Personally, I don't think children should really be censored in what they read, or watch on TV or the music they listen to. Part of it is a selfish reason. I
loathed when my parents told me they didn't think something was appropriate for me and went out of my way to defy them. When my parents wouldn't let me see Good Will Hunting because of the language, I started cursing like a trucker in front of them just to get the point across that there was nothing in the movie that I didn't already know. I was fiercely independent from a young age, so when my parents did anything to set limits on what I wanted to know more about, I went behind their back. Not that I was necessarily bad, but when your parents think that just watching Will and Grace is enough to send you to hell, much of it was more out of curiosity and developing my own worldview that wasn't the same as the narrow-minded one of my parents'.
I'd like to believe that children should be able to maintain their innocence for as long as possible, but that's an impossibility in today's world. As long as the children themselves seek out these things on their own, I think the parents shouldn't be blamed or accused of not "protecting" them. It's better that kids learn about more mature subjects on their own terms, as opposed to this information being forced onto them before they'll understand it, like an older friend telling them at the age of 5 what a condom is used for (thank you, Curtis ).
I mean, even I raised an eyebrow when a girl about 7 years old asked Antonique Smith for her autograph at the stagedoor and her mom said Mimi was her favorite character and she knows all the words to the songs. But even though the girl enjoys it and her parents are comfortable with it, that doesn't mean she's going to turn out morally-corrupt just because she sings "Mucho masturbation" along with her CD (she probably doesn't even understand what that means- kind of like kids thinking LMNOP is one letter from the alphabet song). Learning about these things doesn't meant you're on the pathway to delinquency or it's too advanced for you to understand. I think what effects you is inherently based on your maturity level. If you aren't emotionally ready for it, it'll just go over your head. If you are at a level where you can understand it, then maybe you'll be a bit weirded out at first, but in the long run, you have to learn about it eventually. It's better to be slightly alarmed reading one scene in a book than the giant emotional shock it will be when they're finally jolted out of their parents' protective sphere of influence.
Besides, growing up in a post-Lewinsky world, 11 year olds are definitely aware of what blow jobs are already.
Erm, sorry so long, this is just an issue that I have a lot of personal feelings on.
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never
knowing how
Updated On: 2/9/06 at 12:53 PM
