59 pages • 1 hour read
Not So Pure and Simple
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Background
Authorial Context: Lamar Giles and Diversity
Lamar Giles is known for his young adult thrillers and contemporary novels that often tackle social issues and diverse perspectives. He has written 10 novels for young adult and middle grade audiences. Some of his other acclaimed novels include The Getaway, The Last Last-Day-of-Summer, SPIN, Endangered, and Fake ID (“About.” Lamar Giles). Among other accolades, he has been a two-time Edgar Award finalist in the YA category. The Getaway has been adapted for TV, and Giles has written for Star Wars, National Geographic, and DC Comics. He and his family live in Virginia.
Further, Giles is a founding member of We Need Diverse Books, a nonprofit that “aims to create a world where every reader can find themselves in the pages of a book” and provides “programs to mentor diverse writers and illustrators, support diverse publishing professionals, and provide books to classrooms nationwide” (“Home.” We Need Diverse Books). We Need Diverse Books provides narratives about characters of different races, religions, sexualities, cultures, and abilities. Giles focuses on Black characters in his writing:
…my books are about Black kids. They may be in strange situations, or have talents you don’t expect, but they are Black. They’re the characters I was advised not to write. The characters I was told no one would read. The characters I always wanted to read. So the most interesting thing about me might be how stubborn I am because while I’m here to entertain, I’m also here to prove wrong the people who said it couldn’t—or worse, shouldn’t—be done (“About”).
Because Giles believes in diversity and representing Black people like himself, most of his characters are Black, including Del in Not So Pure and Simple. He writes to show authentic Black experiences and to provide readers with a unique cultural and racial perspective—which he shows in little moments like describing Del’s hair, showing how Mya reads about Black female leads in comics, or using the dialect of how Del and his friends speak in dialogue.
Cultural Context: Sexuality and Abstinence
Not So Pure and Simple reflects current conversations surrounding consent, gender roles, and the pressures young people face regarding sexuality, abstinence, and relationships. In abstinence culture (the kind Newsome’s church promotes to the Purity Pledgers in the novel), young people refrain from all sexual activity before marriage. Some religions prescribe lifelong celibacy for certain situations or groups. For example, monks and nuns within Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism take a vow of chastity. The teenagers in Not So Pure and Simple who join the Purity Pledge class are expected to uphold these standards of remaining abstinent until marriage.
Young people often face double standards or receive conflicting information about sex and sexuality. Del’s father encourages him to have sex when he gives him condoms at age 15 because he perceives sex as a rite of passage and proof of masculinity. Young women such as Taylor, on the other hand, are often shamed for having sex before marriage, and teen mothers often raise their babies without meaningful financial help from the father. Family belief systems vary widely; some parents instill the value of postponing sexual relationships until marriage while others believe in preparing kids with sex education to ensure they engage in safe, consensual sex when ready. These viewpoints are at odds in the novel; Del receives contradictory information from the Purity Pledge course and Healthy Living classes.
According to the National Survey of Family Growth, between 2015 and 2017, “42% of never-married female teenagers aged 15-19 and 38% of never-married male teenagers had had sexual intercourse” (Martinez, G. M., Abma, J. C. “Sexual activity and contraceptive use among teenagers aged 15–19 in the United States, 2015–2017.” NCHS Data Brief, no. 366. National Center for Health Statistics, 2020). As of 2023, people are waiting longer to get married (average about age 31 for men and women). By delaying marriage, both men and women have more years of potential sexual partners before marriage. According to the University of Michigan, though, the rate of abstinence is rising among 21- to 30-year-old men and women. From 2008 to 2020, men’s abstinence rose from “14.4% to 23.5%” and women’s rose from “12.8% in 2008 to 16.5% in 2020” (Sherburne, Morgan. “American Young Adults Report Having Fewer Sexual Partners, Higher Rates of Abstention.” University of Michigan News, 10 Nov. 2021). These issues of sexuality, abstinence, consent, and respect in relationships are themes of the novel that Del and the other characters explore.
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