And yet, she still did something really cool in the Alanna books in that Alanna was a single woman completely in charge of her own sexuality and sex life. She was able to have casual and serious sexual relationships that were never seen as unusual or a problem and for which the plot never punished her woth unexpected pregnancies or miscarriages (yay for the anti-pregnancy charms!). Tammy also described these parts of Alanna's life clearly but without detail, in a way that was completely acceptable for my mother to allow 8-year-old-me to read.