Wendy's comments (member since Jul 08, 2007)

Wendy's comments from the Banned Books group.

I've never heard of a feminist group wanting to ban a book, certainly they might condemn the message but I am almost certain it was a religious issue with Sleeping Beauty-- something about magic... it's so often a religious issue... for some reason many many people who are fundamentalist in their faith (and i mean all faiths.. not just Christian) seem to feel that everybody else should have to live without anything that might be a temptation to them.

Personally having been raised by devout Christians and retaining the faith myself.. I've never felt so insecure in my faith as to need to censor myself much.. not mention needing to censor everyone else.
If I was inclined to say my kid can not read something I would simply tell them "no" it's amazing how it works.. you say "no" and the kid has a fit or doesn't and life goes on.

If I wasn't able to manage to read Sleeping Beauty without suddenly feeling the need to try out magic I'd have to question my own character rather than try to get the book removed from the library shelves.

"I always knew what my son was reading, watching, or surfing. He never suffered for it and I felt as though I had a good handle on what he was being exposed to and could mitigate anything I found "bad" either through banning it from his media diet or explaining the "bad" bits to him."

:) Like you I always know what they're reading, watching etc. I would rather discuss something than ban it (for the most part) When I was concerned something might be over their head I sometimes read a book first - same with movies they desperately wanted to see but I wasn't sure of.

As a parent I figure if my beliefs are that strong then I will have successfully laid a foundation for my children that can be questioned without being shattered.

This week it's Sept 29-October 6th

The ALA's banned books week pages are here:

http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbookswe...

While Wrinkle In Time may have been "banned" for specific reasons there's no doubt that many books with similar themes are completely ignored. While being anti-authoritarian or exciting or even popular may not be the actual reason for "banning" a book certainly most people don't bother looking beyond the simplistic reason some authority or another has given for "banning" a book and simply accept as fact that the book is somehow a danger to their own faith or the faith of their children.


If I was worried about my own children, or the children of fellow believers being exposed to things in opposition to my specific faith I would take the time to review the books available to my children that contain these themes and not just raise a fuss over a very few. I have often been vaguely amused to see the children of fundamentalist friends reading vampire themed books without a word from mom and dad yet they are not allowed to read Harry Potter... I guess these days if James Dobson doesn't send out an email about it some parents don't feel the need to look into their children's bookshelves.

pollywaffleus sums up for me how I feel about assorted movements to remove/ban/hide various books from school and local libraries.

I hesitate to label people as lazy in their parenting but I cannot fathom any reason why I would need a library to remove a book I don't want my child to read other than not wanting to monitor my child's reading activities, not wanting to have to discuss certain topics with them and not wanting to be the "bad guy" who has to say no.

Along with this I notice most people seem to take part in activism to ban various books only at the prompting of some outraged organization sending out emails to "take action" People demand the removal of Harry Potter and ignore the existence in the same library of hundreds of other magical tales.

While I personally cannot recall taking any book out of my own children's hands I do know I have spent an awful lof of time reading either with them or reading books they have chosen after they have when I am curious about some new author they came across. I'm convinced that no censorship in our home on reading materials has led to the fact that my kids have often held a book under my nose to comment on something they find odd, unpleasant, exciting or misleading. I wouldn't trade the discussions triggered by those moments in for anything.