I have decided to jump on the bandwagon and finally watch the new series of Dr. Who. And it's awesome. I have been trying to trick Nannal in to buying them for me for ages, but he's lazy. So... well, itunes and illaglity are for me. I feel bad about the illegality bit, but hey - I don't get BBC or ABC so back off!
Anyway, I'm up to the 3rd season with Martha. I predict that by tomorrow, I will be up to date... which really tells you alot about my life at present...
2. Curtains
As mentioned (or gushed about, either way) in the last blog, I have NEW curtains. They are simply marvelous. I will find a picture and upload them. Sadly, we didn't have enough curtain tape to go the whole way so I presently have 3/4 of the curtains (i.e., one window has just one curtain, while the other has 2...). But it makes no difference! The floral is gone... GONE! (With the exception of the couches which are covered in the same material... but I have plans for them too... evil material must GO!)
See? Awesome plain old white. ^.^
3. Book challenges and teenagers
I have read 2 seperate blogs lately about book challenges in America. Both blogs were written by wonderful authors who I love and follow (through blogs, videos etc.) but are (as far as I know) unrelated in any way. However apparently the book challenge and ban issue has arisen again. The main argument that I have heard (from the sane side) is that parents who believe that their child should not be reading a certain book due to sexually explicit content (the major reason) or any other reason, have every right to prevent their child from reading it. But that is as far as it should go. Their child. Librarians are not just people who catalogue books, say "Sssh", or know where to put piles of books in shelves. Oh no! They know about books. They read books. And they know what is and is not appropriate for libraries.
Despite some sensationalist claims, a librarian will not put pornography on a shelf for teenagers. What they do, is chose books that may have sexual content for their broader themes. As teenagers in general are becoming aware of the sexual side of life, and are curious as to how it all fits together, so books that they read reflect this. If we were deprived of all reference to sexuality in books, we would be in the dark and thus more likely to go down the wrong path.
Some people think that just because we are exposed to something means that we are going to do it. Regardless of the context. My main example is "Looking for Alaska" by John Green (who is one of the authors who writes about this due to this book being challenged). Alaska is being challenged because it contains a scene that describes oral sex. Parents believe this is explicit, and in some cases refer to it as pornography. Green argues that in context the scene serves to portray casual sexual encounters in a wholly negative light. The scene is awkward and unsexy. It is also immediately followed by a genuine non-sexual interaction, which highlights the awkwardness and unsexiness of the oral sex scene. Authors do this all the time. Especially in teen novels.
I think this is because we remember our own first sexual encounters. We didn't know what to do. We didn't know where sex fits into a normal and healthy relationship. So we just ... gave it a go. With generally awkward results. I believe that if kids were to read Alaska, or any other novel like this, rather than being tempted to give awkward oral sex a go, they would be tempted to give genuine relationships a go.
Why? Because most kids are not dumb. Just like most adults are not dumb. Funny that, given that kids are just adults who haven't got out of school yet.* So if you think that teens are as easily led as sheep, then you are assuming that people in general are that too. If you think that kids aren't able to read critically, then perhaps you are assuming that you can't read critically. Can you pick up on the context and discern whether or not it is encouraging? I sure can. I don't watch a movie where drugs are being taken and illnesses caught, and no life lived and think "OH WOW! That looks like awesome fun!"
I don't watch crime shows or murder movies and think "Oh my. That looks so easy. Murder and crime are the way to go. They will serve all my problems."
I think that we are, and mostly always have been, pretty good at picking these things up. You know, since you first learnt the difference between "fiction" or "non-fiction". Since you first learnt right from wrong. And since you first learnt that you don't know everything, and you need to have peek into other people's lives (real or imagined) to better know the world around you.
Librarians know this. I think librarians are probably the most intelligent people... especially in high schools. Just like John Green goes on about all the time: you can't imagine a single person, or a group of people in an un-complex manner. "Teens are easily led" is as untrue a statement as "Cats are black". Sure, some teens may be easily led, and some cats may be black, but parents need to have faith in and understanding of their children, so that the decisions they make are the best for their child. No knee jerk reactions please. I don't want one mother, whose child is allegedly dumb, to decide what is right for all children. Lord knows that if I wasn't allowed to read the books that I read, I would have gone mad. I needed to see the world through books. I needed to comprehend human relationships outside of my little box in a country town, in a christian school. And the understanding that I came to as a result of my fictional explorations made me into the person I am today: the adult.
*I know there is quite a bit of difference between 15 year olds and 35 year olds, but when you really remember who you were at 15, was it that different to who you are now? Sure, you might have been less mature, more confident, more sure that you knew everything (on the surface at least) - but are you that different? No. Teens aren't a different species, no matter how far we try to distance ourselves from our teenage past.
Right. End of rant.
I had better go and watch Doctor Who: Season 3, Episode 7 "42".
xx
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