Some things are made of the dark with blackholes for cores. Some things are made of the dark, with glowing centers. Most things that dwell within the dark emit rancor, malice, envy, hate. These things revile the light and despise what is opposite of them. Other things, while they dwell in the darkness, see the light, desperately trying to grasp it, searching for a way to become light.
You're so right about youth fiction. On the Y-A shelves in bookstores, 98 percent of covers depict an unbeatable super-chick, who leaps over mountains without even looking, and who _never_ needs help from anything male.