Oversexed Books Aimed
at Preteen Girls
What are parents to do with books
like the "Gossip Girl" series, aimed at sixth- and seventh-grade girls, and
full of drinking, drug use, profanity, and explicit sex and nudity?
When your child comes home from the
school library having checked out a book like that, how can you go back to the
library and complain, and urge that such books be removed from the shelves,
without looking like a censor?
Easy. Give 'em "just the facts." In
a letter to the school librarian, with copies for the principal, your school
board members, and the superintendent, state clearly that you object
strenuously to having such literature available to minor children, either on
assigned reading lists, summer reading lists, or on school library shelves.
Remind officials that your district is opening itself up to all kinds of
problems, including lawsuits, by offering such despicable content to minors.
Attach a photocopy of a few pages with objectionable content circled. Ask for a
reply for your files.
That ought to get their attention!
Researchers at the University of
North Carolina have found that young teens who are exposed to media with
"high sexual content" are 2.2 times more likely to have had sex by
age 16. What makes that statistic pretty scary is that there is increasing sex
content in assigned reading in English classes in the nation's public schools,
and more and more sex as a theme in easily-obtainable school library books as
well.
The researchers surveyed more than
1,000 young people aged 12-14. They were asked about TV, movie, films, music
and magazines. The researchers found that that the strongest indications against
pre-marital sexual involvement were clear communications from parents.
The researchers published their findings
in the journal Pediatrics.
Although it may not list "Gossip
Girl" books, a good resource on bad books that are often assigned to
schoolchildren, or available in school libraries, is Parents Against Bad Books
in School:
www.pabbis.org
