Sweet Valley High Books.. Racist, Sexist, And Responsible For Anorexic Teens?
Thursday, April 24, 2008Posted in: Sweet Valley High Books
I was over at Racialicious when this post about the re-publishing of the Sweet Valley High books caught my eye:
The columnist writes:
But the most controversial change is that the Wakefield sisters will now be a Size 4 instead of a Size 6. The downsizing of the girls’ much touted tan frames has sparked debates on Feministing.com, as well as at the Dairi Burger site, a blog named after fictitious Sweet Valley’s favorite teen hotspot.
I’ve been unsettled to read comments from visitors to these sites who say that the Sweet Valley series is to blame for their development of eating disorders. The readers say that the books ingrained in them the notion that Size 6 was the ideal. This isn’t surprising because, in each book in the series, the twins’ size and height (5 feet 6) are emphasized. What I’ve forgotten in adulthood, however, is that the books actually contain character after character with dietary habits that fall under the umbrella of bulimia or anorexia. One mother’s use of diet pills during pregnancy is responsible for her daughter being born deaf.
Now I read Sweet Valley High books back in the day, and I must admit, although the whole size six thing was always emphasised to the nth degree, I can’t remember it ever driving me to stop eating. I think I just assumed that a size six was a size ten, which is what I wore in my teens, so I guess it didn’t occur to me that I should try to be like Elizabeth or Jessica.
Now I know that everybody reacts differently to things, but I must admit, I really don’t get the becoming anorexic-because-of-SVH thing. Although apparently, some kids did indeed become anorexic after reading the books.
From reading the site’s revisionist retellings of the books, not only does the Sweet Valley High series promote dysfunctional eating, they are also filled with episodes of attempted rape and sexual abuse that are completely forgotten about later. As if that weren’t enough, the books are filled with classist/racist/heterosexist rhetoric.
“I don’t know how she can date him,” a character says about a classmate who is dating a Latino student. “He’s so ethnic and working class.”
Good grief. My secret little teen heart is breaking as I read on.
Later, the series explores the romantic relationship of the twins’ older brother, Steven, and the one black girl in town. In the end, however, Steven and the girl decide that there is no real chemistry between them and ultimately end up—where society dictates they should be—with their own “kinds.” Seems they were only together to make a social statement. What an enlightening commentary on why people enter interracial relationships. They do so to rebel, not because they actually care about each other.
I guess this was their first effort to include an interracial relationship, token or otherwise, and apparently the writers have messed that up royally. Dare I read on?
In addition to the lone black girl in town, there is a Latina who passes for white. So ashamed is she of her Mexican heritage that she tells her white friends that her grandmother is her cleaning lady. This sounds like it was lifted straight out of the 1959 film “Imitation of Life.” Anyway, the character ends up revealing her heritage after she is forced to speak Spanish in a life or death situation. Not to worry, though, her friends tell her that they will overlook the fact that she’s a Mexican.
Jesus. This is why growing up is no fun. Back in the eighties, I wouldn’t have noticed the racist undertones of such a storyline.
Apparently, the gays don’t fare any better:
The treatment of sexual orientation in the Sweet Valley series isn’t much better than the treatment of race, as the blogger over at Dairi Burger observes with delicious snarkiness.
“Enid’s cousin Jake comes to visit, and everybody loves him, and Jess and Lila try to get with him. And Tom plays tennis with him and when he is with him, he feels warm and fuzzy …down there. Alas, Jake is GAY!!!! I didn’t think that gays existed in Sweet Valley. Or were allowed to set foot in the town. Enid is a big ol’ homophobe when Jake tells her and Tom gets all weird when he finds out because BAM! suddenly he realizes he is gay.”
Oh wow…
The columnist concludes:
…Can we expect a new crop of girls to take up bingeing and purging after their initiation into the series, where Size 4 is now the standard of beauty? And how will the new generation of readers counteract the suggestions about the superiority of blue eyes, that it’s only natural for guys to want to date rape their attractive classmates and that anyone who is queer or of color is destined for a life in the margins?
Seems to me these books need to contain updates that address more than technological advances. They also need to reflect the advances that have been made in the realms of race, class and gender.
She has a point. Dammit.
Growing up sucks great big hairy ones sometimes.
You’d think the writers would have gotten a clue by now though. Big effing sigh.
Moira Reid
April 24
10:00 am
I don’t know how I missed these books as a kid…they were obviously everywhere. What’s really interesting is that they were books done by a book packager.
NOTE FROM WIKIPEDIA: “Book-packaging (or book producing) is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a book—writing, researching, editing, illustrating, and even printing—to an outside company called a book-packaging company. Once the book-packaging company has produced the book, they then sell it to the final publishing company.
“In this arrangement, the book-packaging company acts as a liaison between a publishing company and the writers, researchers, editors, and printers that design and produce the book. Book packagers thus blend the roles of agent, editor, and publisher.[1] Book-packaging is common in the genre fiction market, particularly for books aimed at pre-teens and teenagers, and in the “how-to” book series, such as the For Dummies books.”
I started reading about the term yesterday because I also heard that R.L. Stine (of Goosebumps fame) is trying to make a comeback with a new generation of readers. (Mixed feedback here, but quite a few notes indicating R.L. Stine’s books were also produced by a book packager.)
Miss Karen, I hope I’m not taking your post off track (too far), but has anyone had any experience writing for a book packager? I’d love to hear about it.
Shannon Dauphin
April 24
1:31 pm
I remember the SVH books, and I never caught the racist or homophobic undertones, either. I do remember the constant harping on size and it did bother me (I was a size ten, a size twelve every now and then), but the books never bothered me enough to drive me to the nearest toilet after my lunchtime candy bar. 😉
Cherry
April 24
2:28 pm
Kind of glad I skipped over these as a young adult and went straight for the Christopher Pike and L.J. Smith books. Who knows what sort of permanent psychological damage I avoided by spending all my time reading books filled with witches, hot vampires and murderous teenagers? *g*
Ami S
April 24
2:29 pm
I was too “old” to read these books when they first came out. However, my youngest sister (34) read them voraciously. I am happy(for her)/sad (for those who think a/any book can make one anorexic) lol, to say that she is NOT anorexic.
@@
Ann Cory
April 24
2:51 pm
Oh wow – I actually owned the entire series and for the most part enjoyed them. I do remember one of the books had one of the twins wanting to be different from the other and she died her hair darker, dressed more fashionable, and lost a full size – and the emphasis was on all the attention she received by doing that. The lost weight seemed to be mentioned frequently throughout.
When I think about it now the characters were very shallow and the weight thing was very prominent.
I did battle an eating disorder as a teen, but I’m not sure these particular books helped fuel it. For me it was a collaboration of things. I’m not sure how I missed the other stuff, though. Most of the guy characters were jerks – but it was like a soap opera in book format.
Eve Vaughn
April 24
3:03 pm
I used to eat these books up. When I was a kid I think I read every single one of them. But I never really thought about the size issue. What I got out of it was Elizabeth was a push over, Jessica was a beyotch but her heart was usually in the right place, Lila Fowler was a mega bitch, Todd was a dick, and I can’t remember any of the other characters to save my life. But I do rememebr some of the premises mentioned like the deaf girl who later dies from a cocaine overdose because Todd dumps her. I do remember Steven’s first taste of chocolate. I think those books were just a mark of the time they were published.
On a sidenote I’m pretty annoyed my secret is out of the bag that I’m just with my husband because I wanted to rebel against society. Darn.
Shiloh Walker
April 24
3:13 pm
This pretty much sums up my thoughts about the series. Granted, it’s been 20 years since I read them. I think I stopped reading them in like sixth grade after I discovered the joys of Stephen King.
So what do you think is more responsible for warping me….killer clowns or perky, perfect blondes? 😉
Ann Bruce
April 24
3:29 pm
With vanity sizing in so many stores today, a size 4 today probably is a size 6 back then.
Ann Cory
April 24
3:30 pm
I meant to add that I’m not sure why their size needs to change to a 4. It doesn’t seem very responsible in this day where girls are copying stick thin celebrities. I know with eating disorders the littlest things – especially a number such as weight or size – is a huge trigger.
Jaynie
April 24
4:10 pm
Oh, I used to just adore these – had about 50 of them I think. It just goes to show that some things are best left in our past.
Jenns
April 24
4:12 pm
Wow. I read a few of them, and I hate to say it but the racism and homophobia escaped me too. Must’ve been the eighties mentality.
I do remember rolling my eyes over the huge emphasis on the perfect sizes and appearances. I didn’t really pay much attention to it though. I may have sometimes read about those girls, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be friends with them. They had all the personality and depth of cardboard. Superficiality – thy name is Sweet Valley!
Capo
April 24
4:30 pm
I don’t know. According to studies obesity, not the copying of stick thin celebrities, seems to be the major eating disorder teens face today:
http://www.dbtechno.com/health/2008/04/23/obesity-causing-life-expectancy-of-women-to-decline/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341250,00.html
Just a thought: if there is a standard resizing going on in the clothing industry, maybe its not merely for the vanity of the thin?
Kim
April 24
4:47 pm
Wow. I don’t remember these books at all. Maybe I am too old. I was a Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon fangirl.
Nancy, her BFF’s and her man Ned tooling around in her little sporty car. heh. Good. Times.
Claudia
April 24
4:51 pm
I was more of a Canberry Hall than SVH girl 🙂 In the age of Teen Vogue, Cosmo girl, The Clique and Gossip Girls, the market for SWV rehashes will likely be nostalgic moms or other women trying to pass SVH books to the girls in the lives.
Karen Scott
April 24
5:17 pm
Eve I’m pretty sure Todd was Elizabeth’s sweet boyfriend. I think you mean Brucce Patman. He was the rich kid with the license plate 1BRUCE1 I think. He was a total dick.
He was the one who dated the deaf girl, Regina.
Shiloh Walker
April 24
5:42 pm
You’re not wrong there. You wouldn’t believe how many obese kids come into the pediatrician’s office where I used to work(still do as needed). It’s getting frightening. I’ve met four and five year olds, (yep, four and five) that weight 90+ lbs. 13 & 14 year olds who weigh over 300 and their parents have pretty much given up on them.
It’s scary.
However, there’s an equal number of young kids, six, seven, eight year old girls that come in, slender as can be, and they complain about being fat.
It’s one of the reasons I try not to complain around the house about my weight, because even though I need to lose some, it can set a bad precedent for my kids.
Shannon C.
April 24
5:54 pm
I missed all the packaged books, mostly because there are sooo many of them and not enough ever got produced in Braille or recorded in any way. And Sweet Valley never really apopealed to me either. I was all about the killer clowns and murdering teenagers myself. *G*
Mad
April 24
6:44 pm
Hey…these were my books! 🙂 I used to read them all the time in my teens before I switched to romance novels. Funny thing, my 15 year old was just telling me yesterday that these were coming out again and that she wanted to get a few to try out.
Mad
April 24
6:48 pm
Yes, Todd was Elizabeth’s boyfriend, although before they got together, Jessica made a play for Todd and was a little ticked when he chose her twin sister. *G*
Ann Bruce
April 24
7:10 pm
To be frank, I’m not a fan of the clothing industry. Is it a good thing for people who are overweight to think they’re doing okay and don’t need to diet and exercise if they fit a size 12 shirt when they previously fit into a 14? Hey, they dropped 2 sizes, so their current lifestyle must be okay, right?
Nonny
April 24
8:02 pm
I read the books as a young teen and they didn’t cause me to develop an eating disorder. I didn’t notice the “ism” issues, either. (Though it’s possible I just didn’t read those particular books.)
I liked them in the same way that people like to watch soap operas: trainwreck fascination. (Try to tell me each book wasn’t about some social trainwreck that Elizabeth or Jessica had to stop. LOL.)
katiebabs
April 24
9:26 pm
I never read Sweet Valley High, but was more of a Nancy Drew fan. I wonder what they would find in those books?! A hidden meaning about the secret of the clock??
Eve Vaughn
April 24
10:39 pm
You’re right Karen, I was thinking about Bruce. He was a total dick. Although when Todd moved away, he and Elizabeth broke up and she started dating Jeffrey the wuss and when Todd moved back to SV, his parents were rich and he too became a dick, although Elizabeth eventually had to chose between the two loves of her life and I think she went with Todd again. Her love changed him somehow. Damn, I remember far too much about this series. But then again, I was an avid reader from an early age. Christopher Pike was my fav in the tween years.
Jen
April 25
12:49 am
There’s probably not a direct causal relationship between books/Hollywood and eating disorders (at least insofar as otherwise well-adjusted kids probably don’t look at a photo of Nicole Ritchie or read a Sweet Valley book and immediate start purging). That said, books/Hollywood do make girls feel bad about themselves, even if those bad feelings don’t eventually manifest as an eating disorder. And why should the evocation of bad feelings/bad body image be considered an acceptable byproduct of young adult entertainment? I have never suffered from an eating disorder, and I am a generally well adjusted person. But I read the Sweet Valley books as a teen and I always felt worse about my body because I wasn’t that perfect size 6. To this day, I feel less than good about my body size (I fluctuate between an 8 and a 12) when I realize, for example, that Kate Winslet, whom everybody refers to as being “healthy” (read: heavy) by Hollywood standards was wearing an American size 4 in “Titanic.”
So I guess what I’m trying to say is why do the books need to include the twins’ size, and what’s the point of shrinking that size for the contemporary reader? The number adds no value to the plot or the characterization such as it is; you can say that the twins are pretty without giving numbers- let girls read in the number they want/ the number they wear. All the numbers do is make girls who don’t embody the ideal (on both sides of the scale- there are also girls who don’t feel curvy enough) feel bad about themselves. Why should authors/publishing companies be looking to do that? And why should we as a culture accept/defend those negative images?
Lleeo
April 25
7:43 am
Oh, yikes! I used to read these books on and off when I was in public school/a pre-teen. I never really got into them, though, probably because I was never into the whole being popular and following trends thing. I did find the books a bit shallow and formulaic–although I probably wouldn’t have described it that way back then.
And Cherry–another L. J. Smith fan! I’m actually surprised how few people I meet who are fans of her books. She was one of the first to do vampire romance and the whole paranormal thing right and I just adored her books. Still do, actually. They’ve got great pacing, incredibly romantic, good world-building and they have some depth to them. When I heard she’s writing again I was like, “I am SO there!” She’s great. I would seriously recommend her to anyone who likes romance or just a great story. 🙂
It often surprises me, too how in tune I am now with recognizing how gender, class, race and sexual issues are dealt with in what I read and watch for entertainment and more often than not, instead of these issues being non-existent in favour of the status-quo, there are politically correct token instances that are just as annoying. *sigh* At least some people are trying and succeeding to display more diversity and address male and /or white and/or heterosexual privilege. 🙂
Cherry
April 25
5:07 pm
Lleeo– I *love* L.J.! I hear she’s writing Damon’s story and I’m praying we get to see it. I read her books until they literally fell apart and I had to buy new ones. The Vampire Diaries were the first (and if I’m not mistaken, the only) books to ever make me cry. Absolutely beautiful, and haunting.
Angela
April 27
10:12 am
I would feel bad for not noticing any of these things as a kid, but I don’t. While it’s too bad that girls became anorexic because of the series, and it didn’t exactly promote tolerance and equality, the past is the past, and I really don’t think the revamped series will impress any of these post-SATC, Gossip Girl-raised teens and pre-teens.
Tera Kleinfelter
April 28
8:12 pm
I ate these books up when I was younger. And then, when Sweet Valley College came out, I ate those up, too. SVH and Christopher Pike, man I loved those. I almost want to go back and read all the SVH ones again to see if I catch on to any of that. I must say, I never did when I was younger. I never wanted to BE like Jessica and Elizabeth. The only things I noticed were Elizabeth being too nice, Jessica being a bit conceited and more on the slutty side, and Lila being a bitch with a lime green Triumph. Oh, and S and E shared a Miata. LOl Yeah, I read them all.
Dionne Galace » Blog Archive » Review: Up All Night
May 5
6:15 pm
[…] Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High books (which I understand are supposed to be getting a makeover— no, the Wakefields are still assholes, but HEY! They’re slimming down from a size 6 to […]
Shiloh Walker
May 8
4:12 am
Karen, darlin… you need to pull Mr Neon’s link #30. It’s a frickin, completely sick pervert searching for hits
Karen Scott
May 8
7:37 am
I pulled him, I rarely follow random links these days, what was his site about?
Shiloh Walker
May 8
12:39 pm
Oh something utterly lovely. Raping his sister.
Lana
July 31
3:07 pm
I’m from Russia and I’ve read SV books in translation into russian. The most interesting is that there was no mentioning of the twins’ size in those translations at all…
I really loved those books but unfortunately it was impossible to find most of them in Russia even in translation. ((
jen
October 3
8:30 pm
Give me a break. I am so tired of everyone blaming everything else on this planet for their problems when they should be blaming themselves. How can a human with an IQ of at least a 10 for second believe that a Sweet Valley High world could exist? Where every single person was drop dead gorgeous? If they were ugly, a little lipstick and suddenly they had a boyfriend who played in the popular rock band. This group of kids has been through kidnappings, cults, gangs, drug use, Jessica has had about 5 boyfriends be killed all in the span of a school year? Yet girls are going to read these “realistic” books and think that they need to be a size 4?
These books were written for entertainment. Enjoy them for what they are.
AztecLady
October 4
12:34 am
The books are written for entertainment, no doubt, but I’m ready to admit that some impressionable ten or twelve year old may be influenced by them, no matter how unrealistic they are.
After all, I’ve met women over 40, with a couple of advanced degrees too, who are still hoping for Prince Charming to swept them off their feet, give them babies and a happily ever after in which they’ll never worry about money, laundry, raising the babies to become decent people, or anything else.
Maria
February 19
3:14 am
I don’t remember everything mentioned here, but I must admit that I was influenced by these books. i don’t remember racism, image issues or homophobes, but the book where the girl dies from a cocaine overdose has stuck with me forever and kept me from ever trying it. I would love for my kids to read them and have that same reaction.
Sherry
July 13
4:48 pm
I think it is sad that these books reach so many young readers, yet do not show a more positive image of ethic minorities, homosexuals, and women of all shapes and sizes. However, some of the opinions reflected in the characters are that of people and communities in the real world. Do you think the author had a misguided attempt at trying to reflect real problems and more realistic situations as a way to bring awareness to those who face them?
I guess it would be good to know in what context these statements/views are presented, and what are the repercussions for them. Are the characters that say and feel these things presented as a “bad guy”, and this is character development to further emphasize the “wrongness” that that character continues to exemplify? Do characters ever learn a life lesson or become aware of how their racist and anti-gay stero-types are hurtful and incorrect?