This is second hand information that I have taken from another forum I belong to (not related to babies )
It was started by saying that there are schools that are wanting to ban Twilight saying that it is 'racey' and that it's not good for primary school kids. I think these are Catholic schools, but please don't quote me!
The interpretation of the books to these pepole in the forum were that of, violence to women, they say it's a recurring theme in the books (Edward with Bella after DTD when she's covered in bruises, the voilent kiss Jacob gives Bella, what happened with Rosalie) but also suicide, manipulation, and guilt!
I NEVER EVER thought about this while reading these books and I was quite shocked to see others opinions of them in this way! My question is....did anyone else interpret these books in this way? Would you stop a kid from reading them?
My opinion is that it's a fictional book...it's not real! (If Edward were real he's surely be mine right!?) You can see worse things influence kids on the 7 nightly news. If a kid wants to read it, then as long as their parents are alright with that, then I say go for it! I got my sister AND my MUM into it!! Actually...I might start reading them again
OMg it is fiction people no i won't stop my child from reading the books there are a lot more brutal books out there against women lets see the bible for one don't women get stoned to death in this book and a lot more brutal things happen not just to women but all man kind i'm pretty sure the catholic schools won't ban that one ( sorry i totally don't want to offend any one there not my intention just trying to make a point)
i love the whole series of this and i did not even think about those issues until i read this thread.
what i load of rubbish wanting to ban it . if they do that then the kids will just want to read it more. and if the parents are ok then it shouldn't be an issue.
lol, its pathetic really that they would ban twilight which is really aimed at tweens, there is no SEX blatantly spread across the page etc, they are quite tame in comparison to say virginia andrews "flowers in the attic" which was available from my private, catholic, all girls school library!
Oh my the flowers in the attic series and her other books had soo much sex! Incestual too wasn't some of it? I read alot of those books in highschool - Mum didn't know what i was reading! In the end VA books are basically all the same. I've not read the twighlight books so can't comment there.
The virginia andrews books definitely shouldn't have been for primary school reading though!
I gave the series to my niece after I finished them because she is an Edward fan. I'm not sure if she read them or not. I'm not sure if they're appropriate for primary age or not. I would have thought they're better suited to teenagers.
I'm a big advocate of encouraging reading by allowing children to choose their own books.
That said, if a parent thinks that a book inappropriate or not in keeping with the values that they're trying to instill in their children then they have my full support. If I didn't want my children to read something I would like to be supported in that - after all they will be able to read it as adults if they want.
Years ago they banned the book Puberty Blues for the very same reason, even though Puberty Blues is about as close to real teenage life as you can get - it's a book that resonates through the generations. Same thing with harry potter - fair enough a lot of the 'argument' with those books were the witchcraft v religion issues but personally I think it's because a lot of the issues and themes that are in these books are just too complicated for young kids kwim? Personally I think books are fine so long as you know your kids are fine with reading them and understand the difference between fiction and reality.
Trillian - Yep totally know what you mean. The way the people in this other forum were talking it was like girls (mainly) would take away with them that it's OK for a man to bash them up because they are the sexy girls that turned them on...KWIM? HA Puberty Blues was on here the other day...DH had never seen it before but he was transfixed! It's real life....exactly...Twilight is nothing but a fantasy and I like to keep it that way!!
Well actually my dfaughter commented on the violence to women in this book! I haven't read all of it - but I could see what she meant. I am not sure where DD14 has got her feminist leanings...
I was happy she could identify what was happening - that it wasn't taken on subliminally as being okay...
I know! it's absolutely riveting watching it it. When I first saw it I was 10 and so many of the concepts just went right over my head, but when i saw it again in my late teens it just *clicked* and it made complete sense. I have it on DVD and will make my own kids watch it when they are older.
Anyway I digress LOL. I think the Wowsers who carry on about this a bit too much just don't give the people reading these books the benefit of the doubt that they can differenciate between what goes on in the books and what goes on in real life - I mean for a start it's about vampires!
ETA - missed your post Deb I think girls who read it wouldn't be able to miss the violence but they aren't going to let it be acceptable behaviour IRL.
Twilight being banned in schools!!
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