Wednesday, August 1, 2007

UN-Fucking-Believable!

This just freaked me the hell out, but I guess I don't have the balls to be rude and start an argument on RtB...

Over on Romancing the Blog, Eric Selinger is quite proud that his EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER has discovered Romance books.

"She sampled them all: the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn, which she stacked and mulled over; Mary Ballogh, Jo Beverley, Susan Elizabeth Phillips… All took her interest, but none was handsome enough to tempt her–until, that is, she stumbled on Beverly Jenkins’s Something Like Love." HOLY SHIT! These aren't erotica stories, but they sure as shit have way too much sex for an EIGHT YEAR OLD to be reading!

"By now she’s also stopped skipping the sex scenes–instead, she giggles about them to herself and asks me questions on the sly. (Last night, at the sink: “Dad, what’s a corset?”) " Oh my, another proud moment, your EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER no longer finds the sex scenes yucky.

This next bit nearly blew the top of my head off. Note that I added the boldface for emphasis. "So how do I feel about my daughter’s first glom? On the whole, I couldn’t be happier. Jenkins’s heroines are wonderful: “sassy, brassy, and bold,” as it says about one on her website, in words my daughter quotes with gusto. (She loves that Teresa is an outlaw, and that Cara, now settled, once “broke every code” of proper behavior for love of a handsome man.) From my point of view, as a father, her heroes are even better. Yes, they’re gorgeous; they’re also protective, loyal, daring, and generous, both in and out of bed. (Neil, in particular, gets my vote. He makes Olivia wait for intercourse until they’re married; in the mean time, he gives her so many orgasms I lose count. And he cooks. Take notes, gentlemen!) " Are you kidding me? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? This is the moral standard you want your EIGHT YEAR OLD DAUGHTER to consider acceptable?!

Look, I probably wouldn't disagree quite so vehemently if we were talking about a 12 year old (although I would STILL disagree), but this is an EIGHT YEAR OLD! Give her a kids' book, give her a YA book, but why the fuck would you give her an adult Romance?

But wait, evidently he HAS given her age some thought. "There are, of course, a few dark clouds to accompany these silver linings. I have to be much more careful now about the romance novels I bring into the house, because if M– spots them, she’ll take a gander, guaranteed. And, alas, probably thanks to those love scenes, M– seems to have cottoned on to what my wife and I are up to after hours. “Dad, stop looking at Mom like that!” “Could you please not kiss Mom in front of me?” We get a lot of that, these days."

I am gobsmacked and horrified. I have 4 kids, including 2 daughters. Maybe we live in Pleasantville, but I can't imagine my kids or ANY of their friends being mature enough at EIGHT YEARS OLD to be able to handle the adult concepts presented in adult Romance books. They are CHILDREN, dammit. They grow up fast enough. WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU BURDEN THEM WITH ADULT CONCEPTS AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE? Let them be kids as long as possible!

And I will NOT buy the tired line "Well, they are going to be exposed to it anyway, so why not with our supervision?" Uh-uh. Nope. It's YOUR job as a parent to make sure they AREN'T exposed to it. At EIGHT YEARS OLD, you should know where they are at, who they are with, what values their friends' parents have, what movies they watch, what TV shows they watch, AND WHAT BOOKS THEY READ. It's your RESPONSIBILITY to PROTECT them, DAMMIT!

12 comments:

Ann Aguirre said...

No, I wouldn't do that. I'm not even letting my daughter LOOK at my books for another two years, minimum. I might let her when she's 13.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Annie, at least I know there are other parents out there that feel the same way.

I showed that post to my husband and he had the same reaction I did.

I couldn't even respond over there because the subject just presses too many of my hot buttons (obviously) and I knew I couldn't do it in any way that was even slightly diplomatic. Fortunately, Shiloh was able to, though.

Ann Aguirre said...

I started pilfering my grandma's Harlequins when I was like nine or so. But they were written differently back then. Things were so obscure I didn't know who was doing what or why. But things are different now.

Anonymous said...

I discovered romance at 12, and wow was I in for a shock. But then I went to Sweet Valley High, and the next romance I read, I was 15.

8 is just wrong. My sister is 6 and I am ENRAGED at the thought of her reading sex scenes in 2 years. I myself didn't even know that penises have erections until I was 12. My first hard core porno? I was 17.

This guy is OUT OF HIS MIND. Can he be sued for child abuse? Because this is it.

I am going back home to finish my studies and I'm already panicking how to hide my books from my sister.

Anonymous said...

Babz, I think you hit the nail on the head. A father seemingly quite proud that his eight year old daughter no longer skips over sex scenes where the hero gives the heroine multiple orgasms sets my perv-o-meter alarm bells ringing!

And Annie, you are right about the difference in sex scenes in the older books and now. Even the tamest scenes can be far more graphic in today's books.

Anonymous said...

Okay, I did it. I copied and cleaned up bits of this post and posted it over in the RtB comments for Eric Selinger's post. I just couldn't NOT say anything. This just creeps me out too much.

~ Mad ~ said...

I think 8 is way too young. I have four girls...my 16 year old has no interest in reading my books *sob* but my 14 year old, she's an avid reader...at this point she reads any and all YA books she can get her hands on and when she complains that she has nothing to read, I offer her something from my keepers or TBR and she always says no because my books are "dirty" LOL I'm looking forward to the day she finally takes me up on my offer and reads something from my collection but at 8, I think that is just way tooo young!

Anonymous said...

Hey Mad! I can relate. None of my kids are Readers. There was a brief time when my 15 year old daughter was into the Cirque de Freak series, but she outgrew it and lost interest. Although my oldest daughter (20) has recently started reading Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta series, so maybe there's hope after all!

Jackie said...

Jeez. I won't let my sons read my books until my boys are 18 (and I'm never letting them date, ever, but that's another story...)

Eight? Really -- yikes.

If my YA urban fantasy ever sells, it will be under a pen name because I feel strongly about not accidentally confusing the audiences; I wouldn't want a 14 year old to accidentally read the Hell books when they were looking for teen magic books. (On purpose? That's something else entirely.)

Eight.

Wow. Just...wow.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jackie! Will that YA series have any Were-Geckos? *snicker* ;P

You know sometimes I can't figure out a rhyme or reason why an author uses multiple names, but using a separate name for YA makes perfect sense and is an excellent idea.

I'm LMAO about you keeping your sons from your books-- it would never occur to my boys (including my DH) to even read the blurb on a Romance book!

sybil said...

I don't know. I don't have kids. If my sister did it... I would be blamed I am sure. Of course she is 13 now and a rat so would mark pages, run to my mother and try to get me in trouble.

Yes I am 31 and don't live at home *g*. But there are books, books and more books all over. My mom is a prude and I love to torment her with the fact I was reading Jackie Collins at 12 and VC Andrews at 11.

But unlike my sister I knew when to keep my mouth shut and if it wasn't a pool manual or mag my mom wasn't reading it. It is funny I am and have always been a 'reader'. Lil sis is as well. Parents not so much...

Anyhoo sooooo I think so many people have the same stories of how old they were when they started reading romance. And would you rather know about it or not? I know so many parents go for a not my kid. But I could bet money my mom was a oh, no, not my kid.

I think most of us live through what romance books do to us when we are young. sooo yeah, no clue what I think

LOL aren't you glad I posted!

Anonymous said...

See, here's the thing Syb, I'll bet quite a few of us, including me, read a racy book or magazine (or 2 or 3) when we were pre-teens. But we're talking about an EIGHT YEAR OLD, not an 11, 12 or 13 year old. There is a HUGE difference there. And if Eric was talking about that age group I would also agree that they could easily find the info elsewhere. But at 8, they should still be protected from adult concepts.

Plus, like Annie said, even the tamest sex scenes tend to be much more graphic now. So all doubt about what's REALLY going down in the scene is usually removed. In fact, most of the time even mainstream Romance is more graphic than a soft porn movie. And I hope we all agree that he should NOT allow her to see any of THOSE! ACK!