Today's prompt: Movies have a rating system to help guide the consumer weed out adult/violent/inappropriate knds of films. Video games do, too. Do you think BOOKS should have a ratings system?
Interesting question! As much as I read and feel that I have a grasp on what kind of content I will find in a book, even I am sometimes surprised, so some kind of ratings system would be worthwhile. I can definitely see where it would be helpful if you want to make sure your child isn't reading something that isn't appropriate for their age. I think it would have to be a system that specified the type of content, such as V for violence, S for sex, etc. I don't think you can always define something by an age range, though that might not hurt, either. Even some books classified as YA should probably be considered mature YA. So many books fall into many different categories and may have a lot of subject matter going on, so I think you'd have to be able to provide some specificity as to the adult/mature content in question. I think it would be something worthwhile to consider, but how to go about doing it is a whole different ballgame!
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I have seen a couple of books have a rating system on them, but it didn't go into much depth, it just stated whether the book contained violence, or mature language and things of in that vein. I think that's definitely the right way to go about it, because as you said, you can't always define something by age range, because each person is different, and what one person would consider appropriate for a 13-year-old might be totally different to the next person. It would be a huge task to undertake, but it would probably be very helpful to parents who want to make sure their children aren't reading something inappropriate for their age.
ReplyDeleteSorry about my mini essay, haha!
Hollie @ Music, Books and Tea
Those are the kind of ratings I would find most helpful, just to know what to expect. I guess I tend to look at things from the standpoint of a parent trying to raise a child in today's world, and anything that can help me do that is okay in my book, haha.
DeleteNo worries about an essay, this is a place for discussion!
No, books should definitely not have a rating system. That would be a slippery slope, leading to white-gloved book banning. All that would need to be done to "ban" a book would be making a book's rating outside that of certain ranges. I can see it now: Catcher in the Rye and similar books would only be available to people in college or older, leaving literary antiheroes undiscovered for countless outcast youth. Huck Finn rated X for use of the n-word. "Romeo and Juliet" restricted to 18+, due to underage sex. Dusty classics like The Great Gatsby will be "safe" to read, while a more fast-paced contemporary book (read: exciting) on the same themes, American Psycho, will be restricted to adults. All that will be left for young people will be vapid books about hand holding. (That was about half of what I had to read in high school.) An entire generation of readers will think that books cannot speak to the life of today's youth or that books are simply an art form that was abandoned sometime around the 1950s whose old ideas are imposed on restless grade schoolers.
ReplyDeleteAll that any of this would accomplish would be luring parents into a false belief that if they shelter their kids from READING about certain things, then the parents can shelter their kids from what they are already encountering/struggling with/questioning/worrying about/having trouble talking about with their parents/engaging in/scared about in LIFE: profanity, sex, drugs, etc. When there is censorship based on age, the only people being sheltered are the parents. Well, except the kids who are being sheltered from IDEAS. After all, ideas are dangerous. Far more dangerous than censorship, which is only looking out for the greater good, right?
Personally, I don't tend to think that noting if there is violence or sex in a book is going to get it banned -- look at what is on TV and in the theater that falls into those categories. And if you're 17 and under you can't get into a rated R movie without another adult... Not to mention that other things like video games are rated M for Mature, but they are still out there. Those are age-based content definitions. My comment was that age-based ratings weren't quite the right solution, but that sometimes mature content should be noted as such, and unfortunately that tends to be tied to age.
DeleteNo one's talking about banning or censoring books here... I think content ratings would simply be a tool to help people understand what is in the book before they choose to buy or read it. I wouldn't even mind it for myself if I was unsure of an author/book. I don't want to waste time or money on something I don't want to read about. I didn't even say that you would never allow your child to read some of these things, but just because sex and violence are out there doesn't mean it is RIGHT for every kid to read about them in books. And just because I don't want to read about some subjects or don't want my child to read about them, doesn't mean that we would be ignorant or sheltered. It's a very fine balance and it is also a parent's responsibility to talk with their kids about these themes, not just let them learn everything about them from reading a book, which, lets face it, are often not realistic portrayals of life, either, in many cases. So, I think parents need to understand what is in the books their children read, as well. It sounds to me like the problems you are bringing up have more to do with parenting (or the shortcomings of possible legislative involvement) than rating books.
I don't even believe that a ratings system like this will happen for books, but I personally would find it helpful, whether for my own reading or my child's. And if it already exists for movies and TV without stifling the prevalence of violence, sex, and drugs, it likely wouldn't affect books too much either. But I know good and well there would be an uproar from the authors, anyway, so it is a moot point. Just a question to ponder...
It's a healthy debate to have and it clearly got me thinking, Melissa. Hopefully I wasn't too passionate in my initial post. Sirens went off in my head. Sorry about that. :)
DeleteNo worries! Just thought I would elaborate on my thoughts based on the questions you raised and points you made -- think of it as an extension to my original post. Nothing wrong with healthy debate or being made to think about things! :-) Glad you stopped by to participate!
DeleteI do think it's an interesting discussion. I'm in favor of more information - not less, especially when it comes to things my daughters want to read. I guess that's what online reviews do for me right now. If I trust the reviewer, then I can go with their recommendations, even if I haven't read a book myself.
ReplyDeleteThe censorship question is an interesting one, which is why one of my concerns with a rating system would be "who" does the rating. A parent telling a child, "This is not for you...yet" is different from a government or Advisory Board telling everyone, "You can't read this."
I would have especially loved a rating system when my then-11-year-old son was "reading up." He wanted teen realistic fiction, but he wasn't a teen or ready for/interested in teen "issues" (sex, drug use, eating disorders, and so on). It was really hard to find books that weren't fantasy or sci fi for an advanced reader at that age. This wasn't at all a censorship issue in our family, but rather not wanting to "spoil" books for him by having him start them before he was ready.
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