And much of that is inspired by Garrett’s own experiences. And there’s something deliciously refreshing and potentially game-changing about how Simone openly discusses sex, despite her status. It’s a decision that dually addresses our tendency to suppress the sexuality of teens and the stigma around HIV positive people and their sex lives. Camryn Garrett made waves with her first young adult novel, Full Disclosure, about an HIV-positive teen navigating love and lust, which was sold when Garrett was 16. Camryn Garrett grew up in New York and began her writing career at thirteen, when she was selected as a TIME for Kids reporter, interviewing celebrities like Warren Buffett and Kristen Bell. Through Full Disclosure, it’s clear that Garrett understands the puritanical squeamishness that America attaches to sex and seeks to broaden that conversation by inserting Simone, a black teen living with HIV who also has loads of questions about sex. telling the world, unprompted, that he accompanies his 18-year-old daughter to the gynecologist yearly in order to “ check if her hymen is still intact” - an extreme case of parents being bad at recognizing it’s normal for teens to wonder about sex…with a misogynistic twist that stems from the heavily-policed sexuality of black girls.

You may recall the furor that HBO’s Euphoriaelicited for its portrayal of teens who openly engage in sex, drugs, and debauchery. Camryn Garrett: It was really important to me that there be a dark-skinned black girl on the cover.Colorism is active in most aspects of society, but specifically in entertainment fields, where we.

Sex is taboo in its own right, but when teens are thrown into the mix, everyone - as Heath Ledger’s Joker would say - loses their minds.

Camryn garrett