More SEX Scenes for Teens?
Can you imagine my surprise when this subject was approached
at the LinkedIn Forum. It’s a forum for adult writers/publishers/editors to
toss thoughts around in the form of a Forum Topic. I don’t comment on many
because through my experience, some (no names here) think they are above the
little guy, and toss around their degrees acquired and their college this and
that’s, that makes someone without a MFA feel small. A long post for sure, and
I’m sure I’ll write more.
As the prude you all know I am, I had to comment. Here was
the specific topic that got to me:
"More sex scenes in books for teenagers"? I'm meeting with a
client (a respected, mainstream publisher) on Wednesday for a brainstorm on a
possible new series of romance titles for teens, a kind of "teen
erotica", with educational value - to some degree at least, in line with
what is expressed in the following link. (no name)
No
thanks, I won’t post the link on something that is telling me that we need more
sex in books for teens so they can learn? They want to use erotica to teach
children the ropes of love, not really love, but sexual arousal? You mean to
tell me, this is where our educated children are getting their information on
sex? Through these types of trashy (to me) books?
One
of my responses went a little like this:
I think if we raise our children morally right, then
they can make a moral decision whether to read what is deemed 'teen erotica' or
not. (I personally think erotica is for healthy adults, not children)
If kids who are not raised in a moral environment read
that type of book, then they are probably lacking education and hunger for the
explicit content to teach them what they should feel.
Wow,
wouldn’t you know the higher ups (the ones who think they have ALL the answers
and are RIGHT and no one can tell them differently) thought my response was
spoken like a true naïve mother.
Joni, I am not saying that this applies to your son,
but many, many parents get fooled by their children as to what they are up to,
what they like to read and watch etc. And your post assumes, like so many
others, that the novels we have in mind will be dirty tales of rampant sex. Not
sure how many times we need to explain.
Then Paul jumps in and calls it trash. Says that kids
can be tempted. Well, if they are not already temped by the trash that is out
there, perhaps they might be tempted to read an erotic rendition that is not
trash but has a moral message.
And IT (no name) went on to say:
One wonders how many copies of mom's 50 Shades has
gotten to the hands of teenagers who must wonder, amid the preaching, about the
hypocrisy of some parents.
Another WOW! For this person to assume that I’m a
mother who would even TOUCH 50 Shades of Trash, one must assume, WHO is the
preaching hypocrite here?
IT also said:
Joni, I am so glad for you and your son. Good work. As to 50 Shades,
although the writing is horrible, the sex, I am told is quite good. No reason
to deny yourself the experience of such literature, IMO.
I had said my son has a moral compass and wouldn’t
TOUCH crap with erotica in it. Was this jealousy or envy that their son or
daughter turned out to be a greedy/selfish/ immoral sex freak?
Does my son look at porn? More than likely so but
we’re talking about WRITING/READING here. To call Shades literature to me is a
slap in the face to writers of generations past and future generations who take
writing more serious than, ‘lets add more sex so it sells’ writers.
I was not the only prude in the comments, there were
many as you can imagine and non-religious freaks also. They had a moral compass
that didn’t stem from religion, it stemmed from what they thought about a
subject.
A comment:
Shame on anyone who contributes to sex for teens.
Let them be kids as long as possible. How stupid some adults act. Such an idea
only puts additional sex ides into their innocent minds. Research proves that
young boys who dwell on porno rewire their minds and will be unable to sustain
a relationship with a woman. So you contribute to more divorces. Shame shame
shame on you. Some publishers will work for anything that makes them money No
matter how you try to relabel it you are pushing sex and porno.
Oh, the bashing went back and forth and goes on for
pages, and IT always came back with a response basically calling us unnatural,
inhuman, sex-deprived beings who live in a box!
I had to share this forum topic with my son, who is
a very vocal teen, that wants to be a writer, and loves reading books.
“Adam, what do YOU think?”
Adam’s response, “I think Shades is trash and NO,
not all kids want to read that trash. I want to read a story and erotica is not
storytelling, it’s sex. If I want sexual content, I’ll go to a porn site!”
Okay, I laughed, his honesty with me never ceases to
amaze me. And while some uppity ups think all kids are liars and not honest
with their parents, I say they are WRONG! Raised with a moral compass, kids can
and will be bluntly honest!
I know what I like to read, he knows what he likes
to read, and no I don’t find sexual gratification in a book with erotica. When
did we as human beings need books and words in a book to fulfill us sexually?
Wow, I must have really messed up my son, huh? He
has a moral compass that teens today would never know or understand for that
matter.
Note to parents: Don’t let books raise your kids!
Don’t let them learn life, sex, morals through a book! Lead by example and sure
enough, your kids will learn! Talk to them, face to face, not via a text
message!!!! I have to admit, homeschooling was the smartest thing I did for my
son! He’s not led around by peers, he’s led by his moral compass, and that’s a
GOOD thing!
Sad commentary from the ‘I know it all, IT’. I feel
for this lonely person IT:
It may take
another hundred years before John Lennon's image
of no religion will come to pass...but make no mistake...religion as a
fundamentalist ideology, is dying. I think it wise to do what we can to nudge
that dying process whenever possible.
Religion, dying? While erotica is rising??? Sad
thought isn’t it?
The final comment I read before unsubscribing after
200 and some comments?
The easier it becomes to get sex, the harder it is
to find love!
I am not alone. Thank You, God!
