brits is a low quality Loaded if you can get any lower. It's funny how people have the same terms of reference because Lizzie (who is British) and I both had the same instant reaction to the name of the magazine. We turned to each other and said 'Do you remember Judy Blume?' The Ozzie boys had no idea what we were talking about.
Reading Judy Blume's book 'Forever' seems to be a momentous point in many pre-teen girls' lives. In it, the young protagonist meets her first example of male apparatus, which is lovingly termed 'Ralph'. I can remember vividly the day at school when the playground was buzzing with stories about this book. I was so excited when I got my hands on it and so shocked by the reality of the content. But I'm sure now it would seem very tame to 12 year olds. Did anyone else have this shared rites of passage? I know at least one of you did...
My first encounteer with sex in a book was Sholokov (forgive if spelling wrong) - not boys bits but their smell: a description of armpit. I was 12 (what WAS I doing reading Sholokov?)and it fascinated me.
Posted by: sharon | Monday, 21 November 2005 at 08:03 AM