Book ratings?

[K. Riehl]

I say no to book ratings. I can see it now, bookseller sells a kid a nc-17 title or whatever and the parents sue the bookstore.
As it is bookstores deal with people walking in and attempting to have books removed from the shelves nearly everyday. Who is going to police it? What about kids who want to read above their level? It will turn off the kids who read if they are bored with the content, and encourage kids to read/steal the "Mature" titles for the titilation factor.
The list published by the National Library Assoc. of books people have attempted to have removed from the library shelves numbers over a thousand different titles per year. With a rating system I could see this doubling or tripling .
A rating system would only give more ammunition to the idiots and compulsive handwashers who want to tell everyone else how to live their lives.
I take this stance as the son of a Librarian and the former Manager of a large bookstore. I was asked as the manger to remove titles such as, Harry Potter books(many times), The Koran, The origin of Species, all titles by Anne Rice, Avi, Robert Hughes, Bukowski, Carlin, uncounted magazines... it is an ongoing effort by bookstores to provide everything people ask for and let people decide for themselves.

 

[Sibeling]

I think books should not be rated because of the reasons stated by previous posters - it would be too dificult to decide how to rate the books, and it would not really prevent children from reading the rated books.

And reading rated books could spoil the impression about you. I can imagine the look my grandmother would give me if she saw a sticker NC-17 on the books I buy, she thinks I'm a sweet, innocent girl.

 

[scalem X]

she thinks I'm a sweet, innocent girl.

Are you not then?

 

[Sibeling]

Nah, being sweet and innocent works only for ladies in novels, real people do better if they are nasty and experienced.

But, considering my age, I can still be called a girl...

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

IMHO, ratings is, was, and always will be a stupid idea. MPAA is a good example why I vehemently dispise ratings. I don't believe MPAA's claim that they're improving movies. They're not. They're a PR tool between Hollyweird and government and public. It's rampant with preferential treatment: it's okay for big studios to put out more blood bath but not the independents?
Even comics had Seal of Approval to supposedly let parents know it's safe for their kids. You think that Seal's been taken down and gone? Think again. It's outdated, yeah, but it's a PR tool to shield themselves from whoever's raising a stink over the content.
Even FCC (otherwise known as Fractured Censorship Committee not Federal Communications Commission) is no exception when it came to television and radio.
These three above-mentioned are the reasons why rating books is a bad idea. Plus, they're unworkable and cumbersome and a constant source of migraines. Ratings of any kind don't let parents decide which one's appropriate. It's already been decided. So that way parents don't have to think too much. And you think this is gonna make raising kids any easier? I think not.
These questionable rating systems and Approval ratings operate under the assumption these materials are dangerous and could mentally fracture "sensitive" kids everywhere. But hey, forbidden materials often have a habit of attracting a lot attention, and makes them want to read them and watch them. Think about it. Remember the Parental Advisory sticker labels on CDs?

 

[Sathai]

The SFBC would have a warning of graphic violence and/or sex underneath the blurbs for the books. I'm not a member of the club anymore, but I did find it helpful since I don't care for excessive violence or sex in books.

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Here's another reason I oppose ratings of any kind for any reason. Put out a rating that says this book's loaded with excessive drugs and sex when under serious scrutiny turned out to have scenes that are tame and some censor decides to ban this book without bothering to read it 'cuz the rating said so. Then what?

 

[Rane Longfox]

Let's clarify here: as I said (clearly, I thought, but apparently not) in my original post, no one would be "banning" anything. Nor in fact stopping people, even kids, buying any books they like. What I was discussing was merely a set of guidlines to warn the reader or gratuitous violence/sex/whatever that's present in the book so they can decide wether or not to buy it.

 

[iansales]

Ah, but that's the thin end of the wedge...

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Rane Longfox;863084]Let's clarify here: no one would be "banning" anything. Nor in fact stopping people, even kids, buying any books they like. What I was discussing was merely a set of guidlines to warn the reader or gratuitous violence/sex/whatever that's present in the book so they can decide wether or not to buy it.


Right. And what I'm saying is that the ratings/guidelines merely made it easy for the censors to look at it without bothering to read the material in question and determine that this such & such material is obscene and therefore to be pulled from public access. That's what I'm getting at.

 

[ambershadow]

Thats how it starts just a heads up that the book may offend some people. There are people out there that will see that little warning as an excuse to take things further. Imagine someone seeing a book with a mild warning on a school reading list and next thing they are trying to stop the school from using that book. It happens all the time. starts small and gets out of hand.

 

[Connavar]

Right. And what I'm saying is that the ratings/guidelines merely made it easy for the censors to look at it without bothering to read the material in question and determine that this such & such material is obscene and therefore to be pulled from public access. That's what I'm getting at.

Thats exactly why its a horrible idea.

I dont wanna someone deciding for me what i read.


Its enough with some publisher saying what people wanna read. Making more of the same sh't cause it sells.

 

[Lirineth]

Well it certainly is a messy business, but .... unfortunately if we start putting codes on the covers of a book to determine to what levels the theme of the book has arrive it would make true the old saying '... judging a book by its cover ..'

Then there is the problem of who is free of all sin to throw cast the first stone. That is to say where are we going to find and 'an honest man/woman' to whom to give the power to decide for the rest of us mere mortal what we should or should not read. I think we have enough censorship going on as it is, to on top of it go around knocking doors for more volunteers.

Besides lets face it, if somebody really wants to read something, he or she will definitely find a way. Or have we forgotten the old Playboy magazines under the bed? Or the savy romance books also under the bed.

Unfortunatelly, here and now it is a bit late to start crying out on behalf of the loosing of inocence. A million adds later, a million news later, a million shows later, together with fashion, music and everyday life, it is very difficult to think that the kids are no aware of all the things they are aware. If this is not true why then are we having so many pregnat teens, drug teens, dead drugged teens and on and on and on.

Saddly after the first NCN very commercial and well paid photo of a child warrior, it does seem quite unnecessary to worry about a couple of sex scenes in books, specially considerting that those we worry about are the ones that or do not read at all, or read very little, we have to admit that todays so called 'minors' are quite far away from the standards by which we try to rule them.

Perhaps if we could turn the clock backwards maybe things would be different, but as it is, well I much rather they read about it, after all if they are well informed maybe, things will be better.

 

[scalem X]

Besides lets face it, if somebody really wants to read something, he or she will definitely find a way. Or have we forgotten the old Playboy magazines under the bed? Or the savy romance books also under the bed.

-Want Mummy to check for monsters under the Bed?
-Actually I'd rather you didn't.



Yeah, I guess that the chances a child will be shocked by other media is far bigger than it would be by a book.
And indeed if you have a book that is on the border of the adult market and the young adult market, a rating that would restrict it to one of those could condemn it. I fear like most of you that this rating system would be another tool in the hand of global corporations creating a firmer grip on the reader's minds.