Using Young Adult Literature to Teach about Rape Culture

The young adult literary genre, the principal source of fiction for many teenagers, has become pedagogically useful in its covering of rape and rape culture in recent years. Here, I examine how Courtney Summers's All the Rage , Amy Reed's The Nowhere Girls , and Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak , along with other similar novels and Chanel Miller's memoir, Know My Name , can be used in secondary school and university classrooms to teach students about sexual violence in general and rape culture in particular. I suggest that doing so in relation to Kate Manne's notions of himpathy and herasure should be encouraged.